"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24)

FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK  

“Did it really happen? Is the Easter story merely a lovely myth...”

“If Christ has not been raised from the dead, then we have nothing to preach, and you have nothing to believe...But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised.” I Corinthians: 15

Easter is the most important festival of the church year, because it certifies our right to hope. Hope is confidence in the future. It is impossible to be truly hopeful if our brief lives are circumscribed by the finality of death. If death is our situation, all the future can hold for any of us, ultimately, is annihilation.

Easter does not deny the reality of death, but rather offers us the assurance that God is able to create new life beyond death. The assurance lies in the fact that God has already done this on one symbolic occasion, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Did it really happen? Is the Easter story merely a lovely myth invented by disciples who could not reconcile themselves to the loss of their beloved teacher? Obviously, no one is able at this time to declare the reality or non-reality of an event alleged to have happened two thousand years ago.

What can be stated as a documented, historical fact is there were witnesses. Not two or three or a dozen witnesses, but several hundred witnesses who claimed to have seen and talked to Jesus after his death. These were not hallucination-prone mystics. They were farmers, fisherman and housewives. They knew, as well as you and I do, that dead people stay dead. They were fully as surprised as we would be to encounter an exception to this universal rule of human experience.

The death of the sincerity of their conviction is attested to by their readiness to lay down their lives for their belief in the resurrection. Many of them accepted martyrdom rather than deny the reality of the event they had witnessed. 

It comes down to this: a person who believes that the Resurrection could have happened will find ample historical evidence to justify their believe in the Resurrection, however, there can never be enough evidence to convince a person who has decided in advance that the Resurrection could not possibly be true. It is a choice that each of us must make.

The meaning of the Resurrections is found in the nature of the event. The eye witnesses made it clear, the Resurrection was not merely the resurrection of a human corpse, nor was it a demonstration of the “immortality” Greek philosophy sought to attribute to a particular aspect of humanity (the soul) while acknowledging the death of the body.

The Jesus the Christ who was known to be alive after death was a new kind of being, endowed with a new kind of life. The personality of the human Jesus was recognizably present in the resurrected Christ, but in a new mode of reality that clearly baffled the witnesses and which they were never able to describe with any precision.

The key point, which the New Testament makes over and over again, is that Jesus was the pioneer and prototype of an experience God wishes all people to share. He was, in the apostle Paul’s words, “the first fruits” of God’s new creation and His victory over death is our assurance that “we, too, shall live.”

—Rev. Charles H. Acker, Jr

THE CHOIR IS CHANGING!

You will soon see a difference in the Choir on Sunday mornings. With grateful thanks to the United Methodist Women, new robes were recently ordered for everyone. They should be in sometime in June. Please take note, also, that we did order extras for any persons who would like to join us!

Special new music was purchased for the Easter Season and we hope that the church enjoyed hearing the new songs as much as the Choir enjoyed learning them.

The Johnsville Choir has lots of activities coming up. We have been invited to sing at a worship service at the Pleasant Grove Church. We are looking forward to visiting these Christian neighbors soon. Also, Homewood Retirement Center has asked us to visit again and sing for their residents. Then, this summer, we are planning some numbers for the monthly concerts at home in Johnsville.

Come join us for fellowship and music. There’s always room for more!

Psalm 98 says: “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things;...Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;...Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.”

See you in church, Lee and Norma

A few of us have volunteered our efforts toward serving on the Johnsville United Methodist Church’s Witness Committee, but all of us who believe in the message of our Savior have the responsibility to serve Him as His witnesses. The committee has planned a Summer Concert Series as an outreach to those in the community who may not be inclined to attend our traditional Sunday morning service and this should not be confused as a fundraising effort. We’re booking bands of many different musical styles that should reach listeners from a very young age and up. It will be an uplifting, entertaining, and enjoyable program for everyone who comes out, but we’re asking all who read this to play an important part. Not only do we want to see our old friends and church family, but also new friends, community members, and extended families. Please be a witness yourself and ask someone to come with you. The reminder flyer attached to this newsletter has a duplicate so that you can give a copy to a friend, neighbor, coworker, or family member. Just think how many people’s lives we can touch if each of us would just invite one friend. If we can bring just one person closer to the Father, then Heaven will celebrate, but if we can bring hundreds closer, then what a glorious day that will be for the King!

The Council voted to buy a new computer system and a software package used by churches to keep financial records, church membership, etc. If anyone knows of a good package, please contact Laura Majeczky at 410-775-2666.

It was also voted to have the Sunday School Superintendents serve on a 3-year rotation. The Nominating Committee will be looking for a third person to be a part of this team, so there will always be three people to serve in the Sunday School leadership.

The church gave $536 to the Barton Family, who was burned out of their home, as a result of the February mission project. The church gave gift certificates (one for Wall - Mart and one for Home Depot). For the March mission project, we took 53 items of Easter candy and dessert mixes to the Walkersville Food Bank. For April we contributed to the Libertytown Food Bank and the May project will be for the Frederick Food Bank. Food is really needed. The Post Office helps the food banks, but donations have been down this year so the collecting period has been extended.

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Last modified: May 07, 2001