A Legacy & A Future
April 22, 2001
PLEDGE TOPS $134 -THOUSAND
Church Treasurer Mark Johnson says the pledge for repair and renovation of First Alliance Church facilities stands at $134,160 over the three year period of the program. This is below the fund raising program target, but Johnson says he expects to see a few more pledges. The pledge amount represents 37 families in the church.
At its regular monthly meeting April 17, the Governing Board voted to begin work on the project as soon as possible with the intent of completing the exterior work on the building this year. Exterior work would include new siding, new windows, a new roof on the sanctuary, repairs to the flat roof, and repair of the sidewalk. The Board also voted to go ahead with new audio and visual equipment. It has been several months since bids were received, so those costs will be confirmed (some of them firmed up), and ready for presentation to the congregation at the annual meeting May 20.
If you and your family have not yet made a pledge, you are encouraged to do so soon. Financial uncertainly may be causing some to delay. Even a pledge of support without a specific amount would be encouraging. A slogan from the fund campaign was: "Not equal giving.. but equal sacrifice." As we come together in unity on this project, the Lord will bless.
Easter Sunday Services
Many have said how special Easter Sunday services were. The day began with a sunrise (or should it be Son rise?) led by Reverend Merle Douglas. It was followed by a breakfast prepared by the Alliance Men, and then at 10:30 a very unique worship service.
The church choir prepared a number of special musical numbers that they mixed with familiar Easter hymns. The congregation was invited to sing along with the choir.
There were a number of special readings woven throughout an integrated service that included a short message from Pastor David Guilford and meditations from two of our laymen.
Pastor Guilford, in a meditation on John 10:14-18, reminded us that Christ made two voluntary decisions; one to lay down his life and another to take it up again. The Christian also has more than the initial choice of accepting Christ's sacrifice for salvation. "Every day requires choices to support the initial choice of salvation," said Pastor Guilford. The Christian must make a daily choice to pick up his cross and follow.
In a meditation on the cross, Andy Nowlen, said the cross stands tall as it is flanked on either side by the Great Commandment (to love) and the Great Commission (to go). He challenged the church to present the cross to those in deepest need. "It requires an inter-generational effort to bring the power of the cross to play in fulfilling the Great Commission," he said.
Tim Mullowney presented a meditation on the resurrection, saying the hope we have as Christians is represented by the empty tomb. The resurrection is real, he said, only when we fall before the God of the resurrection recognizing that "I am only a lump of flesh."
One of the most moving portions of the Easter service was when each person walked to the front of the sanctuary and impaled a piece of paper with their name on it on a spike. The spikes were then nailed to a wooden cross.
The service concluded with the "flowering of the cross" as each person placed a flower on the cross. This has become a recent tradition at First Alliance Church.
How splendid the cross of Christ!
It brings life, not death;
Light not darkness;
Paradise not its loss;
It is the wood on which the Lord,
Like a great warrior,
Was wounded in hands and feet and side
But healed thereby our wounds.
A tree had destroyed us;
A tree now brought us life.
Citation: St. Theodore of Studios
A.W. Tozer thoughts on the cross...
Excerpt from "The Old Cross and the New,"
The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect...
The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more.
God offers life, but not an improved life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God's just sentence against him."
HE IS RISEN!
HE IS RISEN INDEED!
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