All Saints’
Parish SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 2013
FOLLOW JESUS INTO EASTER JOY: BREAK THROUGH TO NEW LIFE
Break Through to New Life Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and the other women approached the tomb with spices to anoint the body of Jesus for burial. Their minds were focused on death, and their hearts were heavy with grief. Moments later, they came out of the tomb bursting with hope and overcome with amazement. Their experience in the tomb transformed their feeling from hopeless sorrow to overwhelming joy.
Nurture Your Soul When your day gets filled to overflowing with responsibilities and obligations, spend some time with God’s Word. If it’s been a while since you’ve read your Bible, try starting out by reading 1 Thessalonians; its filled with lessons the Apostle Paul used to encourage new Christians. You might also enjoy using Forward Day by Day, a daily devotional you may pick up in the church office. Finally, there are many books online and in our church library that can help you nurture your soul and grow your faith.
In raising Jesus from the dead, God offers this same breakthrough to you and me. Like the women, we bring the spicy trappings of our orientation to sin and death. From that very place of defeat, God invites us to follow our risen Lord out of the tombs that entrap us. We see Jesus Christ even from within the darker habits of our hearts. He stands triumphant at the entrance of
the cave, silhouetted by the sunshine, ready to lead us into the brilliance of Easter morning. We follow Jesus once more into God’s new life, leaving behind hopeless sorrow. Simultaneously, we embody resurrection life for the sake of others.