Easter: Start Preparing!

Hey everyone,
The older I get and the more I grow in my faith, I grow to appreciate the richness of our sacred holidays more and more. By these I really mean Christmas and Easter first and foremost. Easter's 2 weeks away, and it's going to be weighing heavy on my mind starting this week.

I would encourage you, whether you're going to be serving at church in an "official" way on Good Friday or Easter (singing on stage, running sound/tech, helping with setup/teardown, ushering, etc), or whether you're just planning on attending and being a part of corporate worship this year, start preparing your heart now.

On Good Friday we reflect on, and remember the death of Jesus on the cross for our sins; and on Easter we rejoice and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the grave, whereby we obtain eternal life in Christ, and victory over sin and death.

So what should you do over the next 2 weeks? Here's what I'm committing to: pick a Gospel (or more than one if you can manage) and read it over the next couple weeks. Get out your theology books and look into what was accomplished on the cross, and in the resurrection of Christ. Lets prepare to sing with informed hearts and minds over Easter weekend!

And don't let these couple of weeks go by, when even unbelievers have a holiday on their minds that is completely and totally about the glory of the Gospel of Jesus (and not the Easter Bunny, contrary to popular belief). Engage the people in your life with this hope, who don't have it. You can even invite those individuals to church on Easter Sunday, as the service will have an extra evangelistic aspect to it. Most importantly, don't neglect to pray that God will cause life to spring up in the hearts of unbelievers this Easter.

Romans 6:5
For if we have been united with [Christ] in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.