Pastor’s Column
Easter Sunday, 2010
This week, my yard has had regular visits from some uninvited (though cute) guests, just in time for Easter: two mallard ducks and two white bunnies. They come and go as if they own the place. All I need now are a few chicks, colored eggs and Easter lillies and I will have all the symbols most people associate with Easter. Yet Easter really has nothing to do with chicks, ducklings, eggs and bunnies!
The truth is more incredible than anything we could ever imagine. There exists another world, very close to our own, but invisible to our eyes at present. How do we know it exists? We know it because Jesus, who came from that world into our own, told us about it. The record of his words are in the Bible. All sorts of beings live in heaven: among them angels, who are pure spirits, and they always do the will of God. Heaven is the home of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit. The Son of God, Jesus, through whom everything was made, both that which is visible to us and the invisible world, entered our world and became visible. Why did Jesus do this? Why did he become human for our sake? To save us from death and to help us to understand how the world really is.
Some people live as if this world is the only reality that there is, but they are very much mistaken. The moment that a person realizes that there is life after death, everything changes. Even some scientists are beginning to realize that the evidence for life after death is simply overwhelming. For example, I recommend to you a new book out called Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences by Jeffrey Long, M.D.
When we learn more about the world to come (the one that is one heartbeat away: yours!), we come to appreciate in a deeper way what this life is all about and how we are to live our lives. In order to understand these things, we must listen to someone who has been there and back: Jesus Christ, the only Son of God who both created us and saved us by dying on a cross. He did this to open a way to heaven for those who believe in him.
Our earthly lives, even the longest of them, are very short indeed. As Christians we are called to have an eternal perspective. How will my actions today look in the light of eternity, my final destination? How am I living my life? What have I done with the precious gift of life that God has given me? Jesus waits for us to have faith in him. He gives us time to choose him before he reveals everything to us on the last day of our lives. If I believe in Jesus and the world he has opened up for me, my life will never be the same again, starting right now.
Father Gary
Thank you ever so much, dear Salvation, for posting Father Gary's "Pastor's Column" for Easter Sunday, 2010. It is simply beautiful! So simple, clear, and direct — in magnification, glorification of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Logos of the Beginning, Alpha and Omega, our Risen Lord....
A truly wonderful meditation. Thank you so much, dear sister in Christ, for sharing it with us!
Nearly 2 years ago my father-in-law died here in our home where we had been taking care of him. During the days & weeks leading up to his death, he had numerous ‘visions’ that he shared in what almost seemed halucinogenic moments.
The night before he died, he told me, ‘I will be leaving here tomorrow!’
Mid-morning he said, ‘I wonder who will be there to meet me at the gate’.
I have had other experiences with close relatives who apparently knew that they would be passing on in the next day, or even in hours - even those who were not obviously ‘breathing their last’.
What do they know, and when do they know it? I know that when they know, they are ready, and have no fear. They are even in a hurry to be with their Lord, and with loved ones who have gone before. For those whom I have seen, as described, what we call death is ‘commencement’.
My father, for the last several weeks of his life, commented ‘I just want to go home!’ I know he knew that ‘home’ meant ‘with the Lord’. He was looking forward to it. He anticipated it.
I have also watched one or two people, fighting cancer, and claiming to know the Lord, who were so frightened of dying that they were dying, not because of the cancer, but because of the fear.
I just share this because it sheds light on the current subject. The Lord tells us, ‘do not fear anything - fear is evil.’ We believe that. We are to comfort one another with the words of love, joy, peace and certainty that were given to us by our Lord.
I remember the title on an old gospel tract, one I saw as a kid, and the title was ‘Safety, Certainty and Enjoyment’. That is His message for us - We are safely in His arms, in His Care; we know that with certainty; and being there and knowing that we are, we are to enjoy it.
Of course there is life after death. Death is commencement. A new beginning, as we move from time to timelessness. It is not a secret to those of us who know our Lord Jesus, and believe what He says, and what He said.