Element MS: The Life & Times
Happy Easter!
Check out the Bible Project’s Luke 24 video. It celebrates Jesus’ resurrection and ties everything back to one of Luke’s main themes; the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is an upside down (but actually right side up) world view. And in order to receive the gospel of Jesus, our risen Lord, we must let go of the “normal” way of viewing ourselves and our world. And when we do, Jesus’ way of self-giving love begins to transform us to become more like him.
Why is it “Good”Friday?
Today is called “Good Friday.” When I was younger I didn’t understand why it was called good when Jesus died. I thought it should be called “Bad Friday.” Over the years, I’ve grown in my understanding of the gospel. I’ve also grown in my understanding of goodness, and the paradox of true good coming from bad.
Easter Playlist!
I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself, since we haven’t had Good Friday yet, but wanted to help you get musically prepared for Resurrection Sunday. Here is our Easter Mix -- that’s what we used to call playlists in the pre-streaming days.
Looking forward to celebrating our risen Christ together. See you all on Easter!
Characters of Passion Week: The Crowd
When I was younger, I didn’t understand that this crowd crying out for Jesus to be crucified probably had many of the same people who gave Jesus a king’s welcome into Jerusalem earlier in the week on Palm Sunday.
Characters of Passion Week: Pilate
John 18:28-19:16 features Jesus’ conversations with Pilate. Even though we aren’t governors or officials with things like political power, authority or civil unrest to deal with, Pilate ends up being a character who is relatable.
Chris has some thoughts to share with us from today’s devotions:
Characters of Passion Week: Peter
Today we continue on in John 18:12-26. While Jesus is arrested and interrogated harshly, Peter remains outside. Although he had insisted to Jesus that he would follow him to the end no matter what, reality proves otherwise. Peter warms himself near a fire with others, and when different people ask him if he is one of Jesus’ followers, he denies Jesus, just as he had predicted.
Characters of Passion Week: Judas
Our devotions this week are through the Passion accounts in the gospel of John. Today’s Bible passage is John 18:1-11, when Judas betrays Jesus. While Peter wants to put up a fight, we see Jesus does the exact opposite.
Music Monday: Music for Passion Week
Yesterday was Palm Sunday, which kicks of Passion Week. So this week’s playlist features songs that can help you focus on the last week of Jesus’ life.
Passion Week Resources
As we announced at church today, this year we are doing Passion Experience, Good Friday, and Easter Service all online due to Covid-19.
Feel free to check out some of the resources below.
Introducing Fun Friday: Broom Edition
On Fridays we want to feature posts about some of the fun stuff we all are doing while at home! As we either WFH (work from home) or SFH (school from home), it’s important to keep *engaging our minds*.