Dear Friends in Christ,
           Spring has sprung!  Life has been renewed!  Winter has passed us and together we move
forward in the light of resurrection, love, and grace.  Alleluia, Christ is risen, He is risen
indeed, alleluia!  The cycle of life begins again.  Springtime planting will bring the autumn harvest.  Life is fresh
and new.  God is providing for His children.
           When I was a child, my grandma would take my brother and I downtown to the Lion store to buy
new Easter dress shoes.  The shoes always fit snuggly and were very shiny.  We would wear them at Easter to go to church then to my grandma’s house for dinner.  We could not wait to take off those shoes.  The freedom we felt as the
shoes came off was a rite of passage from winter to spring.  Just as seeds burst forth from the ground, so
would our toes emerge from the leather prison that cramped our feet.
           I suspect that Jesus felt the same way in the tomb. Trapped by the confines of darkness and fear, Jesus bursts forth on

Easter Sunday.  Jesus is a person of action.  Our God is a God on the move.  Laying in a tomb is no place for

God, too much work to be done.  Easter freedom releases Jesus into the world in a new and exciting way.  No longer confined by the cruelty of the world, Jesus springs into action, and brings us along for the ride.

           Resurrection light sweeps through our world and calls us to new and exciting things to see
and do and be in the world.  No longer are we cramped by the empty promises of the world, we have been freed from the
prisons of our own making, and it is Jesus who does this for us, because he loves us first.  The brokenness of the

world shows us every day how this promise of a new life gives us hope.  Hope does not disappoint, because it is in
hope that we live and move and have our very being.  Happy Spring! I am so proud to be your pastor!

Pray, Study, Worship,
Pastor Bob