april 2025
CALENDAR
April 6 Holy Communion
April 9 The Gathering @ 7:00 PM
April 13 Palm/Passion Sunday; Noisy Offering for Habitat
April 17 Holy Thursday service at Grace UMC, Newburgh @ 7:00 PM
April 18 Good Friday service at Hope UMC @ 7:00 PM
April 20 Easter Sunday
April 23 The Gathering @ 7:00 PM
April 27 Noisy Offering for our apportionments; Habitat for Humanity Walk for Housing
Missions
HABITAT NEWS
Habitat’s annual Walk for Housing is fast approaching. This year, it will be on Sunday, April 27th . To honor a long-time supporter, the Walk will begin and end on the Mount Saint Mary College campus. This year, Habitat Newburgh will break ground on two new affordable houses in the Town of Newburgh on land donated by the Mount last year.
Vail’s Gate UMC has been committed to Habitat for the past 25 years. For many years, we have collected a monthly noisy offering to help build and renovate houses, and we have faithfully had participants at the Walk who were backed by contributions from our church family.
Just as Habitat describes itself as walking a new path this year, so too will VGUMC. On March 2 during an after-church Ad. Council meeting, our church voted to generously support the Habitat Walk for Housing with a $500 contribution. This will be a huge boost for Habitat, and it means Vail’s Gate’s walkers won’t need to solicit pledges from the parishioners. If anyone still wants to give a contribution, we would welcome it, but this year, we’ll only ask for your prayers and good wishes for a beautiful day.
Many thanks to all the faithful congregants who have propelled our church into such an enhanced financial position that we can endorse the good works of Habitat. The lack of affordable housing is a discussion in every community, Newburgh included, and Habitat is working hard to alleviate the situation
From the pastor
WHERE IS EASTER?
Luke 24: 9 – 12 tells us: “When (the women) returned, they told the eleven apostles and the others what had happened. The apostles thought it was all nonsense, and they would not believe. But Peter ran to the tomb. And when he stooped down and looked in, he saw only the burial clothes. Then he returned home, wondering what had happened.” (CEV)
There are many reasons you or someone you know may be asking where is Easter this year. By now, almost everyone knows that Easter is coming later this year, on April 20th. (So much the better for the Easter Dawn services). In fact, Easter arrived later than April 20th six times in the 20th Century, and never after April 24th.
Now, you might ask why this thought even came to my mind. Besides being later in the year, it also occurs to me that the joy of Easter morning, the joy of our Lord’s resurrection, the joy of new life appears pretty distant for too many people this year. With immigrants scared about the possibility of unjust deportation, with people dependent on government subsidies concerned about this loss and its impact on their lives, with veterans and many others worried about being able to access their healthcare, there seems to be little reason for joy this year as we approach Easter.
Luke’s gospel tells us that when the women reported Jesus’ resurrection to the Apostles, they did not believe them. They thought it was all a “wild wives’ tale”. Only Peter believed them enough to even bother to check out the tomb. When he arrived, he did find the tomb empty, as they reported. However, he returned home with no joy, wondering just what had happened.
For many of us, we have been through the Easter story so many times that it has lost any real joy or inspiration. It is old hat and just another part of the story of Jesus we have read, heard, and seen so many times that we begin to wonder what the excitement is all about. “Of course, Jesus rose from the grave. That was the whole point of the story, wasn’t it??”
Unless Jesus is exactly who all the prophets claimed and who Jesus said he was, there is no way the resurrection could have possibly happened, and our faith is useless. However, we firmly believe that Jesus is exactly this – the one and only Son of God, the Savior sent to save the world, to save us from our sins, the perfect sacrifice to fulfill all the law once for all time. With this belief firmly in our hearts and souls, my question of where is Easter should have a clear answer – Easter is in my heart. Easter is in my soul. Easter is in me every single day. Easter is in you and every believer that Jesus Christ was and is the son of God.
I pray that as you journey through the rest of Lent you will draw near to the joy of Easter. I pray that you will have no question in your heart, mind, or soul where to find the Easter joy. We firmly believe that the women found the tomb empty. We firmly believe that Mary Magdalene and others encountered the living, resurrected Jesus that morning. We firmly believe that the disciples encountered Jesus many times over the next 50 days before Pentecost. We firmly believe that people continue to encounter the risen Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Lord and Savior in many different ways.
May you have no question about where to find Easter this year or any year. May Easter reside firmly within your heart and soul every day.
Pastor Ross Topliff