Dear Crosswalkers,
Christopher Hitchens is the author of the bestselling book God Is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything. Since the book's publication in 2007, Hitchens has toured the country debating a series of religious leaders, including some well-known evangelical thinkers. During a recent trip to Portland, Oregon he was interviewed by Unitarian minister Marilyn Sewell. The following exchange took place near the start of the interview:
Sewell: The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I'm a liberal Christian, and I don't take the stories from the Scripture literally. I don't believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make any distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?
Hitchens: I would say that if you don't believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you're really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.
Sewell wanted no part of that discussion so her next words are, "Let me go someplace else."
I agree with the atheist! You can call yourself anything you like, but if you don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross for our sins and then rose from the dead, you are not "in any meaningful sense" a Christian. What you believe about Jesus Christ really does make a difference.
This is Holy Week, that special time of the year we celebrate what we believe about Jesus and the great salvation the Lord accomplished for us! Here is our schedule:
Thursday, April 1: Holy Thursday Communion Service at 7:00 p.m. in our worship center - This is one of the most beautiful and meaningful worship events in the entire church year. There will be wonderful musical selections focused on the Cross, and our devotion is from Luke 23:32-43 entitled, "Paradise Promised."
Good Friday Service for Sunnyvale Christian School, April 2 at 9:15 a.m. in our worship center - This is a lovely little time of worship for our school kids and their parents, but everyone is invited to attend!
Saturday, April 3 at 10:00 a.m., Easter Egg Hunt Outreach event at Vargas School - This is an outreach event to provide our own kids and the kids of our community with a fun seasonal activity! The kids will have a great time, and Invitation cards about our Easter Service will be distributed to the families. We have collected over 5,000 eggs from our church family to hide for the kids. If you still have eggs to turn in for this event, please drop them at the church office by noon on Friday. Thanks!
EASTER SUNDAY SERVICES, at our normal times of 9:00 a.m. and 10:35 a.m. - We will begin a new series called "Mythbusters" that will last for a couple of months. On Easter we will bust through some of the myths people have about Easter. This will include a strong invitation to make a commitment to the Risen Lord! Please do your part and come to church with family and friends! George Gallup did a survey and discovered their were 65 million unchurched people in the USA. But according to that same survey 34 million of them said they would come to church if someone invited them! YOU CAN BE THAT SOMEONE, AND EASTER IS A PERFECT TIME!
The Lord is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
Faithfully yours,
Pastor John Christie
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