Acts 2 says, “Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day, the Lord added to their number…”
The life and death of Jesus had one strong message that was both overt and inherent: love one another. The heart of the matter was love. Time and again we hear Jesus offer the disciples a post-resurrection message of empowerment to give to the world what he had given to them. This Easter Season we will encourage one another to truly live out the heart of the matter. The worship series, “Heart of the Matter,” begins this Easter Sunday and runs each Sunday through Pentecost.
You may not realize Easter is not just a day. Easter is a season of eight Sundays that lasts from Easter Sunday until Pentecost Sunday, a time when we celebrate the Spirit of Christ in the church as the presence of Jesus’ work ongoing in the world. During the Easter Season, we will continue to hear more about Jesus’ message of what is truly the “heart of the matter” in our lives. We’ll be gathering by live stream on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/HazelwoodCC You can also access our Facebook page from the Home page of our website www.hazelwoodchurch.org.
After the events of Holy Week, the disciples were devastated. They were in the midst of full-blown grief and disbelief. Into the heart of that grief came a stunning revelation – life had overcome death. Love had won out over violence. God’s faithfulness would build them up once again – would bind them together. Is this possible in our lives? Easter’s worship will say, “Yes, it is! Come, and see! Live, and love! This is the heart of the matter!”
