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From The Pastor

April 19, 2019 by Rev. John Hartman

From the Pastor

When I was a child, Easter meant something other than “new life.” Easter meant “new clothes.” For whatever reason, the week or days before Easter was a time for my parents to take us shopping for clothes, — “church clothes” to be precise. The shopping nightmare for school clothes came at the end of summer. Easter was the season for worship-wear, uncomfortable uncool, stiff and scratchy fabrics and sometimes hard-soled boring shoes. I guess this was one way I knew that Easter was a big deal. “Jesus is risen, — and I have a new suit.”

On Easter Sunday the crowds swell, the parking lot is full, the music is big, there’s a special offering, and after the worship there is feasting with family. So it was with feast days in Jerusalem. The population of the city exploded with pilgrims who had come for worship and celebration. Special offerings and sacrifices were made. And there was food, lots of it! It was that nice blend of faith, food and family.

In our church we don’t have any special seating section for the broken among us. There’s no pew, no balcony, no chancel chairs, — no place amongst the people marked ‘invalids.’ And yet, every week, in each and every gathering, they are among us. In fact, if you think about, there really are no entirely whole, put-together, and have it all-together people in any worship gathering. We all bring something that’s injured, something that isn’t working right, something that hurts. But in our gatherings, especially at Easter and Christmas, or on any ordinary Sunday, — we do a good job of concealing those wounds. We do it with in a variety of ways, — like with clothes and smiles. What we conceal, Jesus sees.

In the midst of Easter, with the throngs of people and the sounds of worship and celebration, Jesus finds his way to the ones who aren’t celebrating. The question is whether we will do the same. That might be hard, not unlike playing “Where’s Waldo,” looking for someone who needs hope, help, love and new life. Easter is the day to do this. It’s the day to not worry about your clothes as much as making sure we invite others to be clothed in the power of Christ’s resurrection. It’s the only hope we all have of healing those hurts, and binding those wounds. Happy Easter!

Pastor John

Quote of the Week

People have not gathered for the past 2,000 years to say, “The stock market has risen. It has risen indeed.” They have not gathered to say, “The dollar has risen. It has risen indeed.” Or, “the employment rate has risen.” Or, “the gross domestic product has risen.” Or, “General Motors has risen.” Or, “The value of your 401(k) has risen.” Here’s the one hope that has held up human beings across every continent and culture for two millennia of difficult times of poverty, disease, pain, hardship, and death itself: “Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.”

John Ortberg

John Ortberg, Jr. is an evangelical Christian author, speaker, and senior pastor of Menlo Church in Menlo Park, California, an ECO Presbyterian church with more than 4,000 members. Ortberg has published many books including the 2008 ECPA Christian Book Award winner When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box, and the 2002 Christianity Today Book Award winner If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat.