Well, we had a grand Easter, didn’t we? To God be the glory! Our daughter and her family came down to be with us that morning, and she said, “My goodness! Is this ‘Pack the Pew’ Sunday?” Because we were blessed with the largest crowd we’ve had for a very long time. How many, you ask? Oh,no, you don’t. I remember what happened when King David got too hung up on numbering the people! (See 2 Samuel 24 for the rest of that story.) The last thing we need is to be prideful. Let’s just be grateful and say “Oh, praise the Lord, we had a bunch!”!

I always love Easter, maybe best of all the Sundays of the year, with the Sunday at Christmas a close second. But the longer I’m in the ministry, the more I struggle with what to preach on those Sundays. I know that sounds silly. Of course, I’m going to preach on the birth of Jesus at Christmas and the resurrection of Jesus on Easter. But I’ve been doing this for so long, the challenge is to try to preach the “grand old story” in a brand-new way. I don’t want to just grab an old outline and “phone it in” on Christmas and Easter. At the same time, I’m starting to realize that all I really have to do is be faithful to proclaim the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, explain what it means, and leave the rest to God. Dallas Jenkins, producer of the Chosen TV series about Jesus and the apostles, likes to say “My part is just to give God my loaves and fishes. His part is to feed the five thousand.” That’s a really good thing to remember. (See John 6 for the rest of this story.)

For so many years here it seemed like all we had were loaves and fishes. Our hearts have been broken, and we have seen so many years with empty rooms, quiet hallways and shrinking crowds. For so long many of us have cried out to God for our church. Like many other congregations, we reached an alarming low point during the COVID epidemic in 2020.

Then, unexpectedly, in ways that had absolutely nothing to do with us- and in ways that we would never have chosen ourselves- God began to bring us people. We had a couple of “morning stars” (you who you are). Then we had some “mercy drops” (you all know who you are, too). Then, unlooked for, the “shower of blessing” came! Many of us cried when, literally overnight, the rooms began to be filled, the hallways were full of the sound of children, and more people began coming to worship God with us.

One of the things I love best right now is that after the morning worship service, several of the new children have spontaneously begun to gather in an empty area behind the pews and the East side of the sanctuary. I’ve never seen anybody have so much fun on an empty patch of carpet! They laugh, and talk, and giggle, and walk, and run, and jump. There’s even an occasional cartwheel. (Some of them have Pentecostal tendencies.) But I love it! As far as I’m concerned, they’re making that place holy with their joyful play.

I’m always reluctant to tell anybody about all this, because the first thing they ask is, “what did you do to make that happen?” And my answer is always the same: “WE DID NOTHING!” It was all God, who in so many unexpected ways brought beauty from ashes.

This last Easter Sunday many of us cried again. Over the past couple months several people expressed their desire to join the church to me or Pastor Bobby. We didn’t purposely try to make it happen this way, but we have a few people who are shy about getting up in front of the church. So, we suggested to our bashful brethren (and sistren) that, since there were others who were joining the church on Easter, maybe it would be easier for them if they came at the same time and sort of blended in with the group.

Some asked us if they should wait until after Easter to join, what with all the extra things going on. I told them that the early church would instruct their new converts in the weeks leading up to Easter, then baptize them on Easter Sunday. We didn’t actually have anyone to baptize on that day, but I told them it was entirely appropriate for them to unite with our church on Easter. In fact, I can’t think of a better Sunday to confess Christ, be baptized, or become part of a church fellowship.

Word began to get out, and first one, then another family contacted us and said, “ We like to join, too!” I visited, met with, or otherwise talked to every single one of them to hear their testimonies about how they were saved, and when and where they were baptized by immersion. I usually hear testimonies from people one or two at a time. But in the past few weeks, I’ve listened to so many testimonies, the details began to blur together! The bottom line is, I was convinced that they were all Christians, and I’m pretty sure they were convinced that I was, too.

So, at the end of the morning worship service on Easter Sunday, we presented thirteen people to the church for membership. And believe me, some of us cried again.

That evening, I had to go back to the church for something I forgot. (We don’t have an evening service on Easter Sunday, because, frankly, after Sunrise Service and our morning worship service, I’m exhausted. I could peach on Easter Sunday evening, but it wouldn’t be very good. My lights would be on, but nobody would be home. Years ago, when I asked our Deacons about not having evening services on Easter, I told them, “If you vote to have an evening service, you’re also committing to come to it.” I think it was a unanimous vote.) Anyway, after I got what I came for, I felt drawn to the sanctuary. It was so quiet, and so beautiful, with the sunlight illuminating the stained-glass windows depicting the crucifixion and resurrection. I don’t want to share too much, cause it was really just a moment between me and Jesus. But I will tell you what I prayed. I told Him, “All I can say is: Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!”

Since then, though, I’ve been asking Him to do it again.

It was a grand Easter, one of the best I’ve ever experienced. To God alone be the glory! Or as they say in Latin…

Soli Deo Gloria!

Pastor David