He is Risen Indeed

A follow-up from Easter:

We truly had a wonderful day, celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.

It began waking up shortly before four am to get ready and head out for a sunrise service in the Plaza San Blas, downtown Cusco. We were able to worship at literally the crack of dawn, and in our first language. It was a beautiful time, followed by cinnamon rolls (homemade by Amy) in our house. I then began cooking my speciality, sweet potato casserole for our lunch. We heard a little bit of Amy's dad's Easter message online, and then chowed down on a spectacular feast, curtesy of Amy and Tyler. We were able to celebrate as a family during this time.

And Easter Sunday was a rare occasion where all of the 40/40s were in church, which never happens because we work in our church plant sites on Sundays and never make it back for service. But we invited our contacts to come to church, and all made a point of being there. Alex and Eli ended up bringing sixteen of their contacts to church.

Pastor taught Sunday school, and then turned the service over to us. Eli and Kathy directed the service, and after prayer, we started with a special music, performed by Alex and myself. I sang "How He Loves," in Spanish with Alex accompanying on guitar. I remember while I was still talking about God's love for us while introducing the song, seeing one of the women from church tear up.

Afterwards, Amy read Scripture, reading the crucification and resurrection account as told to us in John. We then had worship time, which went amazing! Seriously, the best worship we've had at church in Cusco. Pastor was then introduced to serve communion, which we took as a church family.

And then it was my turn to preach. I still have no idea why Pastor asked me to preach, but I was willing, and was really glad that I did. I just prayed for God to speak through me, and I barely used my notes (which is huge for me!). I shared, obviously, the story of Jesus' death and resurrection, and the reason we celebrate. I mostly focused on the good news of grace, which is a message not generally proclaimed here. Man, it went really well.

Afterward, we had refreshments to continue celebrating as a church family. This whole celebration thing is a big deal here because for most people in Cusco, the festivities happen on Friday, which is the main holiday, and Sunday is treated like just another day. They remember his death, but not his resurrection.

But we were all really grateful for the opportunity to share the reason for our joy: our Risen Lord.

All glory to his name.