Once about a year ago a guy showed up at VCC on Sunday morning a few minutes early, before the service started. He had a look on his face typical of a first-time visitor: confused, excited, suspect, and trying to figure it all out. I’m not sure how he found us, but it was obvious that he was looking for a God experience, and VCC was the menu for the morning. We met in the foyer, briefly exchanged pleasantries, and then he popped his first and last question:

“I see you have crosses hung all over the place. Are you one of those churches?”

By “those” churches, with his further clarification, he meant a church that allowed this gory reminder of the murder of Christ to linger on in our services week to week…in our case, there’s not far you can go without finding a cross somewhere. They’re in our sanctuary…in our kid’s church…next to the coffee makers…heck, even in our bathrooms. We talk about it. We sing about it. We remember it each week as we take the Lord’ Supper, our memories jogged again by the assistance of 3 big fat rusty spikes right there next to the bread and juice. There’s nowhere to hide. The cross is everywhere.

He didn’t come back.

The True Church of Christ will have an undeniable and unashamed devotion to and orbit around the symbolism found in the cross: the sacrifice, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus to provide mercy and redemption to whosoever would partake. If we do not, as Paul says somewhere, and if Jesus’ work on the cross were not the focal point of our life and faith, we are fools, the most pitied of all men.

At Vineyard Community Church, we have placed our hope on Jesus’ finished work on the cross, and for that reason, we advertise it all over: THE CROSS IS EMPTY!

This is the reason we gather, in remembrance of the undeniable fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies…in conjunction with the great theology of salvation found in the Scripture…in agreement with the famous Creeds of our faith that have been passed down from generation to generation. Yes, we are one of those churches!

So… may I suggest a practical expression of this belief and value: this Easter season, we are placing emphasis on the events before and after Jesus death on the cross:

• Sunday morning, April 9, will be a message on the Old Testament Passover and how it relates to Christianity and Jesus’ death.
• Thursday, April 13 , we will be having a “Passover Service” which will feature more of an in-depth look at Passover and the amazing prophetic message it holds, and we will also have a sampling of a Jewish Seder plate, with an explanation of how it relates to Christianity.
• Friday, April 14, we will remember Jesus’ death at our Black Friday Service. This dark and melancholy service will include worship, meditation, communion and more, all focused on humble remembrance of Jesus’ death.
• Sunday, April 16, is Easter, and you know what that means! In addition to the normal morning services, we’ll be having a baptism, and also after church we’ll have a great Southern-style lunch with all the fixins for whoever’s hungry. We’ve done this for years on Easter and it has always been a very special time (don’t ask me what a ‘fixin’ consists of…I’m not from around here).

So in closing, I encourage whoever’s reading this to really set your heart on the Lord Jesus this Easter season. Take advantage of these meetings as our church family comes together and celebrate these things. They are truly the foundation of our faith, and our hope, and our message, and our life as we continue seeking God together in the midst of our church. Our mission is to introduce people to a life-changing relationship with Jesus, and it all begins as we focus on His work on the cross.