Stewardship Article

Unequal Sacrifice
By Melinda Carr


If you are like me, you love living in Raleigh for the four different seasons. Well, I really only like the winter because it makes me appreciate the spring and summer more! Nothing makes my heart lighter than a beautiful, sunny day. It lifts me up and puts joy right on my face where everyone can see it.

That's sort of how I see Easter...a sunny, joyful spring day. However the few days before that in Christ's time were the deepest of winter. Jesus' death caused the disciples to experience darkness and sorrow, disbelief and abandonment. How confused they must have been!

This past Easter, I was humbled by our Maundy Thursday Tenebrae Service at Saint Andrews. If you have never attended this service, it represents the increasing darkness before the light; the night Jesus was betrayed and then his crucifixion on the following day. Oh, what a Holy night! The night of our Lord's sacrifice.

It's humbling to realize that Christ's sacrifice was for each of us. He gave his life for each of us, and it wasn't an easy or quick death. He SUFFERED for our sins, so that we could be forgiven and live unto eternity with our Heavenly Father. In return, He asks very little from us - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind." Luke 10:27a

That's it. SO MUCH for so little. What an unequal sacrifice!