He Descended into Hell

fear not God can be trusted

Thank you for your prayers.

Today is Good Friday.
Passover begins at Sunset.

Jesus is the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the world.
We say these things so often
that they become
glib and comfortable.

Jesus Christ
messed with the make up of the Universe.
He took every rotten thing 
anybody ever did 
to anybody 
throughout time and history,
into his own body.
Genocides,
murders,
crime,
fraud,
corruption,
adultery,
lies,
and the million little things people do to other people
out of spite, greed, hate, or jealousy.
He took it all.

The punishment that brought us peace,
was upon him.

And he took the full punishment:
Separation from God.
Yeah, hell.
The thing that a lot of Christians don't believe in anymore.
That.

And in going there,
he set the righteous in prison free.
Can you imagine Abraham's face
when he recognized 
one of the angels he had dinner with
getting him out of Sheol?
Can you hear Miriam singing
as she is let out of the bondage of death?
He led captivity captive,
and set many prisoners free.

And in doing that,
he made it possible for us to never know what it was like.

Jesus Christ
suffered death and was buried.
He descended into hell.
You have no idea 
how good,
how kind,
and how compassionate 
this God is.

We adore you O Christ
and we praise you.
Because by your holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.

Saturday night beginning at 5 pm ET we will be celebrating the Passover of the Lord with readings from the Bible and renewing our Baptism. Bring a candle and we will be celebrating holy communion together. Please use the Zoom link below.

We will not be having a 10 AM Sunday Celebration this week.