BELOVED PEOPLE OF GOD,
This little treasure greeted me after our Palm/Passion worship and was gifted to me by Abby Rothfuss and Laina Nelson. They have shared with me some of the fruits of their Sunday School time. Thank you.
I’m so looking forward to celebrating this Holy Week with you and we are off to a wonderful beginning with Palm/Passion Sunday paving the way for Jesus to fulfill God’s promise and pave the way for us, always ahead of us, even in suffering and death. Jesus knows the way.
We lean on each other as we remind one another and remember God’s promises. We need each other to speak these promises to each other. It is our story to tell and we love to tell God’s story. For those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting to tell God’s story and our need for God to save us. It is a beautiful story full of hope and promise.
I am so grateful for those of you who have walked in our immediate neighborhood and prayed for our neighbors. I am grateful for the responses shared. I know personally that walking and praying gave me an awareness that was not of me. I think God drew my attention to our neighbors and invited me to participate more in the business and engage in conversation with the neighbors I came into direct contact with. I think God is up to something and I wonder how it will unfold and I will keep praying and walking in our neighborhood, remembering Jesus goes ahead of us.
That is the shape of the cross that brings together God’s realm with ours. Abby and Laina colored the base of the cross green which reminds me of a growing garden. I am reminded through the shape of the cross that when I remember who God is and who I am, I am in a better place to reach out to my neighbors as I remember the horizontal cross beam. The cross becomes that mysterious symbol that draws us to Jesus and to each other.
My hope for you and all of us as a community of faith is that we would see Jesus and his cross becoming that life-giving tree through his suffering, death and resurrection as we grow to find ways to express how we see Jesus gift us with abundant life. We who have experienced God’s mercy and grace and we get to tell the amazing story of God’s deep desire to be with us and make a way for us. This is our time to tell the story, God’s amazing story. Resurrection abounds all round us. Open your eyes and look at what God is up to among us.
I am grateful for our speakers from the various agencies and how they are our neighbors who work with more of our neighbors. They work with those who have been incarcerated, those who have mental disabilities and those needing access to medical care. These are people who meet people at their greatest need. They show us a bit of Jesus, who met people in their need. These are good neighbors to know and I hope that if you can, you will volunteer your time to work with these neighbors.
We have so much to grow into because Jesus Christ is risen. Jesus goes ahead of us through life, death and new life. Happy Easter. Blessed Pascha. Jesus Christ is risen! Alleluia. He has risen indeed! Alleluia!
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
