Despite our best efforts, the problem is not going away.  The events in the news don’t inspire a great deal of confidence in our ability to deal with the very real problems facing our world.

• Terrorism threatens even people who thought they lived in peaceful democracies.
• Refugees stream from their homelands in a desperate desire to survive.
• Nuclear saber-rattling by unstable governments threatens millions more.
• Corruption and greed keep untold millions in abject poverty while piling up unspendable riches in the hands of a tiny minority.
• Name-calling and fear-mongering are the relentless tactics of those vying for power and votes.
• And fear, anger and bitterness create a toxic brew of tribalism and racism that erupt in seemingly random acts of violence.
• To say nothing of the endless ways in which we attempt to manipulate others in order to get what we really want. Or the ways in which we hide our true selves in fear that others will reject us if they only knew…

It’s clear to even the most distracted observer that something is seriously wrong with our world.  With our institutions.  And with us.

Not to be a Debbie-Downer, but violence, sophisticated weaponry, isolation, legislation, and angry rhetoric are not solving the troubles that afflict our world.  Or our personal lives.

And this is exactly why Easter matters.  Good Friday, the cross, the horror, the darkness, and of course, Resurrection Sunday.  It’s not just a “church story” or a religious thing.  It’s the absolutely essential answer to the problems that won’t seem to go away.

Don’t miss out this year.

Good Friday – 6:30 and 8:00 pm

Easter Sunday – 8:00, 9:15, 10:30 and 11:45 am

See you there.

-Pastor Mark