Pastor's Message
Few things in the entire world can match a sunset. Human beings have created wonderful things through the years: great boulevards lined with big beautiful buildings, archways and towers, lakes created by gigantic dams, marvelous large ships that sail through the seas. But they all must take a back seat when it comes to a glorious sunset with its oranges and reds and magentas and purples stretched across the evening sky.
There are few atheists and non believers at sunsets. During the day, maybe, when life is hard and sun is beating down with feverish type temperatures. But not at sunset-when the splash of colors brings warmth and tenderness to our souls. A few weeks ago, crowds of people were hurrying around, just so intent on getting to their gates at the Sacramento Airport and then rushing to get to their flights. A women being pushed in a wheelchair startled them all, exclaiming suddenly in a loud voice, “Good work, God!” Everyone looked in her direction, then at what she was seeing: a gorgeous sunset through the glass walls of the western corridor. The entire atmosphere changed. People smiled, stood taller, and just strode on through the airport. “Good work, God!”
This is Holy Week. Over 2,000 years ago, against a background of darkness and rejection, God revealed to us through a Sunset, a cross, and then three days later a Sunrise, outside a tomb. It was a priceless gem of divine love and forgiveness. Today, Jesus Christ stands out against the backdrop of darkness and lack of hope we may feel in these tough times. That’s one of the reasons it is good to remember those dark days of his life once a year at Easter. How very much those dark days of life were. How much then that Jesus overcame the darkness and then brought light into the world. And he can overcome our darkness too--if we look in that direction.
May the peace of Easter be yours,
Pastor Mike