Pastor's Pulpit

Easter is right around the corner, and as far as I am concerned, it can’t get here fast enough. While Spring technically begin on the Spring Equinox (March 20^th this year) we were still being threatened by snow. It all seemed like a cosmic practical joke. The date of Easter is determined to fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, so it gives us time to warm up (fingers crossed!)

Easter has always meant new life and not because it tends to fall when Winter finally gives way to Spring. Spring itself is seen as a season for new life, a fact not lost on the early Christian missionaries reaching out to the Germanic tribes north of the Rhine River. They pointed to the goddess Ostara who ushered in Spring as a precursor to the new life promised in Jesus Christ. They were tapping into what C.S. Lewis called “good dreams. “He [God] sent the human race what I call good dreams: I mean those queer stories scattered all through the heathen religions about a god who dies and comes to life again and, by his death, has somehow given new life to men”  No less the Venerable Bede, a monk writing in England in the late 7^th Century makes this same connection, noting we get our word Easter from the old Saxon word “after a goddess of theirs named Eostre,… Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance."

OK, I’m a history nerd, I admit it. Sometimes history gives us a new way of looking at our own traditions, knocking us out of our pat Sunday School answers to what Easter is all about. Yes, Easter is all about Jesus rising from the dead. More than that, the new life that Jesus empowers is our own! Our first hint is found in Passover itself. Passover is a holiday commanded by God to remind God’s people that God is in the freeing his people from slavery business. Our next hint is the post Resurrection Jesus forgiving Simon Peter for denying him 3 times by telling him to “feed my sheep” 3 times at the Sea of Galilee. The confirmation of that new life is found in Acts 2 when the newly empowered Peter speaks to the gathered crowds at Pentecost. Peter’s story is our own, forgiven from sin; we are encouraged and used by God for God’s purposes.

The new life we experience shows up in a number of ways. We are given new insights and resources to meet new challenges. Later on, you will be getting more information on our sound system project. The fact that we can email you several times without running afoul of Google’s algorithms that flag spam is the result our many of our members working to revamp our relationship with our internet providers. The new life we experience allows us to make a difference in the lives of people in our community. We’ve had relationship with Interfaith Response from the beginning, many of our members volunteer and serve on the board in their mission to combat homelessness by keeping people in their homes. Many of our people deliver Meals on Wheels; invest in the lives of children through Scouting; and support the kids at Children’s Square. The new life we experience as we gather for worship and in the smiles as we welcome newcomers into our midst!

The new life we experience is a direct result of our new relationship with God. C.S. Lewis elaborates: One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so

often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any

sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic... Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin.

That’s what Easter is all about, forgiveness and new life. When we say Jesus’ resurrection destroyed the power of sin and death, these are not just lines we recite in an Easter service liturgy. This is a frank admission of the wonder of the Gospel that through Christ the God of the Universe transforms the life we have to the life we long for, filled with love, purpose and adventure. Oh, and some warmer temps outside wouldn’t hurt either.

See you in church!

Paul

AVI Sound System

Replacement Project 

Several NHPC members and visitors have noted that the sound quality in the sanctuary is not good, and they have a difficult time hearing Pastor Paul. Something needs to be done to resolve this issue.

Over the past several months, the Session in cooperation with the Administration Committee and Building & Grounds Committee have been diligently working on a solution. AVI Systems of Omaha is the company that installed the original sound system equipped over sixteen years ago. One of the biggest changes noted is moving from an analog system to digital systems. 

AVI Systems has proposed a complete replacement of the current system, with a state-of-the-art digital system. This new system will include new speakers, a new sound board, and new assisted hearing devices, among other improvements. 

The total cost of the project is $75,908. The Session approved moving forward with this solution. They also approved of doing a capital campaign through the end of May to raise funds from the membership to offset some or all the cost of this project. Please look for more detailed information about the project and capital campaign in your snail mail. 

The Fellowship committee is inviting members of New Horizon to join in a community event to collect shoes to recycle or repurpose for the month of April. The 712 Initiative is hosting their annual shoe drive to clean out your closets and save the land fills from thousands of shoes which will never disintegrate. Shoes may be brought to the church or to various drop spots in Council Bluffs. Contact Marcia Antworth with any questions. 

Cub Scout Corner

Pack 15 held our annual Cake Bake Auction on March 20. All Cub Scouts (K-4) are tasked with baking their own cake & decorating it themselves, with minimal parental help. The younger Scouts are not expected to use the oven, but they can make up the mix, determine the design, and decorate however they want. Each Scout earned a certificate in several categories, including the Most Scout Like, the Most Colorful, the Most Out of This World, etc. Family and friends came and bid on all 40+ cakes (and the highest bidder on each cake gets to take their winnings home with them to eat) as a fundraiser for those Scouts that need a little extra help with their dues & fees & for the general Pack fund.

In April, our Pack will continue to work on their Belt Loop adventures, particularly the Swimming Belt Loops, in order to be ready to go to summer camp in June. We will also be holding our annual Scouting for Food campaign on April 8 & 15, so watch for the door stickers on the 8th!