St. Luke's Blogs

Hear me, Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; have mercy on me, Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
Bring joy to your servant, Lord,
for I put my trust in you.
You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
abounding in love to all who call to you.
Hear my prayer, Lord;
listen to my cry for mercy.
When I am in distress, I call to you,
because you answer me.

-Psalm 86:1-7

It was my first Easter Sunday as a pastor. I was nervous to be in the pulpit on such a sacred day. Aimee and I were serving two churches at Highland and Fort Cobb. Although I was nervous, I was excited to preach on that special day. I woke up early to make sure I was prepared. Our family left the house early for what was sure to be a fun day. We made the long drive to the church. With each mile my excitement grew.

Through loving God I’ve learned to love and appreciate my neighbors more than ever before. I see how the mutual love for God brings everyone together as a community. On Sundays, I get to teach two- and three-year-old children all about God and how He loves us. I teach them about Jesus. One of my 3-year-old kids came into the nursery and asked me, “Miss Molly, are we going to learn about Jesus today?”

They had endured the trials of that holy week in Jerusalem. Jesus entered the city to the waving of palms and the shouting of “Hosannah.” Shortly after that Jesus was betrayed, arrested, brutalized, and killed. This struck fear into the hearts of the ones who followed Jesus so closely.

While Easter doesn’t have as many Easter songs and we’re not inundated with Easter carols, there are still favorite Easter hymns. And one of my favorite traditional Easter hymns is “Up from the Grave He Arose.”

Easter people raise your voices
Sounds of heaven in earth should ring
Christ has brought us Heaven’s choices
Heavenly music let it ring
Alleluia, alleluia
Easter People let us sing

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

When I was in 2nd grade, I had my first occasion of spending the night at a friend’s house. In fact, I got to stay with two of my best friends because they were sisters.

Every year, I find the Good Friday worship service at St. Luke’s to be one of the most powerful worship services of the entire year. If you have never been to a Good Friday worship service before, I highly encourage you to make it a point to go this year. Typically, this service is what we call a “Tenebrae” service. Tenebrae is a Latin word that means “darkness.” As we go through the service, we begin to extinguish candles and lights in the room until we find ourselves in complete darkness as we remember the death of Christ on that first Good Friday.