Getting Ready For Sunday: How To Prepare For EASTER at Sojourn, 2010!

This Sunday, we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ through singing, prayer, communion, the reading of the Word, the sermon and also by passing the peace of Christ to one another.  If you heard last Sunday’s Passion Week sermon on “The Scandal Of The Cross,” then you know what comes next, chronologically: Easter Sunday, the Lord’s resurrection.

Pastor Daniel will preach on one of the most famous of all Jesus’ parables during his Easter sermon — the Prodigal Son, from Luke 15.  He’ll talk about the people represented in this story: the religious and the irreligious. The ones who assume their salvation without really putting their trust in Christ’s death and resurrection for their sake, as well as the ones who have admittedly never claimed to be Christian or believe in God.  This is a message everyone needs to heed:

• The ones who go to church every Sunday, and the ones who’ve never come before.
• The ones who participate in numerous service projects, and the ones who “give at the office” and say that’s enough charity work for them.
• The ones who have always been a part of a Christian family, and the ones who grew up thinking that Easter really was all about chocolate and bunnies.

The resurrection of Jesus makes our own resurrection sure. Those of us who have put our hope in Christ go to heaven when we die, and we’re given new, incorruptible bodies on the Last Day.  We’ll sing about the Christian’s fate after death this Sunday, in an old Isaac Watts hymn that East Campus Director Jamie Barnes adapted, called “Absent From Flesh.”  We haven’t recorded this modern hymn yet (it will be on Volume Two of our Isaac Watts Project).  But you can practice for Sunday by singing along with the Sojourn band on this video, recorded on a digital camera during last year’s big Re:Sound event in North Carolina:

Sojourn Music “Absent From Flesh” Live 06.05.09 from chuck heeke on Vimeo.

We’ll also sing these songs together — sing along to the audio below, so we can belt them out loudly as we proclaim that our savior is Risen:

• In Christ Alone (hear Susan Ashton’s version for free at Last.fm)
• He’s Alive (hear it for free on Last.fm by Dolly Parton)
• See What A Morning! (hear “The Apostles’ Creed” version for free at Last.fm)

We’ll also remind you that Monday is the last chance to sign up for next weekend’s 2010 Women’s Retreat (and Sunday the 11th is the last chance to sign up for the Men’s Retreat).  Women will be able to meet with Women’s Ministry servants and register before or after the service at our Next Steps kiosk.

And the East campus will have a cookout lunch immediately following their 10am service.  This will include all kinds of games and activities for the family … and then at 1pm, the first ever Sojourn Easter Egg Hunt. Hear Jamie Barnes and Jon Estes talk about it in this short interview.

Bring your friends. Bring your neighbors. Bring your family. Bring your coworkers and fellow students. Bring anyone who would be willing to come with you. And if no one will, then of course, still bring yourself. Celebrate the victory over death and hell with us.

He is risen!

He is risen indeed.