Posts Tagged ‘Easter’
Hope Because
The camelia behind our house started blooming in late January, causing me to wonder, “Does that happen often here in Seattle?” I’m new to the city and haven’t been through all four seasons yet, so I’m not sure. But seeing the blooms on that rainy Sunday morning got me to thinking about seasons.
Late winter is the season that most reminds me to look beyond what I see and think about what’s just out of sight. It is a season of potential.
When I see the tips of daffodils emerging or an early-blooming camelia, I don’t rejoice that spring has come because it hasn’t yet. But these little reminders that the roar of spring will soon unfold captures my imagination and invites me to consider the hope and potential of what’s to come in other areas of my life as well.
Something like this hopeful expectation has infected our team at World Relief. As we think about refugees who have been waiting for so long to be resettled, we have hope at the promise of an increased refugee ceiling. Like a gardener who sharpens tools and pores over seed catalogs in late winter, we are gearing up to welcome weary strangers whose long and halting journey to their new communities will likely resume in the year ahead. We pray for them as they wait. We pray and we hope.
Just on the other side of late winter comes spring — a season full of change.
There’s no need for me to dive into all the change we’ve experienced collectively this past year. I’m sure they’re springing to your mind even as you read this sentence. Instead, I’m wondering about the changes in your own life, your home, your ministry, your job, your health.
In losing the opportunity to meet together in person, I wonder if we’ve also lost the opportunity to share our stories with someone else as well, to turn our personal experiences into shared experiences. Do you miss that as much as I do? Or is that just an extrovert’s perspective?
As I’ve pondered these questions and the new season we are entering, I have found these meditations on change to be very helpful in transitioning to this new year, new season, new administration and new chapter of the pandemic. All of this change has given us a lot to sort through. Yet, at the same time, so many other things are standing still.
In this season of change, we find ourselves hoping for what’s on the horizon while still grieving the reality of what still is — the sickness, division, unresolved issues at our border and any number of unmet longings within our personal lives. It’s a lot to hold.
I’m reminded though, on the heels of Easter Sunday, that even in our waiting and in our grief we can still have hope. No matter what our changing circumstances may hold, we can have hope because God is faithful.
I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch and listen to the meditation on hope that’s shared below. As you do, I pray you’d become more aware of how God is present in the current season you are in.
We are so grateful for the support you — our partners, our advocates our volunteers — have shown us in the past season, and we look forward to partnering with you in the new season ahead.
*Find more meditations like this one here
In March, 2020, Kim Hurst relocated to Seattle for her job as a Strategic Partnership Director, just in time to lock down with her husband for Covid19. Even without any face-to-face meetings quite yet, she feels privileged to be serving World Relief’s partners in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
Love Remains: Devotional Series
In times like this, when fear and uncertainty threaten to overwhelm us, it’s helpful to take a step back and ground ourselves in the truth of who we are and whose we are. The gospel message we celebrate at Easter is one of absolute, unconditional love. You are more deeply loved by God than you can possibly imagine, and it is out of this love that we find the courage to stand.
This truth remains even amidst a crisis. The early church, itself, was birthed in a time of crisis and grief, right on the heels of Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension.
On the night of his arrest, Jesus gathered with his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane and acknowledged the fear and uncertainty they were likely experiencing. He said, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart for I have overcome the world!”
We are all experiencing some amount of trouble this Easter season. Yet, during this time of crisis, my prayer is that we would heed Jesus’ words and take heart, for he has overcome the world! Though it might be tempting to fall back into fear in this time, my prayer is that you would lean in with courage. Lean in and ask, “God, what do you have for me in this season? What do you want to say in the middle of uncertainty? Who do you want me to be, and what are you calling me to do?”
It is with these questions in mind that our team has developed a four-week devotional titled: Love Remains. We invite you, starting on April 20th, to join us on as we study portions of Acts. We’ll discover how the early church blossomed in the wake of Christ’s ascension and how we are a part of that continued growth and restoration today.
As we each take time to sit in the presence of God, my hope is that the church would emerge as a people fully known and loved by God, now empowered to extend that same love, healing and courage to others. May you find that it is when we most want to look inward the Spirit seems to call us outward.
You’ll see this very sort of story reflected in this devotional series as the early church, in the midst of crisis, came together in love and moved forward in spirit-filled action. Couched in the knowledge that God would always be with them, the early believers found a way to move through fear and answer God’s compelling call — a call to love, a call to serve, a call to be a transformative light in the midst of a dark world.
It is our hope that as you experience his love in this season you, too, would find the courage to stand, and to be an irresistible witness for Jesus to all who are confused, scared and suffering during these times.
Scott Arbeiter retired from World Relief in 2021 as president after serving the organization in various roles for more than two decades and is a former pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
3 Reasons to Join Us on the Journey Toward Easter
Next week, after the Valentine’s Day chocolates are gone, we’ll enter into a season known as Lent. For many Christians, this is a time of reflection, repentance and prayer. Leading up to Easter, Lent prepares us to remember what Jesus Christ did on this earth, especially on the cross, and then celebrate his powerful resurrection from death a few days later. We at World Relief will be taking a journey toward Easter during this Lent season and we want you to join us – here are 3 reasons why you should:
- It’s simple. To sign up, all you have to do is JOIN. Our staff has created devotionals, prayers and compiled scripture verses to send to your inbox daily. With one click of a key (or one tap of a finger), you can continue on the journey each and every day of Lent.
- It’s relevant. The Bible verses, devotionals and prayers shed light on the realities we face in this world – the good, the bad and the ugly. We’ll share stories of what happened in the Bible as well as what’s happening now and what we can learn from each.
- It’s empowering. Getting into God’s word daily is good for the soul. Not only is it one of the most powerful tools we have as Christians, but responding to what we read leads us to break bad habits and gain better ones – developing spiritual disciplines that help us year round! The scriptures, stories from our staff and prayers will help you understand the power we have in Christ to change the world…and ourselves for the better.
“Resurrection Rescue”: Reflections on Easter in Malawi
Roberta Nagel, volunteer Church Partnership Coordinator for Malawi, shares her reflections on Easter and the work of the Church in Malawi.
We are just a few short days from Easter. As I remember and reflect upon relationships formed half a world away from my birthplace, I am captured by the intimate analogies between what I have personally witnessed in lives here, and the miracle of our Lord’s resurrection.
Time after time, I see firsthand a life at the brink of poverty-induced despair or death from HIV/AIDS, but which now presents the picture of joy and health – all because of the love of God made manifest through World Relief servants who extended a small kindness – a cup of cold water – their lives have been “resurrected” from death to life.
Because a volunteer visited, and later accompanied her to get tested for HIV, a woman whose village was planning her funeral as they saw her wasting away from an AIDS related illness, is free from any symptoms and serves her neighbors as the leader of the very group who reached out to her with love in action. This, just one of hundreds, perhaps thousands of stories from World Relief venues the world over.
Just think, because of His Resurrection, we are in the unparalleled business of bringing resurrection rescue to those in our circles of influence as the extension of the hands and feet of our Lord Jesus. What a blessing and what a responsibility!
If you think this language is too dramatic, I invite you to ask them for yourself and see how they describe their transformation. They will assure you it is nothing short of a resurrection day miracle.
Easter Blessings to all – HE IS RISEN INDEED!
second photo by Marianne Bach