Each year, Christians across the world in various traditions set aside time during the Lenten Season, Holy Week and Easter Weekend to reflect on the life of Christ and to refocus our attention on His ultimate sacrifice for us.

This observance includes the darkness and heaviness of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. And, for just a brief time each year, we are invited to sit with that reality.

There’s no denying it: we live in a broken world. The business of everyday life easily fills our minds and calendars, and troubling headlines in the news can fill our hearts with fear. When Christ was on earth, He never promised that we would be free from the impact of sin on our world. In fact, that is the very reason for his coming to earth. We are in the world witnessing unnecessary loss, devastation from flooding and tornadoes, and depravity celebrated in our culture.

But, we are not of the world, as Jesus states in John 15, because we know the truth we will celebrate on Sunday—that Christ is alive and risen!

Christ conquered sin and death. He left glory to enter our sin-sick world, died the death we deserved, and then rose again in victory over death. And for those who trust in Christ, this is our hope. This is the truth that we celebrate not just on Easter, but every day.

No matter what distractions come our way or how many dark “Good Friday” or “Holy Saturday” moments occur, we can cling to the coming promise of Easter Sunday by daily choosing to refocus our attention on Christ and take heart!

“Take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

Though we sit with the darkness of Good Friday today, it will never out shadow the beauty of Easter Sunday! The team at Family Policy Alliance will be praying that each of you enjoy this Easter weekend with friends and family. We trust that this time of mourning Christ’s death and celebrating His resurrection will move you to live in the joy of Easter in the days to come.

God Bless,

Ruth Ward
Director, Government Affairs

 

For many Americans, Easter will have extra meaning this year.

After a year of daily death counts – with many paralyzed by fear of death for themselves or for vulnerable loved ones – we rejoice on a weekend where our focus is on the One who conquered the grave.

After a year of tension and anger – played out in nightly eruptions on our streets and daily outbursts on social media accounts – we exhale a sigh of relief and hope as we embrace the Prince of Peace.

And after the turmoil of a bitter election – and the gut-wrenching, often truth-defying policy changes that have followed – we are steadied and renewed as we kneel before our good and glorious King who embodies truth and never changes.

The last year has been remarkable for its enormous events and quantifiable numbers – cases, deaths, businesses ablaze, churches closed, vote counts, and so much more.

And yet beneath the big numbers and headlines, it has also been a year of quiet angst, gnawing fear and building anger – in our neighbors, and sometimes even in ourselves.

Through all of that, this year has been a crystal-clear reminder that we live in a fallen world that desperately needs a Savior. If we trust Christ, then even in the midst of a broken world and the never-ending battle for truth and justice, we can find a peace that surpasses understanding, a hope that never fades, and endurance to not grow weary in doing good.

It starts at the cross – and the empty tomb.

So this Easter weekend, we thank you for your steadfast support and engagement. And we pray that you’ll be blessed with the joy and peace that only Christ can bring.

Happy Easter!

John Paulton
Mobilization Manager

Expectations faltered. The hopes of a triumphant outcome rooted in truth and eternal justice were now questionable – if not impossible. Government casually dismissed the facts and caved to mob rule. The narrative rapidly changed and now positioned them on what looked like it would be the wrong side of history. The most ardent supporters felt the best pragmatic and protective measure to take was to draw back and consider how to endure the cultural backlash for their beliefs.

Then everything changed.

He resurrected!

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the gospel on which we stand. Scholars can critique it and scoffers can criticize it, but no one can cancel it.

In the end, truth wins! You can crucify it and bury it, but it will roll away the stone and become louder. As we enter this Resurrection Celebration weekend, I want to encourage you to stay steadfast in your work to make New Jersey better. There is too much at stake to withdraw and gradually capitulate to the extreme demands of those who seek to promote their own agenda above the common good of society.

The historical reality of the resurrection ensures us God will always come through, even when defeat seems settled and habitual. As we work together, along with other pro-life and social conservative organizations in our state, may we be reminded of this truth.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2

He is risen!

Happy Easter!

Shawn Hyland
Executive Director

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.” ~ Psalm 23:4

I’ve been comforted by Psalm 23 a lot the past few months, and I can’t help thinking that the Lord was using that time of reflection in advance of the coronavirus and economic uncertainty we are all facing together as a nation.

In particular, verse 4 has been on my heart and mind because my family has been walking the valley of the shadow of death since last fall.

In fact, we didn’t know that we had already begun walking this path until an unexpected seizure led to my father’s diagnosis of the most aggressive form of brain cancer.

After the initial shock of hearing what must be one of the worst words in the English language—glioblastoma—there were many rough days knowing we had entered that valley. And I didn’t want to walk.

Walking the valley

Then one evening I found this beautiful essay, “Reading Psalm 23 on Good Friday.” In Psalm 23 specifically, “…we can or should read Jesus not only as the Shepherd, but as the one who speaks in the Psalm.” The essay urges us to “engage in a genuine Christian reading, not to merely remember Christ as our Shepherd, but to think of Christ as the one who is praying this Psalm himself.”

In other words, we usually read this most-famous Psalm as “Jesus is my shepherd”—and, of course, He is. But knowing that all of the Old Testament points to Jesus, there is another meaning here, too.

And that is that we can hear Jesus’ voice in place of King David’s, praying Psalm 23 to His Father as He walked through that valley and suffered a cruel death on the first Good Friday. That death began the process of restoring all of creation to God’s original design; provided the way for re-establishing relationship between the Creator and those who call upon Jesus’ name as the only means by which they can be saved; and assures us that we will never have to walk that valley alone—if we belong to Him.

We do not know exactly how long this valley—my family’s or our nation’s—will be. Even apart from the coronavirus, of course, we are all walking the valley of the shadow of death. Our time on this earth is limited, though sometimes we’re more aware of it than other times.

But however long my family’s valley is, it won’t ever feel like enough time for this daughter with her father. While we continually pray for my dad’s complete healing, we know that may not come in this life, but the next.

And that is the other source of hope and comfort—to know that we will be raised to life in perfected bodies as part of the new heavens and new earth. That hope is only possible because Jesus is the “firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18).

Cherishing Life

If you have followed Family Policy Alliance® for any length of time, you know we envision our nation being one where God is honored, religious freedom flourishes, families thrive and life is cherished. Usually when we think about life being cherished, we think about protecting the preborn. But life is also worth fighting for at its other end—in illness and frailty, in the need for respirators to fight the coronavirus, and as one comes to the end of that valley.

I have had the privilege to work in pro-life, pro-family public policy my entire career, first at Focus on the Family and now at Family Policy Alliance. But never has principle been so personal. Walking this valley, time is precious and life is certainly cherished.

And so during this Holy Week, I pray that you do not rush through Thursday and Friday, skipping ahead to “Sunday’s coming.” But rather, reflect on the gravity and weight, the suffering and pain, the profound sacrifice of Good Friday—the ultimate act of cherishing life.

Then consider the silence and uncertainty of that first Holy Saturday. So that when Easter morning does break, you can rejoice that resurrection and eternal life are truly won—and we have no need to fear evil—because our Lord walked through that valley alone so that we will never walk there without Him.

Walking with Him and you,

Sonja Swiatkiewicz
Family Policy Alliance