KC Grace Church of the Nazarene

On a recent visit to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, here in Kansas City, I discovered this picture of Christ in the crown of thorns. It seems to me most art ...of Christ on Good Friday is clean and neat and overly beautiful. In this picture artist Albrecht Bouts captures the pain and suffering of Christ. Imagine Christ - beaten - exhausted without sleep - burdened - broken. Look closely, under the dark circles under Jesus’ bloodshot eyes - see the tears that stand out from his face - they look wet, as though he is weeping over us - right now. The cruel, bloody beating, humiliating, torturing of Christ was not beautiful and clean as we often depict it - Jesus - while fully God, was also FULLY human - and in these hours of crucifixion he felt every strike of the whip, the nails piercing through his wrists, the sword through his side ... and yes, the crown of thorns thrust down upon his head. Go back and look closely at the picture again. See that the crown was not just placed on his head. It was thrust down so the thorns pierced the skin, jabbing him deeply, painfully with every push and pull of the walk to Calvary. Jesus could have walked away at any point - he could have called heaven down and overpowered his captors and walked away from this sacrifice - walked away from us. Instead, Jesus chose to stay. Jesus, Son of God, suffered humiliation, pain, and death on the cross - that we can taste and live life transformed as Daughters and Sons of God. It should be each of us who pays the price of eternal death, but Christ took our place in the cross. ... Christ took my place ... Christ died on a cross for you! How does this picture help you think about Good Friday and Christ’s crucifixion? https://art.nelson-atkins.org///christ-crowned-with-thorns

HOSANNA - Lord Save Us! This morning I hung palms on my front door instead of waving them inside the safety of the sanctuary ... On that first Palm Sunday as ...they greeted Jesus, coming into the great city of Jerusalem, they asked for an earthly savior/ruler, not understanding God was providing transformation and eternal salvation. It strikes me that as they celebrated, they had absolutely no idea what would happen in the next 7 days - or weeks - or months. They had no idea how hard, how gut wrenching, how hopeless ... nor did they know that God would turn all that pain into real rejoicing. On Palm Sunday, in desperation they cried out for a savior ... and Jesus wept because he understood what they did not ... Today, in isolation, we celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entry into this city, through the throngs of desperate people. In many ways we too face great unknowns in the days and weeks ahead. The difference is that we know the hope, peace, grace, and salvation of Christ. Today may feel lonely and desperate ... remember our hope is in Christ our Messiah - Savior. Even as you join Christ in weeping over the people around you - pray with great hope and living out God’s peace in this world. Today begins a journey ... how will you live into it? How will you seek Christ your Savior? How will you represent God to a world full of people crying out in hopelessness? HOSANNA - Save Us!

EDITED TIME - service starts at 1pm today - Friday Funeral services for Anneliese Patterson will be held at Parklawn Funeral 18251 Hillcrest Rd Kansas City gat...e 1 The viewing is 12-1 service follows at 1

Grace choir leading us in worship

Central African conference at Grace. What a blessing to spend a weekend in prayer, praise, preaching of the Word of God, dancing, singing, and the Holy Presence of God!

Our Central African conference continues today 10am until we are finished - late this evening. Come and go is ok too. If you are curious about worship at Grace, want to experience African style worship, or just need a space to be present with the people of God - and the presence of the Holy Spirit come join us this morning.

It’s been a busy week at Grace. After 4 break-in during the past 2 months, a fire destroyed the playground. Then today, a group of teens from Olathe Westside Church Of the Nazarene showed up and removed the lava of plastic and burnt metal. What a blessing to have help doing what we could not do for ourselves. It is good to be a part of the family of God. If you are interested in helping Grace recover, install security system and lights, and continue to be a vital presence of Christ in the neighborhood contact Pastor Tammy Carter (816) 520-2537 or [email protected] - or give online at: http://kcgrace.org/?page_id=89

Special thanks to Regan Porter at Fox 4 news for helping tell the Grace story so compassionately.

Shout out to KCPL today! At 10 am we learned there was no electricity at the church! Quick assessment revealed that the electric meter had been stolen off the back of the building! KCPL came out to cap it off until later in the week. When Craig saw the reality and allowed me to plead for electricity for church tomorrow ... he made some calls, picked up a new meter and returned to install the new meter with a lock! ... Thanks to KCPL we will have a cool sanctuary and plenty of sound and music for lively worship tomorrow! Thanks #KCPL Join us for a great day of worship - 10:45 and 2:00 services!

This is a nice, clear description of what it means to be Nazarene. Take a look - and if you are interested in learning more - let’s talk.