Does It Really Matter?

What is going through your mind and heart as Holy Week and Easter approach?

There is a phrase that I just can’t get out of my mind and heart these early April days. This phrase got put there on the weekend of March 16/17, and it is still there. So, let me share it with you today. . . it really matters! That’s what going through my mind—it really matters! The “it” in it really matters is the life which God has both given to us and continually calls us into in Christ.

The events of Holy Week and Easter really matter! The death and resurrection of our Lord Christ is the way that God saved the world which rebelled against Him. We are a part of that world. We are in need of saving, and God saved us in Christ. This action of God on our behalf is the center of history and the center of our life! No matter what others may say, or even what our own wandering minds and feelings may say, Christ’s finished work for us really matters, and because of that, I invite you to make time for Worship on Palm Sunday and during Holy Week and on Easter Sunday. We will reflect, give thanks, and celebrate Who matters most.

The life to which we are called by our Lord Christ really matters! Luke 24:13 – 35 (Go ahead, look it up and read it.) tells the account of Jesus and the disciples on the road to Emmaus. It was Easter evening and Jesus showed up amid a conversation (verse 17), and because Jesus was a part of it, that conversation really mattered! Then, after revealing Himself to them in conversation, they continued that conversation with each other and with the frightened disciples back in Jerusalem (verses 28 – 35). That conversation, centered in Christ, really mattered!

The life we live, with Christ in the center, really matters! It is through you, through me, through us together, that the risen Christ is made known to the world, beginning with our little section of it. We saw it during March when your gifts of food mattered enough that, partnering with Good in the ‘Hood, 180 people were fed for a week. And your gifts of socks mattered enough that, partnering with SoleCare for Souls, clients will receive socks following foot care sessions from now through October.

Where else does our response to Christ matter? Let me answer that question with another one—where are you going today? Wherever you answered, that is where your life in Christ really matters!

Let me close with a verse from an Easter hymn that we will be singing on the Sundays of Easter this year that sums up what really matters in a beautiful way:

Walking the way, Christ in the center Telling the story to open our eyes;

Breaking our bread, Giving us glory: Jesus our blessing, our constant surprise.

Jesus is risen and we shall arise: Give God the glory! Alleluia!

(Lutheran Service Book #474)

Pastor Tom Stoebig Senior Pastor tstoebig@beautifulsaviorlc.org