Pastor's Message

"... he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!"
-- 2 Corinthians 5:15-17

As the people of Jesus, the events of Holy Week and Easter challenge us, again and again, to explore and to discover, to preach and then to work out in practicing the meaning and the implications of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. When Jesus rose from the dead, everything we knew about life and death and this world changed.

In the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul worked through some of the implications of Jesus' resurrection as he wrote to the church in Corinth. In our baptism we are joined to Jesus' death, therefore we are dead to this world and its powers. As we are joined with Jesus in death, we are also part of Jesus in his life, his resurrection. The resurrection is the promise of our future, guaranteed by the crucified but now living Jesus. Now, if we as a community have been gathered and joined to Jesus' death and resurrection ... if resurrection, new life and new creation are the future for us and for the whole creation ... then we can no longer look at each other or relate to each other in the same old ways.

Because Jesus rose from the dead, because God is making all things new, we can no longer see each other or judge each other by the standards of this world -- color, race, culture, economics, gender or sex, intelligence, mental or physical health. By what other standards do we relate to each other? Beyond all of these things that describe who we are to ourselves and to each other, is the simple fact that we are in Christ. In Christ, we are God's new creation.

Moving on from the events of Holy Week and Easter, Jesus lead us out to proclaim the alarming good news -- Christ is risen! God sends us out to live ... or start to live out the implications of what God is doing to this world and for this world. In our worship together, our praying together, our studying together, our serving together, our giving together, God forms and transforms us into a living community that proclaims -- by what we say, by what we do and, especially in how we relate to each other -- that God raised Jesus from the dead.

That is what we are about as Jesus' people gathered into a community called Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. As Jesus' people we share the good news, overcome barriers and connect in the love of Christ. Join us. And remember, invite your friends. Christ is risen!