Redeemer East Side Update

After the long-awaited and joyous celebration of Easter Sunday, we find ourselves jarringly thrust back into a world that remains shrouded in uncertainty, isolation and tragedy. Yet Christians are, as one author put it, “Easter people living in a Good Friday world.” What that means is when you tap into the truth of Christ’s resurrection, you are brought to life with an otherworldly hope for our this-worldly existence. Wendell Berry put it beautifully:

So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute. Love the Lord. Love the world . . . Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts . . . Practice resurrection.

What does that mean, to practice resurrection? Especially in a time of quarantine? I know a friend who hosts a virtual wine-and-cheese for neighbors in her building. Another person I know has befriended a woman on her floor and not only regularly helps her with groceries, but even helped her pick a dress for a virtual first date! A neighbor is starting a meals rotation for a nurse in our building. Another friend started a weekly virtual prayer meeting … with her non-religious friends! An artist I know is trying to start a movement of artists sharing their work as an expression of Christian hope.

The best thing about practicing resurrection is that you don’t have to get it right the first time. But you do need to keep practicing. How will you practice resurrection each day?

As we return to our more regular means of communicating with you, my prayer is that you would see everything in these updates as ways we want to help you practice resurrection right where God has placed you. For though we can’t gather publicly for now as God’s Easter people, we can be the bearer of gospel hope wherever we are in the city. And maybe that’s what God has been intending for each of us all along.

Warmly,

Rev. Abraham Cho
East Side Senior Pastor

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Neil Weiss

Neil is a volunteer at The Father's Heart Ministries, a HFNY affiliate that provides services to the unemployed, at-risk youth, immigrants, and those without social or family support. In this video, he shares his incredible story of gospel transformation and life change.

This week, from Easter Sunday, April 12 through Saturday, April 18, 100% of your gifts to the East Side Disaster Relief Fund will go toward Hope for New York’s efforts to provide critical relief grants and resources to their affiliate organizations.

Neil's story was originally shared at our Easter Sunday worship services on April 12, 2020.

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