together. | Oct 23, 2022

This morning was significant in the life of our church and the work God is doing in us and through us. Pastor Dale taught on the paschal mystery, that in order to come to fuller life and spirit, we must continuously let go of past life and spirit. We see this in Jesus' teaching "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." (John 12:23-24) Pastor Dale referenced two kinds of death and two kinds of life.

Two kinds of death

• Terminal death that ends physical life
• Paschal death that is ending one kind of life and opens the person undergoing it to receive a deeper & richer form of life

Two kinds of life 

• Resuscitated life when one is restored to one’s former life & health
• Resurrected life is the reception of a radically new life, better than the previous 

This is a process of transformation, within which we are given both new life and new spirit. 

• It begins with suffering and death 
• Moves on to reception of new life 
• Spends some time grieving the old & adjusting to the new 
• When the old life has been truly let go of, a new spirit is given for the life we are already living

God’s work continues to move us forward. It is not a resuscitation work, it is a resurrection work – one that begins with renewal in us so that others can be renewed through us. Over the next 40 days, as individuals and as a church we are going to prayerfully seek our Father, identifying and surrendering what we need to let go of so that we can receive what God has for us today.

We invite you to spend time with our Father this evening and this week to seek Him on what He's asking you to let go of. What in your personal life is he asking you to let go of and for our church, what is he asking you to let go of? What is it you need to admit is dead, what is currently alive? What needs to be mourned, celebrated to be prepared to ascend? 

We invite you to write down what you hear and continue to pray through it. In our worship lobby and in Parkside rooms, we have ascension walls. The ascension walls are there to post the things you need to let go of to receive the new. We invite you to bring a representation of what you're letting go of and post it to the board. It could be what you've written down on paper, a photo, an old bulletin or handout from a ministry. There's also paper and pens by the wall where you can write down what you're letting go of and pin it to the board.