A Word From The Pastor
Romans 6:3, 4: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
For the apostle Paul, “newness of life” is much more than an assurance of the continuation of our “existence” after our physical death on this earth. Obviously, Paul believed that those in Christ would find eternal life with him, but there was, in Paul’s view, a “right now” result from our immersion into Jesus Christ. That “right now” effect is the newness of life Paul refers to in the letter to the Roman Christians (see also, Romans 6:11).
Lately, many of us in our congregation have been talking about the need to attract younger people to our church. Often, when we talk about this, we make mention that if we don’t get younger people to join and get involved our church will decline and, eventually, die. Richard Hamm, a former General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and current Executive Administrator of Christian Churches Together-U.S.A, wrote in his recent book, Recreating the Church, that most “mainline congregations are now somewhere on the downside of the Congregational Life Cycle [headed towards “dying”]. Some of them are far down that side and have become so contextually irrelevant and so low on resources that there is little hope of turning it around.”
Here’s the reality check: if the primary reason we want to attract and retain younger people is so that we, as a church, won’t die, we are already “somewhere on the downside” of our church’s life. Clearly, every organization of any kind needs new members of all ages in order to keep going. But Paul’s appeal to the Romans was not about keeping an “organization” alive. He wanted those early Christians to know, experience, and share with others the “newness of life” that came from an immersion into Christ.
Our concern, then, should be for people of all ages who need the newness of life that comes from a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. This is, in fact, the Easter story, that people can put away their old life of estrangement from God and enter into a new life through Christ (Acts 17:26, 27). People who have lost their sense of hope can find a community of support and fellowship that can renew their trust in the God of hope (Romans 15:13); and while life involves challenges that seem beyond our ability to overcome, we can experience the strength and guidance from God far beyond our own limited capacities and resources (Philippians 4:13).
This is something that we should all get really enthused about! This is what Easter is all about: new life, new outlooks, new possibilities and a renewed awareness of the inestimable love and grace of God through Christ! It’s so much more than simply keeping an organization or some institution intact. The real “reason for this season” is to spread the Gospel of the Risen Christ to all who need it. Throughout the year our mission as a church should be to do all we can to engage in the work that Jesus gave us to do, namely, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." – Matthew 28:19, 20.

Happy Easter!