You’re invited to St. John’s Church Picnic

When: Sunday, June 13th
Time: 10:00 am Church Service begins
(if inclement weather, service will be held at church)
Where: Riverside Park

Coffee & Donuts at 9:00am in Riverside Park pavilion
Picnic lunch at 11:00am (rain or shine) in Riverside Park pavilion

Plus bingo, bag tournament, other games & silent auction.

The foremost truth of God’s Word is eternal life through Christ.

The above truth is connected fully to the Resurrection of Christ as Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish.” (John 11:25-26) Have you ever really thought about Jesus’ statement and fully applied it to yourself and all who believe in the Savior Jesus. You live FOREVER! There is no end to your LIFE because it is ETERNAL. The friends in Christ that you have here, you will have for eternity. On this side we struggle with sin, but on the other side of bodily death that struggle will be gone. The fact that I have eternal life dictates my everyday Life in Christ. When I sin, I look to Jesus and find forgiveness. When I worry, I hear Jesus tell me He is with me now and forever. When I suffer, Jesus reminds me my sufferings are worked for my good by His gracious hand. Isn’t it wonderful to know and believe—HE IS RISEN!

As we eagerly wait for Easter, the celebration of ETERNAL LIFE through Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection, we continue with our Lenten preparation. As your pastors love it when God’s people worship, they have added another service (3:30 p.m.) to Maundy Thursday and arranged the schedule to hopefully accommodate everyone. All the way through Easter we will continue our theme, “Hands of the Passion”. The remaining services are:

Maundy Thursday: 3:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Good Friday: 12:00 noon or 6:00 p.m.
Easter Festival Service: 7:45 or 9:30 a.m. (No Communion)

Alleluia, song of triumph, sound of joy that cannot die;
Alleluia is the anthem ever dear to choirs on high;
Saints adorned in robes of glory join the great angelic cry.

Alleluia we are singing, voicing hymns in pure accord,
With Christ’s holy Church united, justified, redeemed, restored,
And with all his faithful people raise our songs to praise the Lord.

Alleluia cannot always be our song while here below;
Alleluia our transgressions make us for a while forgo.
For the solemn time is coming when our tears for sin must flow.

May our hymns be filled with longing—hear us, Holy Trinity—
As we look to your blest Easter, here, and then eternally,
When we shall once more be singing alleluia joyfully!

These words are from the hymn “Alleluia, Song of Triumph.” You may have sung this before or perhaps not. It is one that is sung right before Lent in a part of the service where we say farewell to “Alleluia.” Beginning on Ash Wednesday we begin our solemn journey through the season of Lent to the feet of our Savior on the cross. While we continue to rejoice in our salvation and forgiveness through Lent as we did throughout the year, our rejoicing is muted as we examine how our salvation came to be. It has been a tradition for Christians for centuries to leave out the most jubilant songs during Lent. This is not because God does not deserve our praise but to reflect on the seriousness of sin. Alleluia means “praise the Lord” and we still praise him but in reflection and repentance.

What we see in Lent leading to Good Friday is that God does not forget our sins, there still needs to be a price paid. The phrase “Nothing in life is free” rings true here. Our salvation was not free it came at a price, the punishment for sin still needed to be paid. We see that payment on Good Friday where Jesus paid the price for our sins. There our debt was paid for on our behalf. There we see what our sins earned. We were bought at a price and that was Jesus' life. So through the season of Lent, we not only reflect on our sins and repentance but also focus on the love our Savior has for us. We see how he paid our debt for us.

That is why on Easter we sing “Alleluia” over and over again. There at Easter, we see our forgiveness won! We see our debt paid with the stamp of approval that our debt has been paid in full by Christ rising from the dead! Have you ever finished paying off a debt to someone? Maybe it was a friend, the bank, or a credit card. Did you feel lighter after it was paid? That is what Christ's resurrection is for us. That weight is lifted and we cannot help but sing “Alleluia” over and over again!

As we go through this Lent season there are many opportunities to come to worship, ask for God’s forgiveness and receive it, and to reflect on the love that God has for us. We invite everyone to come to our midweek services at 3:30 and 7:00 pm on Wednesdays. Maundy Thursday services will be at 3:30pm and 7:00 pm on April 1st and two identical Good Friday services on April 2nd at noon and 6:00 pm. On Easter, we will have two identical services one at 7:45 and 9:30 am.

Please come, invite your friends and your neighbors! Let us join together to see the love God has for us as we travel the road through Lent to our Savior’s glorious resurrection on Easter!

Pastor Nick Quinnett