Reflections
God’s Redemptive Love
God’s Redemptive Love
by Lynn Jarvis
As we celebrate the church season of Eastertide or the Easter Season, Christians celebrate a 50-day period prolonging the joy of Easter. Because the Eastertide season lasts until Pentecost (June 8, 2025), the day of the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, I thought a discussion of God’s redemptive love and his gift of the New Covenant through Jesus would be interesting.
I grew up in a New Testament home with a strong Old Testament mentality. I grew up with a deep belief in God, that Jesus was God’s son, and that he died for our sins so we could be forgiven for our sins and have eternal life. I knew that was the most important part, but with that belief, my faith, teachings, and thinking were sprinkled with and sometimes fully intertwined with fear of a vengeful God, an unforgiving God, and a punitive God. Mind you, I didn’t even go to a fire and brimstone church - my preacher was highly educated, and his sermons were lessons based on theology and scripture. However, I did grow up Baptist in the South in a very small town; A very religious town and county with more than 29 Baptist churches, not counting the other denominational churches scattered on opposite corners or down the street. So, surrounded with all this religion and a plethora of preachers, why did I not know of God as loving, caring, and concerned about me or mankind? Why was the focus on punishment and going to hell?
The Walls of Jericho
The Walls of Jericho: Joshua 6:1-27
by Lynn Jarvis
The story of Joshua and the falling of the walls of Jericho, is an appropriate story to read and analyze during this season of Lent leading up to Easter. At first reading, it seems like a short, simple story about God providing a win for his followers. However, with a deeper look, we learn that it is a story full of meaning, promise, certainty, faith, and fulfillment. It is directly relatable to the story of Jesus and his resurrection. How, you might ask? Old Testament v. New Testament? Jesus holds meaning for so many, when so few even know who Joshua was. Jesus is the son of God sacrificed for all of our sins while Joshua certainly did not do anything to help those of us living today.
This is how I see a unified theme. The story of Joshua is a story of God fulfilling his promises to his chosen people after decades of having them wander around in the desert while he taught them how to be in good relationship with him and enter into a covenant with him through his protection, feeding, and support of them; God showing them he loved them and would always protect them; that he only wanted good things for them; and promised to give them the best land and life that the region had to offer, fulfilling his promises to them as he had promised Abraham.