Dear Family and Friends of First UMC of Torrance,
“He is risen! He is risen indeed!”
During the first half of April, we are celebrating some special days — from Palm Sunday, through the Holy Week with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. April also plays host to part of the Easter season, which begins on Easter Sunday and lasts through the great fifty days to Pentecost Sunday on May 28. During this season, we as United Methodists focus on sanctifying grace and Christian perfection. That means that Easter is not a one-day-a-year experience, because new life in Christ is a growing, sustaining, and expanding presence. An Easter faith is a lifetime of growing in God’s grace.
“Christian perfection” does not mean being error-free or having anything to do with perfectionism. John Wesley said, “Entire sanctification or Christian perfection is neither more nor less than pure love — love expelling sin and governing both the heart and life of a child of God.” The living presence of Jesus Christ guides us and helps us to grow into Christ’s likeness. God intends to restore us fully to the image in which we were created. God can enable us to once again be the persons we were created to be, and we are to seek earnestly to be filled with God’s love and to remain open and receptive to all that God may do in our lives each and every day through sanctifying grace.
As Easter approaches us, we can feel the new season of spring coming as well. The blossoming of flowers and greening of the earth, the freshness and the sweetness of the air act as symbols of God’s sanctifying grace, bringing us new life. As we focus on opening our lives to God’s grace in order to grow in the love of God, we can experience our spiritual rebirth and renewal. Easter people open their lives to the Spirit of God, who enables us to be perfect in love, beauty, and holiness.
Some challenging and discouraging times may be before us, but we choose to celebrate the season of Easter because God’s grace and presence are continuously working in our lives and helping us to overcome fear. We must be awake and trust in God’s hidden action within us always — and especially in the month of April.
With great joy in being a disciple of the Risen Christ,
Pastor Jacob