A MESSAGE FROM REV. KAREN KINNEY: FEARING THE JOY
Grace and peace to you,
Heads up Good Friday people! Easter Sunday is coming! Resurrection joy is on its way!
But first… we would be remiss if we didn’t 
remember the actions of Good Friday and the days in between when his followers saw him killed on a cross. I have often wondered what that must have felt like – witnessing his suffering, the way he forgave those who were putting him to death and those who called for Barabbas to be released – not Jesus. Witness to his last breath, witness to him being laid in a tomb. I can’t imagine the grief, the fear, the feeling of helplessness.
Then I remember that Jesus predicted his suffering and his death at least three times in the Gospel of Matthew, but each passage ends with this phrase: and on the third day he will be raised. How did that get missed? Did they not hear it? Believe it? Trust it? Did the fear of Good Friday outweigh the promise of new life, new beginnings for this ragtag group of Jesus followers? Do we fear Resurrection Joy?
This is what we will explore this Sunday – three times Jesus tells folks he will be raised – given new life, and yet when we come to the story of the empty tomb in Matthew, we see fear arise again. What will the angel say to the women (the first evangelists!) who come to the tomb to care for Jesus’ body? And what will those words mean to us? What will their encounter with Jesus mean to us? How can fear and great joy co-exist? So many questions, so much to explore on such a joyous day!
Come and see, come and explore, come and be together in community.
Blessings,
Pastor Karen