NEWSLETTER April 2016
Peace Talk
House of Prayer on Parker and Main REENACTMENT OF THE CRUCIFIXION Sarah Bjornstad, Pastor Bjornstad and Ky Betts upon the cross. The crowd gathers to witness the crucifixion. Women at the cross: Lillian Colbert, Ramona Brown and Nora Betts. Photo: Jake Danna Stevens, Scranton Times Photographer
From the pastor’s heart: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you
“Fear not, I am the first and the last,
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and the living one.
bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys
on earth will be loosed in heaven.” - Matt. 16:19
of Death and Hades.” - Revelation 1:17-18
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I used to carry quite a few keys around with me everywhere. A few months ago my wife suggested (she is so very helpful and sensible much of the time) that I should take off the keys I didn’t use very often so I wasn’t lugging so many around all the time. “But then I won’t look so important!” I objected! I was speaking in jest, of course, but there is an underlying truth to the matter. Keys often do give us great power. They give us the power to keep something safe, to keep someone from something, AND/OR they can give us access to something precious and important to us. The scriptures contend that our Lord Jesus Christ has in his possession the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, as well as Death and Hades. That means that he has power over them. In His glorious death and resurrection he has defeated our “last enemy” - death (1Cor. 15:26). That is why we love to say “He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! Amen!” But then we come home from Easter worship - and somehow get distracted from the melody of heaven. Easter joy somehow has this terrible tendency to devolve into something trivial in our “Normal Operating Procedures” of life. We drone on day after day trying to eke out a living and staying ahead of disaster, rarely
experiencing the thrill of following Jesus and giving and receiving forgiveness and healing in our lives. Let it be not so! Jesus save us! Let us not forget that this victory over sin, death and the devil is to be the melody of our daily lives, blessing us now in every way - and preparing us for that day when it all becomes perfectly clear, the day we breath our last and then see our Lord with our own eyes at the Resurrection! The blessed thing is that although I have a great tendency to lose my keys, the keys over death and heaven are never lost by our Lord. And even as he holds them safe, he also continually GIVES His church (you and me) the same keys over death and heaven. This is a great and beautiful mystery! Join us this Easter season as we journey through the book of Revelation to experience and know of the victory Christ has accomplished for us, and to be blessed in our daily lives by its promises. In Easter Joy,
Pastor Bjornstad