April 17, 2025
Dear Friends,
Good Friday and Easter Sunday are the pivotal events of the Christian faith. On Good Friday we give thanks for the sacrifice of the Son of God such that our sins are forgiven and that we are reconciled to God. As the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5: 21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Good Friday is good not because of the execution of Jesus. Nothing is good about crucifixion. It is good because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, absorbing human sin into himself so that all might be saved, forgiven and made righteous. However, the death of Jesus is powerless without the resurrection. Without the resurrection Jesus’ death on the cross is simply another tragic episode of a good man who did some amazing things during his life, but in the end it really changed nothing. With the resurrection everything changes. Humanity has not been abandoned by God to suffer the consequences of sin and death. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection the power of sin has been overcome and death has been undone. In Jesus we have been saved and have been given hope and victory. The question is, do we believe ? Do we believe that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus changed the course of human history? Do we believe that there is life beyond life after death? For some this is impossible. A made up myth by those who wanted to perpetuate Jesus’ legacy. For others it is simply one religion among many. “Believe what you want. Whatever gets you through the day.”
Yet for others, it is having faith that what the women saw and heard, what the first apostles witnessed, what many have come to believe is the truth. What do we believe? We can not prove the resurrection, we were not there. However if it is true, if it happened, if Jesus rose from the dead, then everything has changed and with faith in him so are we. As Paul writes “for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15: 22) What do you believe? Perhaps take the first step of resurrection faith is to believe that God did something to reverse the future of humanity and your life on that first Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Perhaps then we can confess with gratitude and wonder “He is risen, he is risen indeed.”
This week two projects have been started. Construction on the EMCC campus road sign has begun. Over the next several weeks we will have a new digital road sign for both Glenbrook and St. Thomas a Becket churches. Sanctuary lighting project will begin on Monday. The cost is $18.500.00 and we will cover the cost through our “Sanctuary Contingency Fund”. If there are those who would like to give towards this project please consider doing so and designate your givings to go to “Sanctuary Contingency Fund”.
Currently there is no further update on who the Presbytery will appoint as the Interim Minister for GPC once I retire on July 1st. In our Presbyterian governance the appointment of Interim Moderators and or Interim Ministers are the responsibility of the Presbytery in co-operation with the Session. As a pastor I am required to step back in this process and have minimal influence on who is appointed. The Session through our representative elder (Johanna Raycraft) works with the Presbytery Nominations Committee to move through this appointment process. So continue to pray for Presbytery and for our Session as they transition GPC for new pastoral leadership.
I want to extend a Happy Easter to everyone. If you are gathering with family or friends I hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable time. I am going to be away for the next two Sundays (April 27th and May 4th). Gwenna and I will be flying to Kelowna BC to visit her dad who just turned 91 in February. On April 27th our speaker will be Jess Brand from Indwell ministries. On May 4th our speaker will be my daughter Jillian McWhinnie who has just finished a New Testament Greek course this winter semester, on her way to completing a Masters of Theological Studies at Knox College and Toronto School of Theology. (way to go!)
Happy Easter
Pastor Ian
