I hope you were able to make it to one of our Easter Services this week. These gatherings are a meaningful way to nurture and support the community at Kennedy Baptist College. Building and maintaining a community’s culture is no small feat, and our Easter Services provide a special opportunity to come together.
A big part of the service and sacrifice of each community member act as the glue that binds the community together. This reflects an important part of the Easter message. Easter is recognising that Jesus served and sacrificed himself for us, so that our sin could be paid. To help understand the idea of sin is to replace the word sin with selfishness, or the idea of living a self-first life. When we recognise that Jesus came to pay for the harm caused by the selfish actions, we all produce when we put ourselves first, it becomes clearer that Jesus died for all humanity.
A true and dynamic community cannot thrive when everyone is after their own interests. The Easter message is where Jesus offers us a way to surrender our self-obsession by accepting that He gave Himself fully to us. Jesus on the cross is the opposite of SELFISHNESS. I believe and know that when we begin a relationship with Jesus, we enjoy the power to make authentic community possible. We can build community with Him, rather than damage it by our self-centred focus.
I encourage all of us, including myself to personally respond to the Easter message Receiving Jesus’ generous, others-focused life in exchange for our own self-directed lives, we allow authentic community to grow and flourish.
Peter Chase
College Chaplain • Pastoral Care
