Assistance Ministry Announcement
We are excited to announce that our Assistance Ministry program will resume serving and welcoming guests Monday, February 1st from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm. We look forward to seeing our guests!
ANNOUNCEMENT
Online worship will continue at Messiah Lutheran Church. We will post our weekly worship services found on the Messiah Lutheran Church Facebook group. To receive worship notifications, you can subscribe to our email list by selecting the About Us tab on the left, then click join our email list. Updated information will be sent when it becomes available.
Reflections in Easter: The source of joy
We can’t talk ourselves into being joyful. If we try to do it, we end up in a fake cheerfulness. Joy is something that just comes upon us when we encounter the deep goodness of the world.
Joy naturally swells up in our hearts as we are united with the things or people we love or when we see the things that we love flourish—at a wedding, for example, or the birth of a child, or a reunion with loved ones, or on hearing that a major surgery was a success.
Our deepest joys are grounded in the goodness of God. The resurrection of Jesus reveals how deep that goodness goes.
Jesus’ resurrection reveals a glorious possibility at the heart of the universe that we hadn’t expected or experienced before. The joy of Easter is the thread of hope that carries us through difficult times.
One of the more joyful videos I’ve seen lately shows members of a monastic order (men and women) breaking into a dance at a public square in an Italian city. You can see them (you need to scroll down a bit) here.
Their dancing speaks to me of Easter joy. These men and women aren’t very good dancers, but that’s not the point. Their dancing springs from a deep joy— joy in the music, joy in the ability to move to the music, and ultimately joy in the God who brings life out of death.
“Rejoice now, all heavenly choirs of angels, and celebrate the divine mysteries with exultation. Exult, O earth, enlightened with such radiance, made brilliant by the splendor of the eternal king. Be glad, also, O mother church, clothed with the brightness of such a light.”
Blessings in Easter,
Pastor David
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