Rev. Dr. Jonathan Blanke, Senior Pastor
Pastor’s Corner for April 5-11, 2026
A New Day Dawning
(Jeremiah 31:1-6)
Alleluia, Christ is risen!
One of the most important aspects of Easter for the Christian faith is how it explodes into a place where all human striving falls short: the reality of death and the grave.
The prophet Jeremiah is speaking to a people who know the pain of irretrievable loss. The nation Israel is in exile. Jerusalem is in ruins. This time the people are wondering if God has truly given up on them once and for all. It’s the same place we find Jesus’ disciples and followers three days after Jesus died a criminal’s death on a cross. It seemed there was nothing to hope for anymore. It was all they could do just to go through the motions of their prescribed rituals for grief.
But into this no-end-in-sight darkness a new day dawns! What does the Lord say through Jeremiah? “The people who survived the sword will find grace in the wilderness.” And into this dead-end emptiness, the Lord says “Again.” “Again you shall plant vineyards.” “Again you shall take up your tambourine and dance.” Why? Because God’s love is everlasting (31:3).
This is not a pep talk. It is not, “You just have to snap out of it and try harder!” This is God acting when God’s people cannot. It is a vision of what would happen on the first Easter Sunday: God would restore what God’s people could not repair.
Christ has entered our exile. Christ has borne our judgment. Christ has died our death. Christ has risen to bring us home. Christ has called us to Himself in a way that fulfills the day Jeremiah foresaw when it was said, “Arise, let us go to the Lord our God”!
Again He forgives you. Again He calls you His own. Again He gathers you to His table. Again He brings life where you saw only death.
Again He turns our mourning into morning.
Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!
A very blessed Easter, everyone!
Pastor Jonathan
Pastor Jonathan Blanke grew up in Richmond, Virginia. He received his Bachelor's degree from College of William and Mary in Virginia and attended Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, where he earned a Masters of Divinity degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biblical Studies, Book of John. He served as a Vicar at Messiah Lutheran Church in Richardson, Texas.
The Blanke family lived in Japan while he served as pastor and missionary to Okinawa Lutheran Church and taught Biblical Studies at Japan Lutheran College in Tokyo.
Pastor Jonathan lived in southern Maryland from January 2014 to November 2019 and was thankful to have served as the Sole Pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lexington Park, Maryland.
He and his wife, Juli, have two grown children. In his free time, Jonathan likes to travel, "play around" on the piano, and enjoy the outdoors.
Click HERE to view a brief video from Pastor Jonathan.