A Blessed and Happy Easter
Dear Siblings in Christ,
I write this to you as we near the 5th Sunday of Lent looking toward the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus the Christ. I pray that you are well during this Lenten season, fully immersed in your own reflections of faith, walking with Jesus toward Jerusalem and his last Passover meal.
I look forward, knowing what the disciples did not know at this point in time on the journey – that Jesus was indeed resurrected; that we celebrate that resurrection over 2000 years later! Praise be to God for the resurrection of the Lord!
This knowledge resounds in the church throughout the world, together with singing ‘Christ, the Lord is Risen Today. Alleluia!’ This Good News has been lit like a new flame in the hearts of believers, even in the face of the challenges in our world due to increased restrictions on individual rights and liberties, massive changes in our federal government, climate change, and wars.
We can be so grateful and joy-filled to gather as an open and inclusive community of faith in the Lord’s resurrection, when many do not welcome people because of who they love, how they identify, how they worship the Creator of all, and even their citizenship. This gratitude and joy grown in the love of God in the Risen Christ, is contagious, transmitted from heart to heart, because every human heart hungers to be wholly loved. It is not a magic formula that makes challenges disappear. It is a love and a hope that binds us up to face the challenges that arise. Christ is with us, indeed!
Giving witness to the love of God in the Risen Lord is one of the many attributes of the BMUC faith community. One of our hallmarks is providing support, care and advocacy for children and youth. We do without regard for who they are, from where they have come, who their parents may (or may not) be.
This Easter, with joy, gratitude, love, and hope filling our hearts I invite to you give specially, above your regular giving, to the work of caring for children and youth in our faith community and through the ministries we support year-round. You are welcome to give during Easter Sunday worship with begins at 10:30 am on April 20, or through on-line giving through our website, www.bmuc.org, or by mail to BMUC 1710 Carleton St., Berkeley, CA 94703 (note that your offering is for Easter Offering.)
Please also do join us for worship throughout Holy Week beginning with 10:30 am worship on Palm-Passion Sunday, April 13 when we remember the procession of Jesus into Jerusalem, even as political and religious zealots were plotting his arrest, conviction, and death. Then on Good Friday, April 18, at 7 pm, we remember the unlawful conviction and death of our Lord, Jesus the Christ. Grieved we leave in silence to await God’s work. On Easter Sunday, 10:30 am worship, we come to the tomb, surprised, and filled with joy that not only is the cross empty, so is the tomb and our Lord is risen!! And, of course, we welcome kids from all walks of life to an Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt, after worship! What a day to celebrate and join in love, with our siblings in the Risen Christ!
Shalom, Salaam,
Rev. Pamela Kurtz, Pastor
