April 20, 2022
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
How good it was to say these words this past Easter Sunday. Our journey to Easter together has been a challenging one. The invasion of Ukraine almost exactly coincided with the beginning of Lent. And each Sunday in Lent we were taken deeper into the reality of human sin by the news of the week—Ukraine and elsewhere, local and global—even as the scriptures took us deeply into the gracious love of our God. We sustained each other with the gifts of our reflections on a variety of human emotions and divine responses through our reflections on the psalms during this season. And Holy Week took us from “Hosanna,” through betrayal and “Crucify him!,” to “Alleluia.” There is a visual depiction of this journey in my office windows that can be viewed in the hall outside my office. It has been a full season to be sure.
But it all paled in comparison to the full-throated worship you all offered under our dome on Easter. Thanks go to our staff and all those who volunteered to make our celebration on Easter at First Covenant such a memorable and inspiring day. For me personally, I was surprised by old friends who were unexpectedly with us that morning, encouraged by newcomers and visitors to our church, and enthused by the number of people who have been attending our church in the past weeks and months who communicated how much our church feels like home. Thanks to all of you for making our church such a hospitable and spiritually nurturing place.
Just as there are signs of new life in springtime flowers and buds in this beautiful season in Cascadia, there are new signs of life in our church. I begin with our resurrected softball team led by Aaron Nilson. Games will be at Green Lake Ballfields on Thursday nights. If you are interested in playing, or just cheering us on, contact Aaron for more details at aaronjnilson@gmail.com. Thanks to Aaron for his enthusiastic leadership in pulling this together.
Further, we will be hosting an opportunity we are calling “Getting to Know First Covenant Better” on May 15 and 22 after church. You will be introduced to others in our church, to the Covenant Church, to First Covenant Church and its history, and finally to our church today. Each session will include a light lunch and two presentations/discussions. These will begin at 11:30 and end at 1:30. If you are relatively new to our church, are interested, and have not already done so, please sign up with Cinda Madonna at cmadonna@firstcovenantseattle.org. I look forward to seeing you there.
I recently posted a letter sent on behalf of our church to the Evangelical Covenant Church of South Sudan and Ethiopia. Their reply arrived Easter morning and is found below. Yet one more evidence of the risen Christ continuing to uphold and raise up God’s creation and we the people who inhabit it.
Risen indeed! Alleluia!
Pastor Todd