ON THE COVER:
Start Running...
by Pastor Meta Herrick Carlson
Easter Sunday and April Fools Day share the calendar
this year. The humor is not lost on me. Being Easter
People can feel foolish sometimes! Like the women
running from the empty tomb to tell the disciples,
shouting words that rang out beyond logic, a new reality
that lacked clarity, a fear and excitement about the
future made it hard to know where to start.
That's the call, this season and always. We are fools for
Christ who sprint toward what's next without knowing what will happen when
we get there. I know some of us long for a time when five or twenty year plans
could be etched in stone and congregations hummed along. We'd feel a bit less
foolish if the culture made it easy, if everyone knew the story, if we were called
to keep doing what we've always done.
But the Bible is filled with people God was leading one step at a time. The
Israelites probably looked foolish smearing lambs' blood on their doorposts,
wandering around in the wilderness, and waiting for flakey
manna to fall out of the sky so they could have lunch.
"We are fools for
Christ who sprint
There has been plenty of death and resurrection at
toward
what's next
Bethlehem lately. It’s not easy to say goodbye and hello
without knowing
to so many pastors in one year. It’s not comfortable
learning to be one church with multiple expressions as
what will happen
Minneapolis, Minnetonka, and Spirit Garage. But this is
when we get
what it means to be Easter People. We are in the business
there."
of death and resurrection because we believe in a God who
makes faithful fools of us all.
So when you hear the good news this season, start running. Not because you
know exactly where you’re going or because you have it all figured out, but
because you can’t wait to tell someone else that God’s love has the last word and
makes fools of us all.
April 1—EASTER
Festival Worship with Holy Communion, Choirs and Brass
6, 7:30, 9, 10:30 & Noon (MPLS)
It’s mind-blowing, earth altering
news. Jesus is alive. Death has been
defeated. Life wins. It’s great, but
now what? How do we live with the
knowledge that things are different
when in many ways it still feels the
same. Each of the gospel writers were
struggling with this experience as
they told their stories of what
happened after Jesus was crucified.
These stories give us clues into what
life looks like on this side of Easter,
where our every impulse has us
wondering, “Great...Now What?”
April 8:
John 20:19-30
Thomas
April 15:
Luke 24:13-32
The Road to Emmaus
April 22:
John 21:1-14
Breakfast on the Beach
April 29:
John 21:15-25
Follow Me
Sermons!
A small group is taking a look at
Pastor Chris Nelson's sermons and
will be collecting some of them for the
Heritage Committee and anyone else
who would like them. If you have a
favorite or memorable sermon, please
contact Sandie Anderson with any
information, approximate date or
topic that you can provide, sandra@
willowlane.net, 763.560.7978.
9:30 & 10:45 am (MTKA)
7pm Easter Evening Service of Holy
Communion (MPLS)
Both campuses will be closed on Easter Monday, April 2.
Next CONNECT deadline:
April 10, 2018
[email protected]
CONNECT newsletter online
bethlehem-church.org
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