Next Week

Posted by occwebsite
03rd Apr 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting different people in different ways.

  • Teachers and their students are navigating massive educational changes.
  • Healthcare workers are facing an increased workload.
  • Small business and restaurant owners are shut down.
  • Church leaders are exploring new ways to minister to and serve others.
  • And virtually everyone—both in the immediate and long term—will deal with the financial fallout from this pandemic.

Years from now, each of us will tell different, yet universal, stories about this consequential time.

The biblical books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (we call them the gospels) tell us about Jesus’ life, ministry and his final week before going to the cross and then rising from the dead. Though these books tell the same general story, they each tell it a little differently, highlighting different details that show us slightly different angles on who Jesus was, what he did for us, and what our response should be. They’re all true and all inspired by the same Holy Spirit of God. And when we take each of them the way they were intended, we grow in understanding the Savior of the world.

What’s more, this Savior isn’t some historical “dead guy.” Jesus died—but then he also rose from the dead. And he is every bit as much alive today as ever. That makes these stories, which are told by Jesus himself through the gospel writers, something like letters from a friend who is saying, “Remember that time when I… ?” These stories help us grow to know the living Lord of the world in a wonderfully personal way.

Next week, we will be encouraging us to look at Jesus’ life and ministry of that final week through the gospel writers. We will post a passage each morning and some reflection questions. As we read and reflect, we will get a fuller picture of how Jesus knew anxiety, endured suffering, and remains with us today as we and our neighbours face fears and struggles.