On Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024, VLC gathered in person and also broadcast online via YouTube. Pastor Stuart shared an Easter message of freedom, love, and hope from John 20:11-16, when Mary Magdalene interacts with the risen Jesus. From this story we learn that because he lives we live in freedom from sin, shame, guilt, and fear. This freedom allows us to focus on our relationship with God and those closest to us. Finally, this freedom empowers us to live fully and freely in the present, not having to relive our past or be in fear of our future, but be present in God’s presence, knowing our future is in God’s hands.

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
John 20:11-16 (NIV)