An Easter God - An Easter People

Wednesday after Epiphany 4
February 3, 2010

The Lord be with you

I am part of the SED (Southeastern District) Ablaze! Task Force (a link to the SED is in the righthand sidebar). The general purpose of this group is to support and encourage the churches in the SED in their efforts to share the message of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus. A recent project of ours was the Advent homily series, “An Advent God – An Advent People.” It was well received around the district so we were inspired to try something a little more ambitious, a devotional series for Easter to Pentecost 2010.

Once again I was asked to provide the framework for the project. We went with the title: “An Easter God – An Easter People.” My skeleton suggested the following themes for each week: Easter as Event; Easter as Message; Easter as Baptism; Easter as Communion; Easter as Vocation; Easter as Worship; and Easter as Eschatology. The various liturgical holidays during the time are recognized as well. I provided suggested Bible passages, suggested how the passage might be worked into the general theme, and so on. Each devotion, hopefully, will include a story about sharing the Gospel.

I sent this work on to the district, specifically Sally Hiller. She used her contacts (which extend far beyond the SED) to recruit writers. These writers were not bound by my suggestions. If they wanted to use a different Bible verse, or work the weeks theme a different way, they could.

This past Monday I found out that the devotional is in its final editing stages. I also found out something that was quite surprising to me. This is being picked up by the LCMS (Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod), and will be made available to all in our denomination either in a downloadable format or in booklet form. I certainly hope it will be a blessing to all who use it, encouraging us to share God’s grace with those who do not yet know our Lord Jesus.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert