Good News

Happy Easter Edgemont!

I pray that this email finds you doing well today. We continue in this strange time we find ourselves. We continue to learn to adapt to the concept of social distancing and staying away when we would much rather be out about with family and friends. Many of us had to celebrate Easter away from our church and family for the first time in our lives! It is a hard thing to get used to; especially with the uncertainty of how long this will last.

Even as this uncertainty rises, we are still Easter people! We are the people who have inherited the Good News of the Resurrection of Christ Jesus! Even in spite of the difficult circumstances of this world, we can have hope in the Good News of Jesus.

I have been reflecting on this past week as, like many of you, I discovered SGN. SGN is the Some Good News Network started by John Krasinski (better known as Jim from the Office or the latest incarnation of Jack Ryan) to be a place where people could come and hear some good news in the midst of this difficult time in our world. He has shared stories of the heroism of hospitals around the world, the efforts of corporations and regular folks to meet shortages in protective gear, and share general silly and heartwarming videos that others have sent him.

I love this idea. While we don’t need to put our fingers in our ears and pretend that nothing is wrong; we also don’t need to binge ourselves on the negativity that can often drive news in our world today. While we need to be informed and while we need to not mislead, we are people of the ultimate GOOD NEWS! The author of the book of Hebrews reminds us, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Church, I have an idea for us this week. What if we once a day for the next week share something encouraging? It could be a positive post on social media. It could be an encouraging text or phone call. There are so many ways that we can be a people who spur on one another and as well as those we interact with this week towards love and good deeds. We may be in a season where we can’t meet in person; but we can be together online and we can be a force for the good. We can share the good news of Christ Jesus and the good news of regular people doing good things. That is something to hold on to unswervingly.

He is Risen!

Pastor Henry