4/27/2020 10:16:41 AM
Pastor Joel Leyrer - The Third Sunday of Easter - Sunday, April 26, 2020
Dear Friends of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, Emmaus was a small town about seven miles northwest of Jerusalem. The only reason we know anything about it is because it served as home to a couple of believers. One was named Cleopas, the other’s name we don’t know. Heaven only knows how many times they’d traveled this road. But this time it was different.
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4/20/2020 11:21:00 AM
Pastor Eric Schroeder - The Second Sunday of Easter - Sunday, April 19, 2020
In a way, we can identify with them—self-isolating from society, nervous to go outside and mingle with others because of the potential danger. By this time, maybe they were starting to think about how long it would take to return to normal, but even then, normal wouldn’t be the same as before. Not without Jesus. Maybe they had taken it all for granted: their health, their safety, the ease of travel and steady work to do. They had the best teacher ever, but classes were now cancelled indefinitely. It all came screeching to a halt Thursday night, it got worse on Friday, and ever since then they could only focus on what…and whom they were missing.
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4/13/2020 12:30:09 PM
Pastor Joel Leyrer - Easter Festival - Sunday, April 12, 2020
Dear Friends in our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, Visualize a past conversation you had with friends or family. A subject comes up which prompts someone to ask, “Do you remember that time when…” and then launch into a story. And if it truly calls to mind an event that is memorable because it was unusual or out of the ordinary or totally unexpected, the response from those listening will be, “Oh yeah, I remember that.”
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4/13/2020 12:24:49 PM
Pastor Eric Schroeder - Easter Sunrise - Sunday, April 12, 2020
Bad news: no Easter breakfast at church today. No community Easter egg hunts. No long lines for pictures with the guy in a bunny suit. Family celebrations are scaled back or canceled altogether. No full parking lot this morning; few people to greet and a grand total of zero hands shaken so far. To an outside observer, it might appear that Easter has been cancelled.
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4/13/2020 12:20:51 PM
Pastor Joel Leyrer - Tenebrae - Friday, April 10, 2020, 6:45 p.m.
First Lesson: Matthew 26:47-50
While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. Jesus replied, “Friend, do what you came for.” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.
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4/13/2020 12:13:31 PM
Pastor Kyle Bitter - Good Friday - Friday, April 10, 2020, 1:00 p.m.
It’s true that today is different from the way many of us are accustomed to observing Holy Week. It’s true that it seems strange for you to watch this at home, just as it’s weird to speak to a couple of cameras and a whole bunch of empty pews. But for a few minutes today, we have the opportunity to think beyond all that weirdness – which is temporary – and look at something that is timeless by spending some time thinking about why we gather at all – ever, whether digitally or in person! In today’s first lesson we have the chance to look at the events of Good Friday from the vantage point of God’s prophet Isaiah, who served some seven centuries before the time of Christ. Isaiah invites us to look at the events of Good Friday through the lens of one of his favorite prophetic pictures – a figure he calls “the servant of the LORD,” a figure charged with carrying out God’s will to save his people – often a reference to the promised Messiah to come! Isaiah describes the events of Good Friday like this: “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.” (Isaiah 52:13 – NIV84). On Good Friday, we see that happen. Jesus was raised up on a cross, and we have gathered to honor and esteem him for that. In looking at the rest of Isaiah’s prophecy, God invites us to consider the various reactions people have to the suffering of the Messiah, and invites us to marvel at how God in his grace has enabled us to Understand What We See at the cross today and what it means for our lives.
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4/10/2020 11:02:32 AM
Pastor Eric Schroeder - Maundy Thursday - Thursday, April 9, 2020
By the time the command came, death was already in the air. Tension was high all around, because no one had ever lived through a time like this before. Up until recent days, all the people had known was oppression and back-breaking work. It was already exhausting to make bricks all day; now the hours increased, because they had to gather straw on the way to work By the time the sun went down, there was little energy left to do anything but have a meal and get some rest, because the next day would be just as grueling as the one now coming to a close.
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4/6/2020 12:37:14 PM
Pastor Kyle Bitter - Palm Sunday - Sunday, April 5, 2020
Over the last couple of weeks, people who study patterns of human behavior have had a lot to study – to say the least – in observing the way people have reacted to the coronavirus outbreak. Early last week, I saw an article circulating that compared people’s reactions to the current crisis with the way the psychologists have documented the human experience of grief. I thought it was an interesting comparison that I wouldn’t have thought of myself, and as I read it I thought that I’d experienced some of the things he highlighted, and I know from talking to many you that the same is true for a lot of us. I’ll share a few of his thoughts.
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4/2/2020 11:05:00 AM
Pastor Aaron Robinson (Fairview) - Midweek Lent 6 - Wednesday, April 1, 2020
“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.” What is real? We understand what is around us with our five senses. We have learned to know the shape and use of many things. You sat down in the chairs because you know they are real. We even step onto airplanes that we believe will fly. But there is a limit to what we can know. You came here today for another truth you cannot see but you believe. You learn that truth from the Bible—God’s Word.
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