Well, it’s been a rough couple days as we’ve all been grieving the loss of our dear brother and elder, Rick Behrens. As is very evident from the kind comments people have written about him, we are all grateful for having known a man who loved his family so well, who served His church body with great dedication, and used the many talents he had to “work as for the Lord” in his impressive career. His death was tragic and unexpected, but his life was rich and full of purpose, and we grieve with hope as a community of people who know that our common faith in Christ will all bring us into the New Heavens and the New Earth when this life is past. And what a reunion it will be!

As we head into Easter week, with its dramatic arc that moves from the people hailing Jesus as king to their turning on him and approving of his death, we need to remember the ultimate purpose of these actions – for Jesus to die in our place so that our sin would be forgiven, and for His resurrection to defeat death and ensure that we would have eternal life after our deaths. In Rick’s sermon on Matthew 26 from two summers ago, he quoted 1 Corinthians 15:54 – “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” Rick went on to comment, “Jesus never sinned. He stood falsely accused. The accusation of blasphemy was not for Him – it was for us. The words that our Lord spoke were the truest words ever uttered on Earth. He was the Christ, the Messiah. He was the son of the Living God. He takes our blasphemous sins and offers us His sinlessness.”

“I arise today through the strength of heaven… I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me.” -St. Patrick’s Breastplate. See you Sunday, -Dave