Christian Latina Leadership Blog

By Patty Villarreal

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During this season, Christians celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. My church follows the liturgical Christian calendar. Thus, during Palm Sunday, the children march up and down the sanctuary aisles waving fronds of palms commemorating the victorious entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem prior to his death.

I recently watched this depiction of Jesus’ victorious entrance on the big screen at a movie theater. I am an avid fan of The Chosen series. Right now, I am following the current part 5 series – “The Last Supper.” It was with tearful joy as I watched this display of open adoration of our Lord. What that scene must have been like if we had been able to witness it!

However, not everyone was celebrating. Many misunderstood the meaning of what this signaled in God’s plan for God’s Creation. It was the beginning of the end of Jesus’ life on this earth. Life that showed us how much God really loves us and that Jesus’ ministry was one of reconciliation, unifying ourselves with God.

One of the events that happened after the triumphal entrance in Jerusalem was the Last Supper. At that time, Jesus said that another would come to help us. He was referring to the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the third person of the Godhead. At Pentecost, the beginning of God’s next plan, the work of the Church and the Christian movement began, under the power of the Holy Spirit.

And it still continues.

When the Easter Sunday celebration cantatas and plays end; worship services are over; church and/or family picnics are done; egg hunts are completed and “cascaron smashes” are washed out of your hair and all is said and done, what then? The work of the message of Easter continues.

As we continue with this sacred work, I would like to offer a reminder and a blessing:

The reminder – We are the recipients of the Great Commission. The work of the Church continues. As Christ followers, we are to serve as ministers of reconciliation. One of our CLLI graduates, Jana Atkinson Morga, recently introduced me to a book, The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie. One of my favorite blessing sections is an excerpt from “for when you are tired of broken systems” (pp. 124-125):

“Oh God, how blessed are we who cry out to you: Empower us to see and name what is broken, what is ours to restore. Guide us to find coherent and beautiful  alternatives that foster life, hope, and peace. Help us to use our gift with one another in unity. Blessed are we who choose to live in anticipation, our eyes scanning the horizon for signs of your kingdom – heaven come down – as we wait.”

Jesus invites us to join in his ministry of reconciliation: “Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”’ (Matthey 9:37-38 NIV). Jesus calls us to be these workers who are needed to harvest the field as we offer in his name alternatives that foster life, hope, and peace.

The blessing – We are busy leaders. Our role as “influencers” and our tasks of leadership keep us pretty active. Besides the specific calling and ministry God has given us, many of you, I know, are burdened in your spirit to find the lost, to heal those broken in spirit, to feed the hungry, to free the oppressed, and to bring peace to all. It is a holy burden and a holy privilege. We are blessed to be His messengers of His Love. We get to “influence” others and lead others towards the road of reconciliation by proclaiming the good news that Jesus paid for our sins and for that of the entire world.   

 As Jesus’ messengers, every day, in every way, in all we do and all we say, the work of Easter continues.

¡Adelante in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit!