Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 23, 2016
- THREE
Easter messages from your local churches
From Death to Life
Looking out at Heppner this time of year we see green
grass, daffodils blooming, and tulips popping through
once-dry soil now moist with the spring rain. The dark
cool mornings are giving way to radiant blasts of sunshine
dancing over rolling hills above our town.
All of this life crashing through the darkness of win-
ter is a vivid picture of another in-breaking of life that
happened on the other side of the world 2,000 years ago
when Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He literally rose
from the dead. How is that even possible?
The resurrection of Jesus is not a fairy tale or merely
a good story. The resurrection of Jesus is an historical
fact. Jesus Christ was put to death on a Friday by having
His body nailed to a cross by the Roman Empire. He was
pierced with the spear of a Roman soldier and blood and
water came out (John 19:34). He couldn’t have passed
out or faked death. He was dead; this is certain. He was
then placed in a tomb, a cave carved into rock with a giant
stone in front of it. He was left for dead, but then on the
following Sunday morning, He came back to life.
He was dead, not breathing, no heartbeat, cold, un-
responsive, and then He was alive again, full of color,
talking, and cooking breakfast for His disciples. How is
that possible? There is only one explanation: This is a
miracle, a miracle only God Himself is capable of.
If this is true, and the historical evidence suggests
that it is, then Jesus was no ordinary man. He was the
God-man. Jesus was God in the lesh, the Savior of the
world, the one who has tangibly demonstrated that He
has power, even over death itself.
Since He has power over death, He has the ability
and authority to give us power over death as well. The
Bible gives a detailed explanation of this in I Corinthians
15. It says that even though we are bound to death (we
inherited it from Adam), Jesus has replaced that with a
new and better inheritance, which is life (15:22). Death
has been swallowed up in victory (15:54), and that victory
was achieved on Resurrection morning!
This is good news! This is a reason to celebrate and
rejoice. This means that you do not have to die. Yes, it is
true; you can be alive forever! You can know this peace
and joy by believing that Jesus really did rise from the
dead. When you, by faith, believe this truth, you will like
Jesus die (once), be placed in a grave, and then be raised
from the dead to life just like He was raised!
Sounds fantastic? Sounds impossible? It is fantas-
tic and from our limited human perspective seemingly
impossible, but nevertheless good and true. When your
eyes open to the reality and truth of the resurrection, it
is life-changing.
There is no better time to embrace this truth than
today. This Easter, believe in Jesus. Believe by faith in
His Resurrection, and your life will never be the same.
Your greatest enemy, death, will wither and die and in its
place, out of the dry barren soil of your heart, will spring
forth green lush life eternal.
Tripp Finch, Pastor
Willow Creek Baptist Church
Maundy Thursday
reenactment open to all
Living through the
Sadness
Last Sunday we did a new thing at church. We cel-
ebrated Palm Sunday as we normally would, with children
swinging palm branches and all of us celebrating Jesus,
the King, entering Jerusalem.
But as worship continued we moved into the more
somber story of the last supper, trial and cruciixion. Over
the years, our attendance at Maundy Thursday services
has waned. Along with the rest of the country, it seems
our desire to hear the sadder parts of our faith story has
gone by the wayside.
But these stories are important. Not just because
they are part of our faith story, although that makes them
hugely important. But also because it is important for us
to hear sad stories so that we know, when life hits us with
sad stories of our own, we will live through them. We will
survive when we experience loss that is more personal and
acute for us. It does not, however, mean that we won’t be
sad at those times. It simply gives us the opportunity to
prove to ourselves that we have what it takes to grieve,
to sit with sadness, but to not let it consume us.
As we go through this Holy Week, we celebrate,
remembering Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. We despair as
we see him arrested and tried. We lose hope as we see
him die on the cross. And we are illed with new hope as
Easter Sunday comes and we remember the story of Mary
and friends inding the tomb empty.
This sounds a bit like the way life works, with its ups
and downs, trials and celebrations.
It is my prayer that as we remember these stories
of our faith each year, we may be better able to live our
own lives more fully, embracing the bad with the good,
knowing that in the fullness of life, we experience life as
Christ did, and that through Christ, the light will always
outshine the darkness.
We hope you will join us for our Easter celebration
at 11 a.m. (which will also include the baptisms of Anson
McCabe and Tessa Sellee!) as well as Easter brunch at
9:30 a.m. However, if you don’t happen to make it, we
wish you a very happy Easter and pray that you experi-
ence new life in Christ.
Stacy Shelton
Ione Community Church
Not Just Empty Words
Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse
you. Forgive the same person seven times in one day. Do
not be afraid. Do not worry. Do not fear those who kill
the body and after that can do nothing more.
These are words of Jesus, reported by Luke the
Evangelist. There’s a lot more like them. Spoken by
anyone else, we might write them off as pious plati-
tudes, impossible and impractical expectations in a fear-
drenched me-irst world, and quite possibly the words of
a lunatic who obviously knew nothing about the realities
of 21 st Century life on Planet Earth.
But Jesus isn’t just anyone. God raised him from
death to life, and crowned him Lord of all. Because Je-
sus’ tomb is empty, his words are not. If we simply brush
off what he has to say, we’ll miss the greatest truth of all:
that Love wins.
There’s more to that story, of course. Open a Bible
and read through one of the Gospels. Ask questions.
Come and see us on Sundays at 10 a.m.
Rev. Katy Anderson
All Saints Episcopal Church & Hope Lutheran
Church
Holy Week and Easter
Service Schedules
A reenactment of the Last Supper will be held at All Saints
Episcopal Church this Thursday. -Contributed photo
On Thursday, March 24, the Shared Ministry of Hope
Lutheran Church and All Saints Episcopal Church will
observe Maundy Thursday with a narrated reenactment
of the Last Supper at All Saints beginning at 7 p.m.
Jesus and his 12 disciples will be portrayed by men
from several local churches, and their story will be told
as they gather for a inal meal in the upper room. As com-
munion is shared with the congregation, the scene in the
upper room will freeze into the image famously portrayed
by Leonardo da Vinci.
A Good Friday service of lessons, hymns and prayers
around the cross will be held at Hope Lutheran Church
beginning at 7 p.m. Festive Easter Sunday worship will
be held at All Saints beginning at 10 a.m.
Everyone is welcome.
Meet a minion at the
SAGE Center
Meet-and-greet includes dance party,
minion glasses, and ‘Despicable Me’
BOARDMAN—Meet
a minion and join a dance
party at the SAGE Center
April 1 and 2.
The Center is planning
a meet-and-greet April 1 at
5:30 p.m. where, in addition
to meeting a minion, ticket
holders can not only join the
minion dance party, but also
have banana-split lavored
ice cream, receive minion
goggles, and then at 7:15
p.m., watch “Despicable
Me” in the movie theater for
$7. There is also a $5 option
to come meet the minion at
7:30 p.m.
The same options apply
April 2, with the meet-and-
greet starting at 12:30 p.m.
for $7 and the movie start-
ing at 2:15 p.m., or the $5
option to meet the minion
at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets can be pur-
chased in advance at the
SAGE Center, 101 Olson
Road, Boardman, or over
the phone by calling 541-
481-7243. For more infor-
mation, go to visitsage.com.
Willow Creek Baptist
Easter Sunday, March 27, 9:30 a.m. small groups; 10:45
a.m. worship service. Nursery care is available for
children.
Ione Community Church
Easter Sunday, March 27, 9:30 a.m. Easter brunch; 11
a.m. Easter celebration service.
Shared Ministry
March 24, Maundy Thursday service at 7 p.m. with reen-
actment of the Last Supper at All Saints.
March 25, Good Friday service at 7 p.m. at Hope Lutheran
Church.
Easter Sunday, March 27, festive Easter Sunday worship
at All Saints beginning at 10 a.m.
St. Patrick’s Catholic Church
March 23, 7 p.m. Mass with Benediction.
March 24, 7 p.m. Holy Thursday Mass with washing of
the feet.
March 25, Good Friday, Stations of the Cross beginning
at noon; Passion of the Lord at 7 p.m.
March 26, Holy Saturday Mass at 7 p.m. with Easter Vigil.
Easter Sunday, March 27, 11 a.m. Mass with blessing
of the Paschal Candle and procession to the church.
St. William’s Catholic Church
March 25, Good Friday, Stations of the Cross at 5 p.m.
Easter Sunday, March 27, 8:45 Mass with blessing of the
Paschal Candle and procession to the church.
Great Green Parade
winners announced
The winning entries of the 2016 Great Green Parade
have been announced as follows:
Irish Theme – Green: 1. Grand Marshal’s Float, 2.
Hermiston Funrunners.
Irish Floats – Business: 1. Heppner Post Ofice, 2.
Morrow County Grain Growers’ CASE Apache Sprayer.
Antique & Custom Vehicles: 1. Blue Mountain A’s,
2. Desert Shrine Club.
Merchant Trophy: 1. Bank of Eastern Oregon, 2.
Community Bank.
Passion, Death and
Resurrection of Jesus
Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection are the most
important events in all of history. Everything before those
days was leading up to those days. Everything following
those days is the opportunity to live the graces of those
days, the grace of having the risen Jesus in our lives. We
could presume that the irst person to see Jesus risen from
the dead was his own mother Mary. The Gospels tell us
about Jesus appearing to the apostles, Mary Magdalene
and many others. In the Gospel of John 20:1-9, we heard
of Mary Magdalene, Peter and John seeing Jesus’ empty
tomb, and later in that chapter John tells us about Jesus’
appearing to them that day. In Acts of the Apostles, Peter
said that the Father “granted that he be visible, not to all
the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in ad-
vance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the
dead” (Acts 10:40-41). The life of Jesus and the meaning
of his passion, death and resurrection has been impacting
people ever since those days, more and more people every
year. If you throw a stone into a pond it will cause a ripple
to spread out more and more until eventually is gets to the
edges of the pond and the entire pond has been affected.
The graces of the death and resurrection of Jesus have
been spreading out to more and more people ever since.
Those who were not privileged to see Jesus risen had
their lives touched and impacted by those who did see
Jesus and enjoyed the graces of the risen Jesus in their
lives. Peter saw Jesus risen and his preaching impacted
so many others. We read that three thousand people were
baptized after Peter’s preaching at Pentecost (Acts 2:41).
Jesus continued to be present after his resurrection, present
through those who
witnessed to him, present in the life of the Church. If
you want to meet Jesus after his resurrection, the place to
meet him is where the Church gathers. The two disciples
on the road to Emmaus learned that Jesus was with them as
he explained the Scriptures to them and then broke bread
with them (Luke 24:13-35). Those two disciples learned
that celebrating the Eucharist is where you can ind Jesus.
Jesus continues in the Church. This is expressed beauti-
fully in the letter to the Ephesians, where the Church is
described as the Body of Christ and Christ is the head and
the whole body is joined to him (Eph. 4:15-16). How then
can anyone who cuts himself or herself off from the life
of the Church enjoy the fullness of Christ’s life? After
Jesus’ resurrection, the place to ind him is in the Church.
On Good Friday the blood and water from Christ’s
side on the cross symbolize the sacraments, especially
baptism and Eucharist, originating from Christ on the
cross. That life of grace from the side of Christ continues
in the Church to all who receive his sacraments. When
you receive a sacrament you meet Christ just as the
apostles met Jesus risen from the dead. The sacraments
are encounters with Christ. After Jesus’ resurrection, the
place to ind the risen him is in the Church, especially in
his sacraments.
We also ind Jesus in the Church in the community of
people who gather every week to worship God. Those who
allow Jesus to touch them, allow Jesus to transform them
to become more like Christ, and allow us to encounter
Christ through the sincerity of their lives given to Jesus.
A beautiful experience is to encounter someone who
is close to the Lord, and when you meet that person you
know you are in some way meeting Jesus. This is experi-
encing the risen Jesus continuing in the Church. Meeting
people like that assures us that saying “Jesus continues
in the Church” is not just words, but is true because we
have experienced Jesus ourselves. Jesus continues in the
Church. We know because we have experienced Jesus in
the Church.
If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is
above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you
have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God
(Col. 3:1-3).
There is a new way to live when we have Jesus in
our lives. There is a way to live that is incompatible with
having Jesus in our lives and there is a way to live that
relects having Jesus in our lives. But there is something
troubling happening today. Those who now live with Jesus
in their lives are more and more being misunderstood,
their freedom to live with Jesus in their lives is being more
and more hindered, so much so that we are beginning to
enter into a time of persecution of Christians. The early
Christians were persecuted in Rome and martyred. If our
society continues in its present direction, how much longer
before Christians will be martyred in this country for no
other reason than that they have experienced the risen
Jesus in their lives and live their lives in a way to relects
that? But it is better to have experienced the risen Jesus
and lived with his life before dying, than not.
If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is
above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you
have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God
(Col 3:1-3).
So dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us live in
Joy of Easter with all our friends in Christ and make our
special efforts to reach out to those who don’t know about
Christ. So they may know Jesus and manifest their joy
outwardly as we are doing today. We shall live in faith in
Jesus Christ that He is truly risen from the dead and bring
Joy to the whole world.
The Lord is Risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Wishing you a Blessed and Joyful Easter.
Rev. Fr. Papa Rao Pasala
St. Patrick’s and St. William’s Catholic Churches, Hep-
pner and Ione