Life (and Death) Lessons for Peter

One of the knocks against the church, faith, the Bible, and so on, is that it can often seem so abstract. Okay, we read/hear that God loves us, that Jesus died for us, that we are called to grow in faith, and much more. But what does that really mean? What does it look like? How does it impact us in real, concrete ways? Sermons, Bible readings, prayer, and worship can be deeply meaningful. But if they only engage the head and intellect with abstract ideas and miss the heart and soul, then they lose much of their power. They are, at best, incomplete. At worst they are misleading, making us believe that all we need to do is hold the right ideas about God in our minds.

I don't know about you, but something that always helps me go deeper than the level of intellect and ideas is hearing real stories of real people. It helps me see and understand how these important ideas about God are made manifest and lived out in real people's lives.

This Friday (Good Friday) and Sunday (Easter Sunday), we will be following Simon Peter, one of Jesus' disciples and closest friends, as he sees and experiences the final few hours before Jesus' death and then the first few days after his resurrection. You see, Peter doesn't just learn new things about Jesus, though he does that too. He enters into and experiences everything from great confusion, raging anger, and deep despair, to rekindled hope and full restoration with his Lord and friend, Jesus.

Our two services (both at 10am) form a unified whole, with the story continuing from Friday through to Sunday. Be that as it may, if you can't make it out for both services, please do consider joining us for one or the other. We will look at the first four "acts" of this passion play on Friday, including a celebration of Communion:

• Act I: Submission and Service (John 13.1-17)
• Act II: Fight and Flight (Mark 14.32-50)
• Act III: Denial and Despair (John 18.15-27)
• Act IV: Death and... (John 19.16-30)

We will then move on to the final "act" on Sunday morning:

• Act V: Resurrection and Restoration (John 20-21)

We would love to celebrate with you and your family this Easter. But whether we see you or not, may the joy and love of God become more and more real for you this Easter season and always!