Today's Easter thoughts come from a sermon by Martin Luther King Jr. He notes that what Easter teaches us is:

"that this earthly life is merely an embryonic prelude to a new awakening, that death is not a period which ends this great sentence of life but a comma that punctuates it to more loftier significance."

​Easter weekend may be over for another year, but the events it celebrates have changed our lives forever. May you rejoice in the gift of new life today!

As we approach Good Friday and Easter, these thoughts from Johann Ernst von Holst give a wonderful perspective on the mission of Jesus:
"The Passover was a festival in memory of Israel’s liberation from slavery in Egypt, but at the same time it was a prophecy of the freeing of the whole of humankind from the heavy yoke of sin and condemnation through the atoning death of the perfect Paschal Lamb. Jesus longed to fulfill this 1500-year-old prophecy and at long last to redeem the lost world through his sacrificial death, to close in this way the old covenant and set up the new one. But he saw still further beyond this deed of redemption. He looked into that sunny distance beyond time where his whole work would be brought to perfection, where he would celebrate the meal of joy on the transfigured earth with a redeemed humankind and drink with them the new fruit of the vine."

Today's Lenten thoughts are from Ann Spangler:

"The risen Jesus had appeared, not to rulers and kings, nor even first of all to his male disciples, but to a woman whose love had held her at the cross and led her to the grave. Mary Magdalene, a person who had been afflicted by demons, whose testimony would not have held up in court because she was a woman, was the first witness of the resurrection. Once again, God had revealed himself to the lowly, and it would only be the humble whose hearing was sharp enough to perceive the message of his love."
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As we prepare to celebrate Palm Sunday and Holy Week at REMC, I am reminded of the cost of following Jesus, and the courage that was especially demonstrated by women. They joined the happy crowd at the parade of his triumphal entry, and they were still there, alone, at the foot of the cross, and again at his grave. Lord, give me that heart.