Good Friday Message from 2007 - A "Positive Christianity" Classic
Why do they call Good Friday "good" when it was the day that Jesus was crucified? To all appearances, it was the end. To all human senses, the worst of human kind seemed to be victorious . . . AND YET THERE WAS MORE!
It was just the darkness before the dawn -- the dawn of awakened humanity.
Jesus rose as he said he would. Jesus was not confined to the tomb. Jesus lives, and his teachings live, because of what happened on Easter weekend.
Many of us have "Good Friday" experiences in our lives when we believe all is lost. Then we look to God; in prayer we ask for a miracle, and our lives are resurrected into newness. There is new hope and new belief in tomorrow and new gladness to be alive.
Many people are going through their own personal resurrections at this time. Maybe you know someone who is facing a similar challenge, or perhaps you, yourself, are turning to God and looking for a miracle. Some people have been fired, and for a moment it looked hopeless like the appearance looked on Good Friday. Some of you have gone through downsizing, and you feel as if you have been downsized in your soul. Some people reading this have lost trust in someone they trusted so much, and this has been like a death experience for you.
Some have been facing divorce, and like the disciples, all that you believed in and hoped for seemed lost. Then God touches you, and you are resurrected into new life. Some dear friends have faced the death of a loved one, and the grief seems overwhelming until we realize that these loved ones are still alive and healthy and happy again. Some of those reading this no longer see their children, and they feel a crucifixion every time they think of their children. Yet if they hold onto God's love instead of hurt and resentment, God will often turn it around. Some are having creditors beating down the door of their inner peace, and yet when we put God first, God can show us ways to reinvent our lives and become a success again, meeting every obligation, including our souls, by placing God first.
Most of us have gone through our own crucifixion in the past and hopefully we have discovered the good that the Good Friday truth brings -- that there is life after seeming death.
We are Easter people. We are defined more by our resurrections than our crucifixions.
We wish you a happy Good Friday in knowledge of a loving God that is everywhere present, accessible, and available to you now, no matter where you may be or what you may face.
Just as the disciples, in despair and grief, discovered that Jesus was not in the tomb where they laid him, we discover that God is a good God of good outcomes, every ready, every wanting to help, to bring true miracles into our everyday lives.
HAPPY EASTER!
Easter Message from 2007 - A Present . . . Not a Past . . . Experience!
Alleluia . . . Jesus Christ still lives! The Jesus Christ teaching has transcended time and space. Humankind has tried to stop the message and messenger, but it is impossible. The thirty three years of human life did not end on Calvary.
The dynamic, all-powerful divine idea is even more powerful today that it was 2000 years ago. It is alive today, not because Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross, but because He rose . . . and He lives. Jesus proved that life was eternal. The story of Easter is proof of your faith. You believe that life is more than cells, muscles, organs, and tissues because you believe in spirituality. You know that the body and the human mind are just the awareness gateway to your soul and Divine Mind. You know that when the time comes to lay aside the body, your soul will continue to live. The soul that moves the body will rise out of the container that can no longer hold its greatness.
You know that prayer works and that healings occur. You believe that God's power is always for good. You know that love always wins. You know this, not because Jesus proved it, but because you have proved it many times. Every time we overcome gloom and doom, we have an Easter experience. Easter is rising up and having "new life." The winter of life has passed, and we prove that God has won in our life once more.
Prayer wins. God makes all things possible. You have peace and tranquility even in the most difficult winter of your life, because of the promise of faith that reassures you there is new life at the end of the tunnel. In your darkest moment, you are sure that God is with you. The greatest possession the human mind will ever have is the presence of God.
think of a manual transmission on a car; let out the clutch and it engages. Use this visual aid toward a conscious connection with God. Shift your gears. Engage your human mind to God-Mind and your awareness with God becomes an active connection that shouts with joy, "I AM ONE WITH GOD!"
To follow Jesus is to become the potential He was. You have God, and God has you. You learn to love your times of total connection to God because you feel empowered with the sweet peace of total love.
May the Light of the Christ shine forever within you in this Easter season.
Rev. Maurice Guerette
"But the angel answered, saying to the women, 'You need not be afraid; for I know that you are seeking Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen'...." (Matthew 28: 5,6) and (Mark 16:6)
"But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb ... they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. Suddenly, two men in dazzling clothes .. said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen'." (Luke 24:1-6)
Photo: Sun rising behind mountains, appearing VERY similar to the sunrises that are witnessed by our Church members at our Easter Sunrise Services from our New Church Building in Sahuarita. Even the tall mountains in this stock photo are very similar to the Santa Rita Mountains east and southeast of Sahuarita and Green Valley! A Divine Coincidence??
"And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem . . . saying, 'The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon' . . . And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, 'Peace be unto you.' " (Luke 24: 33-36)
Jesus Among His Followers Jesus Ascending into Heaven Jesus in Stained Glass
Top Photos by Nancy Martin