VALLEY VINE Valley Presbyterian Church
April 2017
Volume 62, Number 3
Dear friends,
It is harder and harder to distinguish the real and the unreal. Reality TV blurs the line between the orchestrated and the actual. Computer generation and special effects make life-like images from digital sources. Deceptive stories are presented as news. Virtual reality headsets create 3-D worlds that rival our own. That is what makes a visit to Israel so powerful. Watching a storm arise on a boat on the Sea of Galilee and eating a fish caught in its waters. Walking the hills where Jesus spoke aloud the eight blessings we’ve come to call the Beatitudes. Looking at the view from the palace at Caesarea, where Pontius Pilate watched the sun set and the crowds cheered in the Hippodrome. Treading the path from the Mount of Olives down into the Old City—the journey Jesus took as the crowd waved their palm branches.
The faith we celebrate this Easter is no virtual reality, no mythological construct. It is rooted deep in the history of the Holy Land, rising out of the dusty streets and the historical struggles of people as real as you and I. The rulers have come and gone, as the Egyptians gave way to the Hittites and the Assyrians to the Babylonians, the Persians to the Macedonians, the Romans to the Byzantines. Caliphates, Crusaders, Turks, Mongols, Ottomans, and Europeans all had their turn. But the Kingdom Jesus initiated, without sword or cannon, without horse or army, has outlasted and outspread them all. Our faith roots in history but transcends it too. For the one we celebrate this Easter is as contemporary now as He was in the first century. He still answers prayers, still solves mysteries, still directs seekers, and still calls us to love and service. As we celebrate Holy Week and Easter, may the Living Lord become ever more real to you.
Blessings,
valley presbyterian church Valley Presbyterian Church 6947 E. McDonald Drive, Paradise Valley, AZ 85253-5342 Phone: 480-991-6424 Fax: 480-991-6427 Email: church@vpc.church Website: vpc.church