Easter People

April 5, 2026

““Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2

We are Easter people! We are people of the Resurrection. Though I write this a few days before Easter Sunday, we will celebrate throughout the month of April the resurrection of our Lord. We celebrate that Christ overcame death; we celebrate that the chains of sin have been broken; we celebrate that, through Jesus, we have been given new life. The Resurrection of Jesus changes everything...or at least it should. Even as we bask in the truth of Jesus’s Resurrection, we need to ask ourselves, what now?

The most incredible moment in history has happened, and it happened for us. So what are we going to do about it? Paul, writing to the church in Rome, urges them, in light of the mercy of God to give themselves wholly over to God—to be a living sacrifice. Because Christ died and rose again, we have been given new life by our faith in Jesus, but we haven’t been given a new life so that we can go on living in our old ways. This new life we’ve been given shouldn’t conform to the pattern of the world. We are Easter people—we are different! And that is a good thing.

The work that Jesus did on the cross is salvific and transformative. We’ve been given a new life, and that includes a new mind. This new mind, by the working of the Holy Spirit, leads us to real transformation. Not only are we no longer who we used to be, but thanks be to God, we no longer have to be who we used to be! We can ascertain what God’s will is for us, and we can live into “his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Why? Because we are Easter people!

My good church, let’s show the world what the Resurrection means to us by the way we live our lives. Let’s allow the work of Jesus on the cross to truly transform everything about us. The old song says, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.” Friends, let me tell you, because He lives, not only can we face tomorrow, we can thrive in it! And together we will, as people of the Resurrection. As Easter people.

I love you, church!

Grace and peace,
Brandon