Category: easter

Sunday Live Stream — He is Risen

A reading of John 20:1-18 by Pastor Kristina for Easter morning.
Filmed by Mark Ducommun

Easter 2020: The Hope of the Saviour
LUKE 24:13-35
April 12th, 2020

Have you ever really hoped for something, only to be disappointed or let down? I think we all can, can’t we? Maybe even today, some of you are feeling some disappointment or loss of hope. For weeks you have been looking forward to having that Easter dinner with family and now you can’t. Or maybe a vacation you were looking forward to was cancelled. I think we can all fill in the blanks for our own situations.

It is Easter Sunday, a day where we celebrate hope because of what Jesus did for us. But that first Easter Sunday, almost 2000 years ago, didn’t begin for everyone on a hopeful note.

Luke 24:13-16

  • i. Introduced to two people: Cleopas, and a fellow traveller (could be his wife, could be Luke, we don’t really know).
  • ii. They were ‘disciples’ of Jesus – they were not the inner 12 we regularly think about, but part of a larger group who followed Jesus as He taught.
  • iii. Coming home from Jerusalem, likely from the annual, mandatory Passover celebrations. It was a 7 mile trek to a place mentioned only here, Emmaus.
  • iv. Intently engaged in a deep conversation with passion about everything that just happened, the Passover celebration, Jesus’ death, and likely what the prophets said in OT regarding the Messiah.
  • v. Jesus suddenly shows up and walks alongside them, listening, like a stranger who is on the periphery.
  • vi. They have no idea that it is Jesus as for some reason, God kept them from recognizing Jesus. We are not completely sure why, but we can assume that God needed them to go through the coming experience to teach them an important lesson.

Luke 24:17-24

  • i. Jesus says (paraphrased) “hey, what’s up? What are you talking about?”
  • ii. It catches them off guard completely. They actually have to stop walking. They feel the heaviness and lack of hope from the weekend. It is written across their face.
  • iii. They respond by saying (paraphrased) “have you been asleep all this time? Where you been at? How could you not know what we are talking about? How could you not hear?”
  • iv. Jesus prompts further by asking “what things – what you talking about?”
  • v. They then unload all their disappointments, their discouragement, and hopelessness, their failed expectations. To them:
    • a. Jesus was a good man, prophet, miracle worker, good teacher. But He was condemned to death.
    • b. He was the same guy who they hoped would rescue them from Rome (as evidenced by Palm Sunday and the triumphal entry) but was now dead.
    • c. On top of that, there is news that Jesus’ body is gone. The women saw angels who said He was alive, but no body was found later. And the two aren’t satisfied. They don’t know, or believe, and are still feeling like the wind knocked out of their sails.

Luke 24:25-27

  • i. Jesus speaks a correction: “Do you not know what has been written in the Scriptures you know so well? Don’t you understand it? Don’t you get it?”
  • ii. Jesus spends the rest of the journey (likely a long time as the whole journey was 7 miles) with captive audience. He shares from the entire Hebrew Scriptures, which they likely knew well (right from the beginning – writings of Moses to the end – prophets) about who the Messiah was and what was to happen to Him. All the of the Old Testament speaks to His death and new life.
  • iii. Important as He was speaking (from the writings they would have known well) about who He truly was, not just a ‘king’.

Luke 24:28-35

  • i. As they are sitting and having a meal, Jesus breaks the bread (reminiscent of the last supper), and instantly their eyes are opened to who this stranger was. They then look around to see He is gone.
  • ii. They realize that as He taught them, their hearts were burning within them. Something was resonating.
  • iii. In excitement, they go back to Jerusalem 7 miles to find where the 11 were gathered. Hear that Jesus had appeared and was risen. And they backed up that news from their experience. They had just experienced the hope of the Saviour.

SO WHAT?

Can you imagine what it would have been like to be Cleopas and his companion in that moment? To feel so full of despair and hopelessness, completely heavy from everything they had hoped in to come crashing down, to have their world be completely different and disappointing. Yet in a moment, a split second they had their hope, astonishment, and joy come flooding in as they see Jesus alive! As they put together the words Jesus spoke with recognizing who this stranger really was, they saw Jesus to be more than just a revolutionary leader. They saw Him to be the promised Lord and Saviour.

Important to remember that Jesus returned to them hope – but not in the way they expected or initially wanted, but in the way they needed. They didn’t need freed from Rome. Jesus offered freedom from the religious system of the day (with all of its restrictions and requirements), a real and personal relationship with God that had been restored, a message of spiritual healing and life, and a message of purpose and future in a world filled with chaos and unrest.

Picture today that you are Cleopas or his travelling companion. Where today are you feeling hopeless, discouraged, disappointed, depressed, heavy, weighed down, with the wind knocked out of your sails? What is written across your face? Where do you need the Hope of a Saviour?

The heart of the Father pursued you with love, an unconditional, all encompassing, overflowing love. Enough so that God Himself, in the person of Jesus, came down to Earth to physically die for you, and then rise to life again so that today, you can have the Hope of the Saviour. Because of Jesus, we can be invited into a personal relationship with God, where regardless of what we face, we don’t have to feel alone and hopeless. Where we can experience the love of God in a personal way that is bigger than any circumstance, pain, or failed expectation we face. Where, because of this relationship, we can experience His strength, His peace, His joy, His comfort, His presence. And we can know that whatever we are facing, because He lives, we also can live too. We can live beyond the here and now. We can live facing tomorrow, we can live facing eternity. We can know that whatever we face, we have the Hope of the Saviour who is bigger than all of it, and who promises us a life beyond this mere mortal life that is beyond compare. That is perfect, that is the way God originally designed us for and completes our story. Because He lives.

Good Friday Live Stream

Good Friday 2020 – The Heart of The Father

Good morning, and welcome to the online Good Friday Service here at HMC. This morning as you sit around your computers, TVs, or smartphones to join in, remember that we are here to reflect and to celebrate. We come to reflect on the overwhelming, indescribable, uncontainable, never ending love of Jesus Christ that was put on display as He gave up His life for us on a Roman Cross 2000 years ago. We reflect on how that act of love changed our history. We reflect how that one love act changed our lives and continues to change our lives.

We also celebrate. We celebrate because of what Jesus Christ did 2000 years ago on The Cross. We can celebrate an unconditional love that becomes a source of hope, joy, and peace. We can celebrate an unconditional love that fixes our brokenness and brings relationship. We can celebrate an unconditional love that turns us from death to life eternal if we choose to accept and receive it. Today, we celebrate love through Christ, at the foot of the Cross.

As we sing, as we hear Scripture read, as we pray, and we take communion, lets reflect, but lets also celebrate that we can and have found love.

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (ROM 5:6-8)

This morning, I want to share with you a story of the heart of a Father for His children.

In the beginning, The Father of all living things, God, created all that we see. He created life, He created us, and gave humanity breath. In His creation He was very pleased. He had a special relationship with humanity, unlike that of any thing else in all His creation. Humanity was created in His image. The first humans, Adam and Eve, got to enjoy the perfection God had created, and live in a mutually perfectly loving, perfectly personal, and perfectly whole relationship with God.

Then something called rebellion happened. When faced with a choice of honouring their Father’s command to not eat of a certain tree that was before them that the Father knew would bring death and the brokenness of all that was perfect, Adam and Eve chose their own pride. Picking their own path instead of God’s, in rebellion to what God said, they ate of that tree.

God, The Father had to respond. Because of their rebellion and sin, no longer could they enjoy the complete perfection in which God had placed them. The garden, the life, the relationship that they were designed for was all broken. But the story doesn’t stop there. That very day, even though God had to act on their rebellion and give them a needed consequence, the heart of the Father was filled with love for His creation. We see in Genesis 3:14-19 that before the Father spoke to Adam and Eve about their rebellion, He unfolded a plan to bring redemption, healing, and restoration to everything that was broken and destroyed by their rebellion. God promised a Saviour; a Saviour who would right the wrongs and put the broken pieces back together again.

At the right time, in our brokenness and helplessness, unable to fix ourselves, Christ came for us; the Heart of the Father was put on display for all to see. Jesus, the Son of God, yet God Himself; fully man and fully God came to Earth to live a life that was pure, undamaged by all the rebellion of humanity, free from any sin Himself so that He could fulfill the promise made by the Father thousands of years prior at the garden.

Today we remember how the heart of the Father was put on display through the love driven sacrifice of Jesus for all of humanity for all of history. We see this as Jesus, out of pure love, died for those who didn’t deserve it. He died for each one of His twelve disciples, many of whom had failed Him deeply, such as when they fell asleep on Him when they should have been keeping watch in the Garden of Gethsemane not once or twice, but three times. Or when the one who had said on the evening of Jesus’ betrayal that he would never abandon Jesus would go on to deny that he even knew Jesus three times before sunrise the next morning. Or the disciple who used his position as a way to embezzle money, and who for 30 pieces of silver (the modern day equivalent of a few hundred dollars in value) would hand Jesus over to the religious leaders to be sentenced to death.

Jesus also died for the mob that would violently arrest Him, or the religious leaders who would put Jesus on trial for bogus, made up, fake charges driven by a sense of revenge and anger. Jesus died for Herod, whose only interest in Jesus that day was to see this ‘magic man’ and mock Him. Jesus died for the soldiers who would mock Him, spit on Him, hit him, and pound a crown of thorns into His forehead. Jesus died for the soldiers who would almost beat the life right out of Him, to the point of being beaten beyond recognition. Jesus died for Pilate, the one who would sentence Him to death by crucifixion. He died for the criminal Barabbas who was released but should have been in Jesus’ place instead. He died for the ones who pounded each nail into His hands and feet to hang Him on that Cross. He died for the ones who would divide up his clothing to the highest bidder right in front of Him as He hung to die. He died for the ones who jeered at Him as He breathed His last in agony.

The whole time, Jesus could have stopped this. The whole time He could have walked away. But He didn’t. Rather than walking away, He prayed “Father Your will, not mine.” And as He hung on that Cross, He prayed that these people who did such horrible and unjust things would be forgiven for their ignorance. The heart of the Father was that His creation, His people who were broken by rebellion would be restored, redeemed to what they were made to be and restored to the relationship with Him that they were designed to have. He knew that the only way this could happen was for Him to come down in human form, Jesus Christ, and give up His life.

When Jesus said ‘It is finished’, breathed His last and died, He did so for all of humanity for all of history. He did it for all those who didn’t deserve it that day. He died for you, and He died for me.

The heart of the Father beat with so much love for all of us, for you, for me, for all of humanity that while we were all sinners, while we were all broken and had no idea that we needed help and likely didn’t want it either, He died for us.

In a moment, we are going to celebrate communion together. I will again read Romans 5:6-8. And then I am going to invite you to take a couple moments, as I play some music, to have silence in your home, to pray, to be thankful for the heart of the Father that pursued us to the point of Jesus willingly giving up His life out of love for us. Reflect on how His heart of love has changed you, and what it means for you today to be pursued by His love. And then serve each other the communion pieces together in your home, and hold on to them until we take them together in a few minutes.

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (ROM 5:6-8)

Easter Reflections with Pastor Lyndsay Part III

Meditation on Luke 23:32-3

Withholding Nothing

Written by: Sharon Garlough Brown: An Extra mile p373

  1. What emotions rise within you as you watch what is done to Jesus? What do you want to do? What do you want Jesus to do?
  2. Which aspects of the cruelty is most disturbing to you? Why?
  3. Jesus permitted everything to be stripped away; his reputation, his dignity, his clothing. He clings to nothing; he withholds nothing. Not even forgiveness. What do you cling to? What do you withhold? Why?
  4. What is Jesus inviting you to relinquish? What is Jesus inviting you to offer?
  5. Offer your response to God in prayer.

Take a walk in your neighbourhood and reflect on the following:

  • What do you notice about your reactions to praying with this text?
  • What does this text reveal to you about Jesus? Your own heart?
  • What are you being invited to release to God? Offer to others?

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, you love me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Easter Reflection with Pastor Lyndsay Part II

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Meditation on John 13:1-15,21

Loving to the End

Written by Sharon Garlough Brown: Barefoot p369

  1. Imagine Jesus kneeling before you, looking into your eyes, and reaching for your dust covered, unwashed feet. Do you offer your feet to him? Why or why not? If you resist, what is behind your resistance? Offer your thoughts and feelings to God in prayer.
  2. Picture a person you find most difficult to love and serve. Watch Jesus kneeling to wash his or her feet. How do you feel? Offer your thoughts and feelings to God in prayer.
  3. Now Jesus rises and hands you the basin and the towel. He invites you to kneel and wash the feet of the one who has betrayed you or has made life difficult for you. How do you respond? Offer your thoughts and feelings to God in prayer.
  4. Is there any concrete act of love and service that Jesus is calling you to undertake in his name?

What most stood out for you in the time of personal reflection?

Make Our Guests Feel Welcome This Easter!

 

Hey Everyone!

 

Easter is quickly coming upon us, and if you are like me, you are getting excited for the service Easter Sunday morning!  I love the celebration of the reality that Jesus did not stay dead, but He is alive, giving new life to all who will accept it!

 

Easter is a great time for new faces to check out our church.  Easter is one of those seasons where guests are more likely to accept an invite.  So I want to encourage you to do four things this Easter that will help our guests feel welcomed here at HMC:

 

1) Invite your friends!  If you want them to feel welcome here, they first need an invite.  And everyone loves a good celebration.  What a great day to invite your friends to be a part of!

 

2) Park with your heart:  Someone told me this phrase this week, and I love it.  Serve our guests from the heart by where you park.  Our parking lot is getting full, so if you can park in the far away spots, or maybe on the street to make room for our guests, or even walk to church if the weather is nice, that would go a long way in creating space for our guests.

 

3) Find new faces and genuinely welcome them:  If you see new people in the church, go over and say hi.  This doesn’t have to be weird, or overdone, but go over and introduce yourself, and welcome them here.  And be ready to answer any questions they may have about where they need to be in our facility.  Being new is a scary thing, but a warm welcome quickly makes people comfortable.

 

4) Make space in our space:  When you have guests in your home, you make space for them.  Maybe you give up your favourite chair or spot so that they can be comfortable.  Our church is also our space that guests are coming into.  Our space is looking more full each week, and will be even more full this weekend.  With that in mind, please (if you are physically able), make room for those coming in by moving to the centre of the rows of seating, leaving the empty spaces on the aisles so that open seats are easy to find for our visitors.  It has been said that once your church appears to be 80% full, visitors feel like there is no room for them.  We would never want our visitors to feel like there is no room for them to join us.  Please open up space by moving in.

 

Breakfast is at 8am until 9:30 Sunday morning, and our service will start right at 10am.  It will be an exciting service right from the start, so make sure you don’t miss it!

 

—Dave

Preparing for Easter: Watching & Praying ~ Sermon Video

When anxious times come, follow Jesus and His practices

1. Watch: your life will be destabilized (Luke 21:5-12; 16-17; 20-26)

2. Then watch: fear and vulnerability to deception creep in (Luke 21:8-9)

3. Remember this: God will provide (Luke 21: 13-15; 18-19)

4. Remember this: Jesus is coming (Luke 21:27-28)

5. Then pray: pray like Jesus (Luke 22:39-46)

6. And watch: courage, clarity, and healing emerge (Luke 22:45-51)

Luke 21:5-22:51New International Version (NIV)

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
7 “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”
8 He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”
10 Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
12 “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 And so you will bear testimony to me. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 Stand firm, and you will win life.
20 “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
29 He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
32 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
37 Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, 38 and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

22 Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, 2 and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. 3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. 4 And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. 5 They were delighted and agreed to give him money. 6 He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

The Last Supper

7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”
9 “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.
10 He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”
13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.[a] 21 But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. 22 The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!” 23 They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.
24 A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. 28 You are those who have stood by me in my trials. 29 And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
33 But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”
34 Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”
35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”
“Nothing,” they answered.
36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. 37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’[b]; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”
38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”
“That’s enough!” he replied.

Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives

39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.[c]
45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

Jesus Arrested

47 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
49 When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

Footnotes:

  1. Luke 22:20 Some manuscripts do not have given for you … poured out for you.
  2. Luke 22:37 Isaiah 53:12
  3. Luke 22:44 Many early manuscripts do not have verses 43 and 44.
New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Honoring our Children

…Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me,
and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these… 
                                                       Luke 18:16

One of my fondest memories of growing up in the Hanover Missionary Church was the moment in any service when the children were called forward.  My friend Megan and I would race to the platform, determined to be ahead of the pack so we could each hold Pastor Chris’ hand as we joined in a circle and were prayed for before going downstairs to our program.  On extra special weeks we would gather at the base of the stage stairs, our mothers waving their arms to remind us to keep our dresses pulled down over our knees as we sat on the carpet, listening raptly while Linus told us another one of his timeless bird stories.

These memories may seem trite; but as simple as they are, these moments were very powerful.  They instilled in me, as a child, that this was my church – that I was as much an important part of it as any adult that sat in the pews and it made a huge impact on the way I view Hanover Missionary Church and my role in it today.

Now I am raising my own children here and I know they already feel a deep sense of ownership over this place.  They are at home within these walls.  They know they are free to ask questions, dig deeper, and be real.  I am proud to be part of a congregation that has always honored children and it makes my heart swell when I see them invited into a Sunday service.

It was a complete joy on Easter Sunday when Pastor Amos called the children forward and read them a story he had written.  I was flooded with memories of sitting there myself and as I looked out across the congregation and saw smiles beaming from the faces of all those adults, I knew I wasn’t the only one who believes our children deserve our very best.

This will not just be their Church someday.  It is their Church right now and it’s important that we never forget that.

Alanna Rusnak shares her life with her husband, three children, and a cat she’s trying hard not to love.  She has attended HMC for her entire life and been on staff since 2003, currently fulfilling the role of Creative Communications.  You can find her over at her own blog, SelfBinding Retrospect.