Every spring, I’m sure that thousands of preachers are struggling just like me to capture the meaning of Easter. It seems intimidating to do justice to the greatest event in our Christian history that is recorded in Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24 and John 20.

Yet this year, I have found the Easter resurrection recorded in the hopeful words of our Bishop: Tim Whitaker when he said in his latest article of The Florida United Methodist E-Review. Bishop Whitaker shows us how to make Easter happen for ourselves and others when we are “Living The Methodist Way.”  Listen to how he describes this resurrected life: “From the very beginning, the Christians understood the Christian life as “the Way” (Acts 9:2). The church is a community that knows the revelation of God in Jesus Christ as real life and not as system of concepts. When the apostles described their direct experience of Jesus of Nazareth in his life, death and resurrection, they called him “the word of life” (I John 1:1). To be his disciple is to share in his gift of life by the power of the Holy Spirit given to the church following the coming of Jesus, and it means to follow him by conforming to his pattern of living in one’s own situation and by following his teaching (Matthew 28:20).

Over the course of the history of the Christian community there have emerged various traditions of how to practice the Christian Way of life. It is possible to describe Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Reformed traditions for how to live the Christian Way. During the Wesleyan revival in the Church of England in the 18th century, a Methodist Way of salvation and discipleship emerged. It was a kind of system of disciple-making involving small groups for evangelical awakening and accountability for growing in receiving the grace of God, service to the poor and sharing the Gospel with others.
 
[This is how we are] “Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World.”

And now may this web page messsage be your invitation to join us as we follow the resurrection path of Jesus through the rest of Lent, Passion Sunday, Holy Week and the Easter Season (and beyond…).

Blessed to Be Your South Florida Pastor,

Fred Ball