Dear friends,

This Sunday is Easter Sunday and what a celebration of resurrection it will be! Our theme of Darkest Before the Dawn continues with the glorious dawn of Easter morning. The morning services in the sanctuary at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 am will feature music by DFW Brass, Peggy Graff on our magnificent pipe organ, and our favorite Easter hymns by members of Choral Union.

The afternoon services at 1:00 and 3:00 pm will feature The Gathering Praise Band.
Attendance at each of these services will be by reservation only and will all follow the same health and safety guidelines as our weekly Sunday worship services. To make a reservation, please call the church office at 817-336-7277.

All five services will also be livestreamed, if you choose to worship online.
You can also experience online worship in the eleven:eleven service and DiscipleChurch.

Although our theme during this Lenten season has seemed to emphasize darkness, since the first word of our theme is darkest. But, the real emphasis throughout has been the good news that dawn follows darkness. This week, Holy Week, we walk through and remember the significant moments of Jesus’ last week on earth. It was a very dark week, culminating with his last supper with his disciples and his arrest on Thursday and his death on the cross on Friday.

As we approach this Good Friday, we can’t help but feel like we are living in a Good Friday world. However, I invite you to consider what it means when we Christians call ourselves “resurrection people” and talk about living a “resurrection life.” It is Good Friday, but Sunday is coming! It is dark, but dawn is coming!

Early in the morning on the first day of the week, some women who were followers of Jesus went to the tomb where he was buried to prepare his body with fragrant spices, as was the custom. Because he died on Friday and the Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday, they couldn’t do the work of preparing his body for burial until first light on Sunday morning. It was the dawning of a new day. They were the first to experience the new dawn of resurrection. There were many others to follow.

Reflecting back on the past year, what does it mean to live as “resurrection people”? How is the experience of resurrection reflected in your life and your faith journey? How does the image of darkness giving way to the light of dawn speak to you?

I look forward to exploring these questions and more with you this Sunday in Sanctuary worship as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

Grace and Peace,

Dr. Tim Bruster
Senior Pastor

 

Luke 24:1-12, Common English Bible

1 Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women went to the tomb, bringing the fragrant spices they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 They didn’t know what to make of this. Suddenly, two men were standing beside them in gleaming bright clothing. 5 The women were frightened and bowed their faces toward the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He isn’t here, but has been raised. Remember what he told you while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Human One[a] must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words. 9 When they returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the eleven and all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. 11 Their words struck the apostles as nonsense, and they didn’t believe the women. 12 But Peter ran to the tomb. When he bent over to look inside, he saw only the linen cloth. Then he returned home, wondering what had happened.