Heppner Gazette-Times. Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - THREE
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Heppner United Methodist Church
is R
‘New Life, Hope and Purpose *
(Editor’s note: Following are inspirational Easter messages from local pastors.)
Heppner First Christian Church
St. Patrick’s Catholic Church
‘Hope ’
‘ Easter is a Feast o f Faith ’
Two disciples are walling down the dusty road to the village o f
Emmaus. Their talk concerns the crucified Jesus. They are in shock,
in pain and struggling to understand things they cannot. Their Messiah
is dead. His body in the tomb. And now it is gone.
“ I can hardly believe it. He’s gone.”
“What do we do now?”
Just then a stranger comes up and says, “I couldn’t help overhearing
you. Who are you talking about?”
They stop, a sad look written all over their faces. Other travelers
make their way past them. Finally one asks, “Where have you been
these past few days? Haven’t you heard about Jesus o f Nazareth?”
He continues and tells what has happened.
The scene is fascinating. Two sincere disciples telling how the
last nail has been driven in Israel’s coffin. God, in disguise, listens
patiently, his wounded hands buried deeply in his robe. He must have
been touched by the faithfulness o f this pair. Yet he also must have
been a bit disappointed. He had just gone to hell and back to give
heaven to earth, and these two were worried about the political situation
o f Israel.
‘But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem
Israel.”
But we had hoped... How often have you heard a phrase like
that?
“ We were hoping the doctor would release him.”
“I had hoped to pass the exam.”
“ We had hoped the surgery would get all the tumor.”
“I thought the job was in the bag.”
Words painted gray with disappointment. What we wanted didn’t
come. What came, we didn’t want. The result? Shattered hope. The
world trembles. We walk the road to Emmaus wondering, “What kind
o f God would let me down like this?” And yet, so tear-filled are our
eyes and so limited our perspective that God could be the fellow walking
next to us and we wouldn’t know it. You see, the problem with our
two heavy-hearted friends is not a lack of faith, but a lack o f vision.
Their request was limited to what they could imagine - an earthly
kingdom. We are not much different are we? We roll in the mud of
self-pity in the shadow of the cross. We ask for his will and then have
the audacity to pout if everything doesn’t go our way.
Our problem is not so much that God doesn’t give us what we
hope for, as it is that we don’t know the right thing for which to hope.
Hope is not what you expect; it is what you would never dream. And
it is the two Emmaus-bound disciples reaching out to take a piece of
bread only to see that the hands from which it is offered are pierced.
Hope is not a granted wish or a favor performed; no, it is far
greater than that. It is an unpredictable dependence on a God who
loves to surprise us out of our socks and be there in the flesh to see
our reaction.
(All excerpted from “God Came Near” by Max Lucado)
I believe in this post 9-11 era the greatest hope we can have is
found in Jesus Christ.
- Pastor Andrew Johnson
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Easter is a feast of faith. St. Paul tells us: that if Jesus is not risen
from the dead, then our faith is vain. Consequently the New Testament
goes to great lengths to convince us the Jesus is indeed risen. The
Gospels tell us o f the many apparitions of Jesus, of many interesting
events in the lives of the apostles, and those who had been associated
with Jesus. Consequently, we are told that very early in the morning,
and as soon as the sun came out and they dared to go outside, that his
friends hastened to the tomb.
The first ones who came were the women. They had linen, oil
and perfume because they came to give him a proper burial. They
found the stone rolled back, and the tomb empty. They hastened to
inform the apostles o f this fact. Next came Peter and John. They
came running. John was the younger, so he outran Peter. What is
interesting is that when they reached the tomb, John stopped, did not
go in, and allowed Peter to enter first. They believed. Later Jesus
appeared to Mary o f Magdala. She believed. He appeared to the
apostles who were gathered together, and they believed. He appeared
to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and they believed. He
appeared again when the apostles were gathered together and Thomas
was with them. Thomas who had been unbelieving in the resurrection,
now believed, saying: “My Lord, and my God.” Then Jesus said:
“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” (John
20,29)
What we need to consider to-day is that those apostles not only
said that they believed, but they gave their lives for that faith. I do not
think that any one o f them would have sacrificed their lives had they
not been com pletely convinced o f the resurrection o f Jesus.
Consequently it is no wonder that St. Paul says: “..and if Christ has
not been raised, your faith is vain...” 1 Cor. 15, 17. Like the apostles,
let us put our faith in the resurrection of Jesus, and like them, live that
faith.
- Fr. G erry Condon
Heppner Christian
Missionary Fellowship
Holy Week Services
7/i Him We Live *
He came that we might live, (Jn. 10:10)
That we may be alive, (Acts 17:28)
He wants much more for us, / Than to merely survive!
Our own strength is limited,
Though it may seem to help some,
It can never make us whole, (I Thess. 5:23)
Or enable us to overcome! (Rev. 12: 11}
Trying to establish our own righteousness, (Rom. 10:3 and 4)
We ignore what was accomplished at the cross, (Gal. 2:21)
“But what things were gain to me”, (Philip. 3:7)
Those I counted for Christ, a loss.
Each time the path isn't clear, (Prov. 16:9)
Or things don’t go as I'd planned,
I’m reminded that I can trust, (Prov. 3:5 and 6)
In the Master Potter’s hand. (Is. 64:8)
When all I can see, / Is where I fail, (Is. 64:6)
I turn my eyes to the One,
Who does all things well! (Philip. 4:3)
His grace is always sufficient, (II Cor. 12:9)
He is our, “hope of glory”, (Col. 1:27)
“When 1 am weak then I am strong”, (II Cor. 12:10)
That’s good news to me!
For I’ve tried to be righteous by works, (Heb. 4.10 & Eph. 2:8 & 9)
And even sheer determination, (Philip. 2:13)
But it is, “repentance from dead works”, (Heb. 6:1)
That helps to build a solid foundation.
It’s about justification by faith, (Gal. 2:16)
And love we could never earn, (Rom. 5:8)
To rather glory in our infirmities, (II Cor. 12:9)
We all must learn!
“For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also
o f your own poets have said. For we are also His offspring.”
(Acts 17:28 KJV)
By Catherine Sims
May each o f us find life in Him!
-Pastor Lynda S. C rane
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Two thousand years ago, a radical and revolutionary voice taught
about a God who was a God o f Love and a God o f Life. To a culture
that valued only the rich and powerful, this voice demonstrated that
God sides with the poor and oppressed. To a culture that insisted
upon racial purity and held little regard for women, he showed that
God highly esteems minorities and women. To a world that measured
worth by the size of one’s purse and property holdings, he proved that
character and soul matter more than the size of one’s bank account.
To a culture that met military violence with terrorist violence, he taught
the way o f non-violence and of transforming one’s enemies into family.
The imperial government o f his time tried to silence this voice by
applying a military solution - and Jesus of Nazareth was executed by
means of crucifixion. The religious establishment and military governor
thought another rabble-rousing troublemaker had been put away and
was done with for all time.
But God’s ways are not human ways, and God’s solutions are not
military solutions, and the Author o f Life overruled the human courts
of death. Hallelujah!
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s way o f urging us to
leave the camp of the forces o f death and come to the camp of life.
“Choose life,” Moses urges the Israelites in the Sinai Desert. “I am
the resurrection and the life,” Jesus tells Martha and tells us in the
Gospel of John. This is the message o f Easter.
But Easter is more than just a message, it is a transforming
experience. It is the experience of moving from a life that is more like
death to a life that is abundantly and unabashedly alive. It means to
live the reality of the Good News Life that Jesus taught. It means to
reject the destructive way of violence as a solution to anything, and to
embrace the life-giving way of non-violence. It means to truly believe
and live according to the idea that God so loved the world that He sent
his only Son not to condemn the world but to save it. If God loves this
way, so can we.
This is the Way of Life. The resurrection is God’s proof that the
Way of Life is real, is ultimate, is powerful, and is the final Word.
This Easter may G od’s resurrection power release us from
whatever attitudes, behaviors, memories or lifestyles we have that
destroy life. May the power o f the resurrection fill each o f us with
new life, hope and purpose.
- Pastor C raig Strobel
H APPY
EASTER!
V. Sunday, March 31st
St. P atrick’s Catholic Church
Holy Week Services at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in
Heppner are as follows: Holy Thursday, March 28, an Evening Mass
o f the Lord’s Supper will be held at 7 p.m.; Good Friday, March 29,
Stations of the Cross will be at 12:50 p.m.. with a Solemn Celebration
o f the Lord's Suffering and Death at 7 p.m.; on Easter Sunday, March
31, a Mass of the Resurrection will begin at 11 a.m.
St. William's Catholic Church
Holy Week Services at St. William’s Catholic Church, lone,
are as follows: Good Friday, March 29, the Stations of the Cross will
begin at 5:30 p.m.; on Easter Sunday, March 31, a Mass o f the
Resurrection will be held at 8:45 a.m.
Heppner First Christian Church
Easter Sunday worship on March 31 at Heppner First Christian
Church will begin at 9:30 a.m. with donuts, coffee and breakfast
casseroles and fellowship. Worship service will start at 10:45 a.m. All
are welcome to attend.
Ecumenical Easter Sunrise Service
A Sunrise Service will be held at the Morrow County Fairgrounds
on Easter Sunday, March 31, at 7 a.m. Everyone is welcome to come.
This service is sponsored by South Morrow County Ministerial
Association and area churches.
Heppner United Methodist Church
Maundy Thursday Communion Service at Heppner United
Methodist Church will be held in the church basement at 7 p.m. on
Thursday, March 28.
Friday, March 29, a Good Friday Tenebrae Service will be held in
the sanctuary. This service is in cooperation with All Saints Episcopal
Church, and Hope and Valby Lutheran churches.
On Easter Sunday, March 31, a community Sunrise Service will
be held at the Morrow County Fairgrounds at 7 a.m. with a Celebration
of the Resurrection Service in the sanctuary at 10:30 a.m.
All Saints Episcopal
On Good Friday, March 29, a Tenebrae Service will be held at the
Heppner United Methodist Church, in cooperation with the Methodist
church, Hope and Valby Lutheran churches and All Saints Episcopal.
A Holy Saturday vigil will begin at 8 p.m. at All Saints Episcopal on
Saturday, March 30. Easter Sunday services March 31 will begin at
11 a.m. with celebrant Father Gilsdorf.
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Please Join lls ...
Tiie H eppner Seventh-day A dventist Church,
569 M in o r St., invites everyone to a video sh ow ing o f "The
Life o f Jesu s C h rist” on Friday, M arch 29 a t 6:30 p.m . in
th e church gym nasium . R efreshm ents will be served.
For more information, call Cynrliia Wenbety. 676-5036.
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(541 ) 676-9218 • 193 N. Main Street • Heppner
Monday - Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Babysitter training
workshop set
A b a b y sitte r train in g
workshop will be held Friday, April
19, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Port
o f M orrow in Boardm an.
Participants must be 11 years old
or older. The workshop will cover
what is expected o f sitters, how
to handle emergencies, basic child
care, supervising children and
simple meals and snacks.
Cost is $5. Scholarships are
available and participants are
encouraged to inquire about them.
Contact Laura McEUigott at 676-
5421 for more information. Pre
registration is necessary. Contact
the Morrow County Extension
Service at 676-9642 or 1-800-
342-3664.
The workshop is sponsored
by OSU Extension Service and
the M orrow C ounty H ealth
Department.
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