Dear members and friends of Good Shepherd,

This year, Easter Sunday is on April 1st—April Fools Day! I am reminded of the long tradition of telling jokes on Easter—since Jesus’ resurrection is like a joke that God plays on the powers of evil in the world that thought that with Jesus’ death, hope and salvation would be destroyed. Instead, God raised Jesus to new life, the first fruits of God’s kingdom of peace and joy. Easter brings us all to holy laughter!

This is the springtime of the year, a time of rebirth and renewal—and I believe that God’s Spirit is moving among us in this community, renewing our hearts and empowering us to live and share Jesus with one another and with our community. This January-February was a tough winter time, with bad weather and illness keeping people home. Now, as spring is springing, it’s wonderful to see people return and new people coming as well. We have new energy and passion to be the body of Christ in this place. There are many ways to get involved, in learning, fellowship, and serving.

I truly appreciate Ron’s energy and creativity as our Spiritual Growth leader. He has started a website—www.wlfsg.com—focused on reading the Bible and growing in faith. Check it out, comment on it, and you might get a Good Shepherd pen! Ron also encourages us to read through the Bible—we have Bible readings for each day on our calendar. It’s a different, but good way to read through the Bible, because each day is a different focus. For me, I sometimes get bogged down in a particularly dense book of the Bible (I’m talking to you, Numbers)—this way, you read from different parts of the Bible each day, but over the course of a year, you will read through the whole Bible.

Living and sharing Jesus, Pastor Eric