Sue’s Thoughts – On Getting Ready for Easter
As we get ready to come into Holy Week this year, I am thinking about the emotional peaks and valleys that Jesus and his followers encountered: A triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, their last meal together on Maundy Thursday, his crucifixion on Good Friday, and then the beginning of the wonderful story that he had risen on Easter Sunday.
Wow! Talk about the highs and the lows!
Personally, I often find Easter to be a humbling and emotional time. I worry that if I had been in the Disciples’ shoes, I might have denied Jesus out of fear like some of them did. I don’t know if I could’ve stood bywatching while he was being crucified. Mostly, I know that I’m not deserving of the gift that God gave us in sending His son. If left to my own devices, I might be tempted to wallow in that feeling of being inadequate, or feeling that I don’t deserve God’s gift of salvation. But that’s part of why I love working with children. Have you ever seen kids not accept a gift because they didn’t deserve one? Or have you ever watched a child wallow in feeling guilty because of a “what if” scenario? I sure haven’t! Obviously, we want kids to feel a sense of gratitude and not a sense of greed, but children don’t attach all of that guilt and emotion to receiving a gift, and I don’t think we should either! God DID send Jesus to die for us on the cross, and He gladly gives us that gift in spite of our imperfections. We cannot “be good enough” and yet he still freely offers that gift to every one of us. My prayer for us this Easter time is that we could all be like children in receiving the gift that God gave through Jesus. I think most kids, when presented with an amazing and undeserved gift, would say, “Wow! Thanks, God this is really great!” As NickyGumbel, the leader of the ALPHA course, puts it, all we have to do is to say, “Sorry, thank you, please”. (“Sorry, God, that I’ve sinned and let you down. Thank you for the gift of salvation through Jesus. Please come into my heart today.”) The gift of Jesus Christ is ours to accept. May we do so with the joy of a child so that we can go out and begin living a new life with God at the center of our hearts!
- Sue Goodwin