New Life!

Happy Easter! By the time most of you are reading this, I am on vacation in Norway! My family and I are spending 3 weeks in Norway, staying with Vidars family. Its been almost 2 years since we were all there. We are all very excited to be back in Norway, to be with family, and to have some time off! The climate on the West Coast of Norway is much more mild than here, so I am looking forward to seeing green grass, blooming flowers, and warmer temperatures! I actually love winter and I love snow. And this year our boys are old enough to have really enjoyed playing in the snow, sledding and even skiing! Yet, winter has been hanging around long enough! In school, our son Andreas learned about the first day of spring. When he came home that day, he told me excitedly that now it was spring and that by tomorrow all the snow would be gone, the flowers would be out, the leaves would be green, and the birds would be singing! Well, that was several weeks ago. I think most of us are looking forward to spring. As the days get longer and signs of new life appear all around us, our spirits are lifted and the winter blues are replaced with joy. And that is what Easter is all about: sorrow and fear suddenly transformed into joy, weeping and mourning turned into dancing, the despair of Jesus death on the cross changed into shouts of alleluia! Easter is about transformation. And by the greatest transformation of all, the cross, a place of death, has become something through which we have life. Where life was once lost, there life has been restored. By Christs wounds, we have been healed. We can look at this cross and see both Christs suffering and also the resurrection; the promise of hope and joy and glory. Because of Jesus death on the cross for you and for me - and because of Jesus resurrection and the reality that Jesus lives we have life. We have hope. We have joy. And because of that enormous gift, even in the midst of sorrow and darkness, we can rejoice! This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in in! Psalm 118:24 -Pastor Kari