Easter Letter

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourself know – this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:22-24, ESV).

February 11, 2009
Feast day of Bishop Saturninus, Dativus, & the 48 Martyrs of Carthage (304 A.D.)

Dear Members and Friends of Second Reformed Church,

The Easter Season is upon us. Lord willing, as you can see by the worship schedule below, we will begin the season looking at some Old Testament texts and then take a run through the Gospel of John, ending with the Resurrection. At which point, we shall ask the question, “So what?”

This past Fall we had an evening study on the Seven Ecumenical Councils, and we saw the infant Church grow (by 787 A.D.) into the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Oriental Orthodox Church. (Of course, today, we have a few more than three denominations ) If the Lord is willing, we will have another evening study once the weather is nice, and we’ll look at what happened in the Roman Catholic Church (primarily) in the early General Councils and, then, the Crusades.

After Easter, if the Lord wills, I plan to pick up the history of the Church in preaching through the post-resurrection section of Luke and, then, the book of Acts.

I tell you these things for the same reasons that I include one of today’s feast days under the date above. We don’t usually think about the feast days – most of the Protestant Church ignores the feast days, except for the major holidays. (This year I bought an ecumenical calendar that lists all the feast days for all of the Christian traditions – most days are quite busy )

The reasons are these: first, as unbelievable as it may seem, Second Reformed Church is not the whole Church. Nor is the Reformed Church in America the whole Church. The Church is all of those people throughout time and space, in any and all denominations (and “non-denominations”), that confess salvation in Jesus, the Savior, Alone. We need to understand that the Church is bigger than we are. We need to understand that we are part of a people that God has called to be His. Christianity is not merely “Jesus and me.”

When we looked at the Ecumenical Councils, I explained my conviction and understanding that it is biblical to be ecumenical and ecumenists. That is, we recognize that our denominations and traditions do not make us Christians. We are Christians who believe in Jesus Alone for salvation. However, I believe we must be against ecumenism – in the sense of a movement that seeks to get rid of all distinctives – that we must “reduce” Christianity to its lowest common denominator. I do not believe that is biblical – I believe in the distinctives of the Reformed understanding of the Scripture. I believe there are reasons why ours is a better understanding of the Scripture that other traditions and denominations.

Second, as we saw when we looked at I & II Peter and recently in our look at what the Scripture says about who we are in Christ and how we ought to relate to each other because of Who Christ is and What He has done, we are to have a reason for what we believe – we ought to be able to answer the question “so what?” when it is raised about Jesus and His Salvation. The answer to this question is what connects all Christians. So, while we can – and ought – hold to our distinctives, we can work together and pray for each other as we seek, together, to deliver the answer to this question to the world.

As we understand that we are not alone, but are part of the people of God – the One and Almighty God, we can turn to each other – throughout time and space – for help in understanding and explaining the “so what?” of the Gospel. And the God of the Universe has promised to help us understand and give us the words to speak.
Join us for worship this Easter Season and let us find anew the answer to the “so what?” of Easter. And let us invite our friends, family, and neighbors to worship, because the answer to “so what?” is that important. Ask them to come, even though they were raised as a this or that, even if they know there is no God, invite them.

All Glory be to the Living Christ,



Rev. Peter Butler, Jr., pastor
Second Reformed Church


2/25/09 Ash Wednesday 7PM Isaiah 58:1-14 “The Lord’s Choice”
3/1/09 Communion/Lent 1 Psalm 25 “Forgive All My Sins”
3/8/09 Lent 2 Genesis 22:1-14 “God Will Provide the Lamb”
3/15/09 Lent 3 John 2:13-22 “Destroy This Temple”
3/22/09 Lent 4 John 6:4-15 “Nothing Shall Be Lost”
3/29/05 Lent 5 TBA
4/5/09 Communion/Palm Sunday John 12:12-19 “They Continued to Testify”
4/9/09 Communion/Maundy Thursday 7 PM John 13:1-15 “Are You Clean?”
4/10/09 Communion/Good Friday 7 PM John 18:1-19:42 “It Is Finished”
4/12/09 Communion/Easter John 20:1-31 “So What?”