Celebrate!

Such a joyful, hope-filled word! At Celebration United Methodist we find reason to hope and take joy in the gospel of Jesus as it can transform lives and communities. We believe that the depth of God's love is so great that we can only grow in that love. As a church, we seek to nurture each other in our daily  lives of faith through worship and small group studies and intentional prayer. It is through our daily interactions with one another and with Jesus that we are grounded in Jesus all the more and transformed and empowered to change the community in the love of Christ.

Thoughts from Pastor Holloman

I know for some people, I have been talking about Government too much lately.  And for me, it is something I don’t normally like to do.  But this election has been about so much more than just who will be president and who will control congress.

From my humble position as a pastor, I see a shift in our country and world that is disturbing.  Many of the pundits this last week in talking about why Obama would win and McCain would lose have centered around question, “Is this an ideological shift in the thinking of our country from center-right to center-left?”  As a pastor, I see the shift, not in terms of left and right politically, but between what is the source of our hope, Government or Christ.

When one reads the Old Testament and looks at the history of Israel, we see that this is not a new conflict.  The major shift in this regard that happened in Israel’s history occurred during the time that Samuel was a prophet.  It was during his time that the people tired of waiting on God and demanded Samuel give them a king.  This greatly troubled Samuel.  When the people could not longer be held back in their demand for a king, Samuel prayed to God for guidance.  God responded to Samuel, “take heart as they have not rejected you, they have rejected me.”

As I have studied this shift in thinking in the world today, in light of what we know from the various kings in the Bible, I have come to the conclusion that at the heart of this change in hope is our belief (or no belief) in the resurrection.  Now, if you asked most people in this country, they would say they have some sort of belief in a life after death.  But it is not a belief that affects the way they live.  For all too many, it is more of a wish than a hope and so they live their lives as if this life was all there was to live.  And for those who do not believe in God and no life after death, they truly live their lives as this is all they have.

But for followers of Christ, the resurrection is at the very heart of our faith.  If you take away the resurrection, then we have nothing left to put our faith in.  This is why the Apostle Paul would make the statement that if there is no resurrection, then we are the biggest fools of all because everything we are doing is for nothing because when we die, we are lost.

As we move away from a sure belief in the resurrection, our only place to move to is to get as much as we can in this life.  And, if we are in a position, we want people to remember what we did.  So we want our names on buildings that will last or to have overseen something that lasts for generations.

But people who truly believe in the resurrection are willing to sacrifice and humble themselves in this world because they are confident that something better is coming.  They are able to give of themselves and risk taking chances to help people.  They do not fear failure or death because the resurrection has destroyed both.  This is what it means to be resurrection people.  This is why the early Christians could actually pray for a ruler who persecuted them.  It is the resurrection that helps us keep our focus on what is truly important in this world and that is the loving one another.

Christ didn’t just die for our sins.  Christ rose so that we might receive eternal life.  And in accepting Christ offer of eternal life, we can know that nothing anyone does in this world can steal the wonder that awaits us.  Let us live as resurrection people.

Blessings