Volume 37, Issue 3 · March 2016 HOLY WEEK WORSHIP Palm Sunday, March 20 8:30 & 11:00am Maundy Thursday, March 24 11:30am (Lunch Following) 7:00pm (First Communion) Good Friday, March 25 7:00pm EASTER SUNDAY, MARCH 27 Sunrise Worship 6:30am (No staffed nursery.) Breakfast 7:15-8:15am Traditional Worship 8:30am Easter Egg Hunt 10:00am Contemporary Worship 11:00am B artholomew was with the rest of the disciples in that dark upper room in Jerusalem. The air was thick with more than dust; it was heavy with fear and depression. It had been three days now since Jesus had died, three days since any of them had been outside. They had all wanted to go to Calvary. Not to hoot and howl like the mob, but just so Jesus might catch their eye and feel a little less alone. But they feared they, too, would be caught and killed. That fear added to their depression, Bartholomew thought, and he instinctively looked in the corner where Peter huddled. He noticed that someone had put a blanket around the figure, so full of shame from his denial of Jesus that he was barely conscious. Suddenly, there was the coded rap on the door that signaled a friend. The door was unlatched, and three women burst in with the daylight. Excited and out of breath, they stammered out the news. The tomb was empty. Jesus was alive again, and he would meet the disciples in Galilee! The disciples were stunned. “What?” “How can that be?” “But he was dead!” So quickly doubt began to snatch the hope the women had brought. What if it’s just human hysteria? What if they were just trying to cheer us up? What if it’s a cruel joke? “But what if it’s true?” asked Bartholomew. “What if Jesus lives again? Why, then, it’s off to Galilee for me! Soldiers or not, doubts and all, it’s off to Galilee for me!” “And it’s a new chance for me,” came the words from the blanketed form in the corner, whose eyes now burned bright and clear. “To Galilee.” So the story does not end with Jesus crushed beneath the combined weight of personal pride, religious arrogance and political paranoia — beneath all human sin. It takes all these and fashions a new beginning in which the grace of God lives anew, forgiveness lives anew, righteousness lives anew — in which Jesus lives anew. Living anew, he comes to meet us. He comes for us. So hang the doubts, hang the fears, hang the depression. Pack them and bring them along to our Galilee, for when Christ comes to us, alive and kicking, he adds something new: faith, hope and love. The grace of God is part of our life, and it’s a new chance for all of us. Easter blessings to all.
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Volume 37, Issue 3 · March 2016
HOLY WEEK WORSHIP
Palm Sunday, March 20
8:30 & 11:00am
Maundy Thursday, March 24
11:30am (Lunch Following)
7:00pm (First Communion)
Good Friday, March 25
7:00pm
EASTER SUNDAY, MARCH 27
Sunrise Worship 6:30am
(No staffed nursery.)
Breakfast 7:15-8:15am
Traditional Worship 8:30am
Easter Egg Hunt 10:00am
Contemporary Worship 11:00am
B artholomew was with the rest of the disciples in that dark upper room in Jerusalem. The air was thick with
more than dust; it was heavy with fear and depression. It had been three days now since Jesus had died,
three days since any of them had been outside. They had all wanted to go to Calvary. Not to hoot and
howl like the mob, but just so Jesus might catch their eye and feel a little less alone. But they feared they, too,
would be caught and killed. That fear added to their depression, Bartholomew thought, and he instinctively
looked in the corner where Peter huddled. He noticed that someone had put a blanket around the figure, so
full of shame from his denial of Jesus that he was barely conscious.
Suddenly, there was the coded rap on the door that signaled a friend. The door was unlatched, and three
women burst in with the daylight. Excited and out of breath, they stammered out the news. The tomb was
empty. Jesus was alive again, and he would meet the disciples in Galilee! The disciples were stunned. “What?”
“How can that be?” “But he was dead!” So quickly doubt began to snatch the hope the women had brought.
What if it’s just human hysteria? What if they were just trying to cheer us up? What if it’s a cruel joke?
“But what if it’s true?” asked Bartholomew. “What if Jesus lives again? Why, then, it’s off to Galilee for me!
Soldiers or not, doubts and all, it’s off to Galilee for me!”
“And it’s a new chance for me,” came the words from the blanketed form in the corner, whose eyes now
burned bright and clear. “To Galilee.”
So the story does not end with Jesus crushed beneath the combined weight of personal pride, religious
arrogance and political paranoia — beneath all human sin. It takes all these and fashions a new beginning in
which the grace of God lives anew, forgiveness lives anew, righteousness lives anew — in which Jesus lives
anew. Living anew, he comes to meet us. He comes for us. So hang the doubts, hang the fears, hang the
depression. Pack them and bring them along to our Galilee, for when Christ comes to us, alive and kicking, he
adds something new: faith, hope and love. The grace of God is part of our life, and it’s a new chance for all of
us. Easter blessings to all.
QUILT ’N CRAFT
Thursday, March 10, 7:00pm, at the home of
Donna Hansen, 3110 Alameda, Cedar Falls,
290-4486. Bring your own craft or learn a new
one. All are welcome!
MARCH’S FEATURED MISSION COUNCIL: Worship
One of our goals for 2016 is to “increase awareness of and participation in mission council ministries.”
Our mission councils create and direct many of the acts of ministry that the congregation does
within our community of faith and throughout the Cedar Valley and the world.
Council on Worship members are, from left,
Sue Bauer, Glenn Nelson, Lisa Nelson and
Kent Anderson (chairman). Not pictured,
Steve Fuller and Bob Nelson.
BOWLING OUTING
Sponsored by Nurture Council
Everyone is invited to bowl at Maple
Lanes, 2608 University Ave., Waterloo,
Sunday, March 6, 3:00-5:00pm. Cost is
$2.99 per game, shoes included. If you would like to