Christ is risen! God’s love is alive in the world!

This year, for the season of Easter, St. Luke’s will focus on the theme of abundant life. I chose to accompany that theme with a series of children’s sermons entitled “Christ is risen! God’s love is alive in the world!” As I prepared for Holy Week this year I consulted some children’s ministry resources that encouraged me to focus on Jesus’s life and love as the central Easter message.The theologian Herb Montgomery suggests that Jesus’s death is an unjust, cruel and unnecessary act.  Jesus did not need to die. This world’s unjust systems killed him. God sent Jesus to live and to love and to show us how to live and love. Jesus’s radical love threatened the oppressive systems of his time. His message was briefly interrupted but ultimately Jesus came back to life.  His story gives us hope. His resurrection invites us to love. In Lutheran theology God acts first in the world. God’s love moves through the world and sets us free so we can love with our whole hearts. When we are truly free we act on/express what God has ignited in our hearts.Children hold a lot of wisdom and insight about God’s love. They experience and express love in ways that can enlighten and inspire us at St. Luke’s. This year, during the Easter season our children’s sermons will feature children from our congregation sharing their ideas about love.If you have a child who would like to help with the Easter children’s sermons, please let Children’s Minister Carmen know (carmen@stlukesls.org).