4.22.2026

You all know I love classic movies and try to catch them whenever they’re shown on the “big screen.” One year, the Monaco at Bridge Street was showing the 1962 classic “To Kill a Mockingbird.” I went to an afternoon showing, and was surprised that among the many people there was a large group of  conservative (I could tell by the way they dressed) home school kids. 

When I was growing up, the conservative kids wouldn’t have gone to the movies to begin with, much less one that was as controversial as TKAM. 

These movies always start on time, with 20 minutes of previews of upcoming special movie events beforehand, like other classic movies or the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts . . . but this was different. The previews were violent and, well, steamy! I could see the audience was getting pretty restless. By the fourth preview, the homeschool parents began hustling their kids out of there! 

Which was good, because when the feature began, it was NOT “To Kill a Mockingbird”! The theater made a mistake and was showing the entirely wrong feature with the wrong previews. 

Sometimes life will throw you a curveball! 

I worked for someone once who was forever throwing my team curveballs. I was continually blindsided by his unreasonable demands. It finally was so intolerable, I saw no option than to quit. But I made certain that nothing happened within my control to give them reason to fire me. 

Which was hard to do and to be quite honest my genetic makeup does not lean toward keeping my head in stressful situations! Just as a reminder, “Good Lord willing and the Creek don’t rise” refers to my people! We were always rising about something. Let’s not talk about the German side of my family!

My answer to life’s curveballs shouldn’t be based in my humanity, but should be molded by who I am in Christ Jesus. My response to life’s challenges should not depend on whether something is going well or going badly. My reaction has to be founded on something permanent. 

And here it is. 

I know the chocolate bunnies and the peeps are gone from the stores (except on the clearance aisles), but we’re still celebrating  Easter! Why? The impact of Easter stretches far beyond the one Sunday observance because Easter gives us the rock solid foundation to build the rest of our lives on. 

Lesslie Newbigin was a British theologian, missionary and author.  When someone asked him if he was an optimist or a pessimist, he said: “I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.” 

What did he mean by that? He was saying that when he looked at the future (or the present for that matter), he didn’t feel good about it or feel bad about it. How he felt about it was irrelevant. Optimism and pessimism are states of mind that can fluctuate because they’re based on feelings, and as believers we don’t want to be enslaved to our emotions. Newbigin was saying that when faced with the future – whether uncertain or certain – he wanted to start with a certainty: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead! 

And that changes everything! 

The resurrection of Jesus is the grounding, the foundation of our lives. When we start with the resurrection, no matter how good or bad we feel about something, we can step back from the situation we find ourselves in and look at it through the settled reality of the resurrection.  

And once that’s settled, then we can get on with the task that God’s given us. As believers in the resurrection of Jesus (and frankly, if you don’t believe in the resurrection, are you truly a believer in Jesus?), our mission is to bring the reality of the resurrection into our own work and world. As we pray each week, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”After nearly 60 years of reading the Bible, I’m convinced this is the real Good News: Christianity is about a God who loves this world so much that he entered into it through Jesus and is committed to restoring it and healing all things; and this loving God invites US to be part of that work. 

And that work is to put into effect signs of Jesus’ resurrection: loving your neighbor, speaking up for those who can’t speak up for themselves,  giving out blessing bags to the homeless, volunteering when possible, etc. And that’s not because doing these things makes you a Christian – remember, salvation is a free gift – but because that’s what it looks like to live in the Kingdom of God. It’s what Christians do.

I said last Sunday that baptism is a change of identity, it’s an initiation into a people who are learning to live as if the Kingdom of God is already breaking into the present. 

Which it is. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

So, am I an optimist about the future or a pessimist? I’m neither.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. 

Blessings,

Pastor Terry