TMG
Tom’s Midweek Greeting
Crossroads Community Church
Nevada MO 64772
April 6, 2020
Hello, Crossroads Family!
Sending you an early-in-the-week communication so you can know what’s happening at Crossroads during this special week of remembering the Lord’s death and resurrection. Here’s the schedule:
Tonight – Monday Night Bible Study – 7pm, Facebook Live
We’ll continue our look at the Old Testament book of Numbers which is a book that includes a series of crises in the life of Israel, and how the people responded (some good, some not so good). The Bible mentions that ten times the Israelites grumbled against God. Are you doing any grumbling these days? I know I’ve done my share, … and I could learn a lot from the story of the wilderness journey given to us in Numbers. I hope you’ll connect with us tonight on the Crossroads Church Nevada MO Facebook page at 7:00. The study will last around 45 minutes, not more than that.
Wednesday – Day of Prayer
The home office of the Evangelical Free Church of America is calling us to prayer on Wednesdays during this pandemic. Would you set aside some time on Wednesday to pray for God’s power, love, and mercy in the lives of those who need it? You can find a short video call to prayer from EFCA president Kevin Kompelien at https://www.efca.org/covid-19-resources.
Friday – Worship & Prayer – 7pm.
We’re going to try to use the Zoom app to gather for a short time of worship and prayer Friday evening at 7:00. Zoom will allow us to be interactive, to see and hear from each other while we pray. Judi and Phill are making themselves available this week to anyone who needs help downloading Zoom or using it. We’ll send out more information before Friday about how to connect to the meeting.
Saturday – Worship Music – 7 pm.
Jessica has been leading some worship music on her own on Saturday evenings on Facebook Live. If you would like to join Jessica, please do so Saturday on her Facebook page. You will be encouraged and prepared for Sunday worship.
Sunday morning – Easter message – 10:00 on Facebook Live.
I look forward to meeting with you on the Crossroads Facebook page this Sunday morning and celebrating the resurrection of the Lord with a message from God’s Word. I hope you’ll be there, and I hope you’ll invite some friends of yours to join us!
I apologize for the glitch in the live-stream yesterday morning! Not entirely sure what happened, but we know that other churches have experienced technical difficulties, too, from time to time. Yesterday’s Palm Sunday message has been re-recorded and is available now for you to watch without interruption on the Crossroads Church Facebook page. You may want to watch it a second time, or perhaps for the first time; or, maybe you would like to direct some friends or family members there to hear a message from God’s Word about “finishing well”.
Where do the terms “Easter” and “Good Friday” come from?
When I returned from France (a long time ago), I realized that I didn’t really know what the term “Easter” meant! In French, the word “Pâques” is used which isn’t related to our English “Easter” at all.
“Easter” descended from an old Germanic word “Austro,” or “Ostara,” a goddess of sunrise, rebirth, and fertility. The prefix “aus-“ appears again (with the “s” replaced by an “r”) in the Latin word “Aurora,” the Roman goddess of the dawn. It’s also found in the name “Austria” which means “Eastern Kingdom.” The Persians, Greeks, and Romans interwove their symbols of fertility (eggs and rabbits) into their springtime celebrations, and those symbols continue to appear in celebrations of the Christian holiday despite their pagan heritage. Most Western European languages use a variant of the Hebrew “Pesach” (“Passover”) as the name of the day marking the Lord’s resurrection. Thus, the French “Pâques,” the Latin “Pasche,” the Spanish “Pascua,” and the Russian “Paskha.”
“Good Friday” is also a designation peculiar to the English language. The French called it “Vendredi Saint,” or “Holy Friday.” There are a number of cases in the English language where the words “God” and “good” got switched around because of their similarity. One case is the phrase “God be with you,” which today has been shortened to simply, “Goodbye.” So perhaps “Good Friday” was originally “God’s Friday.” But, we might also call it “Good Friday” because, in retrospect, we see that the tragedy of the crucifixion of Christ brought about the greatest good we could have ever hoped for!
He was pierced through for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way,
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. Isaiah 53:5-6
I wish you a blessed week of remembrance and celebration! I’m thankful we can mark these special days together, and that we can live in the certainty of life without end!
Let’s be in touch this week!
Tom
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