Good Friday and Easter Sunday

Dear West Covina Christian Church,

As we were having family devotions around the dinner table last night, I got carried away sharing too many details about Jesus' trial and crucifixion.  Both kids were weeping and wailing.  While I didn't mean to scare them, the sensitivity to the pain and suffering that Jesus endured on the cross helped me be reminded of what Jesus really went through.

On this Good Friday, I want to encourage you to ponder again (or perhaps for the first time) what took place on that day so long ago.  Consider the emotional betrayal of the disciples and the ridicule that He endured from the Roman soldiers.  Ponder the physical suffering of His scourging with a whip embedded with shards of glass and stone, the stumbling under the weight of the cross, the nails driven through His hands and feet, and the asphyxiation that happened as He took His last breaths.  And more than anything, imagine the spiritual suffering of carrying the sins of the world as He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

As we ponder these things together today, I invite you to attend our Good Friday service at church tonight at 7:00 or participate virtually.

While the kids were crying their eyes out last night, I tried to get to the happy ending as quickly as I could.  Obviously no one expects a resurrection, but it is even more remarkable after we consider what Jesus went through on Good Friday.  However, on Easter morning the tomb was empty and Jesus appeared, first to the women who went to embalm His body, and then to the disciples.  His resurrection body could walk through walls and ascend into heaven.  But the best part is not what it could do physically, but what it shows us spiritually--that sin and death has been defeated!  Because Jesus rose from the dead, we are offered new life through Him!

Please join us Sunday morning at 10:30 as we celebrate Christ's resurrection and our salvation!  As always, we will have our worship service live streamed, but if you are comfortable we would love to have you worship with us in-person in our outdoor worship service.

Praise the Lord for all that He has done for us.

In Christ, Pastor Kory