Dear Friends,
In my last parish I had a gentleman who, once a year, would produce an April Fools version of the newsletter. It looked completely legitimate and the stories were often very believable. In fact, he had a keen sense of picking up on any “issues” going on at a given time and lampooning them. I always found it funny. Often I was in the minority. He had this way of convincing people of the unbelievable.
One year, as we were preparing to build, he sent a letter—but just to about two dozen members, announcing a special voter’s meeting on March 31 about a local Baptist church just up the street from our campus. His tale told of how they had gotten an incredible opportunity to purchase land off the highway in a very visible and accessible site, and that they had offered to sell us their current campus at a fraction of its value. The voter’s meeting was to have taken place on March 31 (keep in mind that this hit mailboxes on April 1
st
) and was to determine whether we would move. It was on what looked like official letterhead, and signed, ostensibly, by me. It also stated that the congregational leaders and the pastor were in favor of such a move.
Ironically, I was not even in town that year. It was the week following Easter, and I was on vacation with my family. I will never forget the frantic message my secretary left on my phone. The panic in her voice was evident, and she had received a dozen angry calls from members who were upset because they didn’t know about the voter’s meeting. When I finally called her back a few hours later she spoke so fast I could hardly understand. Her last sentence to me was, “Pastor, I didn’t know anything about this. You need to get back here.” At first I was confused for a moment. I knew I hadn’t sent the letter. In fact, I hadn’t even seen the letter. Suddenly it dawned on me, and my only words to her were, “What day is today?” She quickly answered, and then it sunk in and she groaned. It was a great prank!
It’s almost poetic to have Easter fall on what our nation calls “April Fool’s Day.” The last time Ash Wednesday fell on Valentine’s Day and Easter on April Fool’s Day was in 1945, and it will not happen again until 2029, and then 2040! How appropriate to celebrate these two things today! Over two thousand years ago God played the greatest prank on the devil. That sly old serpent thought he had defeated God’s plan of salvation. He thought he had beaten God by making sure Jesus was crucified. God had an even better plan, and Jesus rose victorious over sin and death, and the devil was utterly defeated. Alleluia! It is God’s April Fool’s joke on the devil!
As believers we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus all the time and especially during the season of Easter. He rose to new life, and now offers that new life to His redeemed. We are His Easter people, chosen in Him, and chosen with purpose. Certainly our calling is to abide in Jesus and to live daily in His grace and love. It wasn’t enough for the women who came to the tomb to know that Jesus had risen, they ran to find the disciples, huddled in fear, and shared the good news with them. When Jesus appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room John reports in His Gospel,
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld’”
(Jn 20:21–23). This happened the very night of the Resurrection! Filled with the joy of seeing the Risen Jesus the disciples were inspired to eventually risk their lives for the sake of proclaiming Him to the world.
His charge to those who have experienced the power of His Resurrection hasn’t changed. Jesus has Risen! What are you going to DO about it? We dare not proclaim “He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!” without recognizing the charge that Jesus gives to each of us! Even as He sent His disciples, He now sends us to go into the world with the powerful news of His forgiveness. Our challenge is to live out our faith in ways that testify to His resurrection! He calls us to act on what we believe so that others might know Him.
Imagine what your community would look like if true believers actually lived out what they believe. It would impact every aspect of our lives, and, more than that, it would impact those who are not believers as they see the love of the Risen Jesus displayed in our lives.
Over the next five years we have a goal to raise up two new ministries in each of the Florida-Georgia District’s five regions. This is not simply a ploy to play a numbers game or notch our collective belt. Instead we go and grow because it is all about God’s Kingdom and recognizing why Jesus went all the way to the Cross in the first place. His death secured our victory over death, and His life empowers our new life in Him.
I recently had a conversation with one of our pastors who told me his passion would be to open an ice cream parlor in his community because none currently exist. I told him that this is exactly how we need to reach into our communities. First, it’s just sad that there are communities without ice creams parlors—at least in my opinion… More importantly, we are now living in a time when people are more likely to walk into an ice cream parlor than a church. How do believers in the Resurrected Jesus use a venue like an ice cream parlor to reach people with the Gospel? It will certainly take some creativity and the gifted people of God working together to fulfill His command to go and make disciples of all nations—beginning in our own "parlors" one scoop at a time!
Our life as Resurrection people is all about connecting people to Jesus, the Resurrected One! That’s my heart vision for the Florida-Georgia District—that we are a people united by the Resurrected Jesus who desire to connect people to Him. To be engaged in the Master’s business is simply to live out the very words Jesus gave His disciples the night of the Resurrection. We are His sent people, sent to carry the news of a Risen Savior, sent to share His love and forgiveness with the world, sent in the power of His Spirit, breathed into each of us in baptism, to bring hope and peace to a world mired in distrust and despair. Paul reminds us that we are sent as fools for Jesus, and that’s no joke!
April Fool’s Day is a single day on the calendar, but for the Christian Church on earth Easter is an everyday promise. Let’s celebrate with great rejoicing, but let’s not foolishly miss His call. The hymn writer, Daniel March, captured it well in his hymn, “Hark the Voice of Jesus calling.” Let me conclude with this verse:
“Let none hear you idly saying, ‘There is nothing I can do.’
While the multitude are dying, And the Master calls for you;
Take the task He gives you gladly; Let His work your pleasure be;
Answer quickly when He calls you, ‘Here am I, send me, send me.’”
God has a good plan, and it’s no joke! It’s all about us approaching Easter as Lutheran Christians and asking “What does this mean?” You already know the answer—it means we are sent into the world to equip, empower and engage to connect people to Jesus! May it be so for each of us for the sake of Jesus, our Risen Lord!
In Resurrection Joy,
