Monthly Message | June

Grace and peace to you friends.

The color green represents many things — nature and caring for the environment; money; being jealous or envious; Kermit the Frog!

Much of our church year comes with the color green representing it. This green means growth — growth in our faith and our growth in Christ. We begin the long season of green this year on June 22, and it continues until the Sunday before Thanksgiving with Christ the King Sunday. This “Ordinary Time,” as it is called, is the perfect time for growing in our faith, growing in Christ, growing in our call as the church — the body of Christ. Unlike the season of Advent, where we prepare for Christmas, and the season of Lent, where we head toward remembering Jesus’s death and celebrating his resurrection on Easter Sunday, in this season after Pentecost (June 8) there is no real major festival we may feel a need to focus on and time and plan around. It is simply us worshiping God and us responding to God’s call to us as individuals and as a church.

It is a time where we — both as a church and as individuals — can grow in faith and grow in our relationship with Jesus. Advent into Christmas and Lent into Easter are times when we naturally, and understandably, feel more excited or are more intentional about worshiping, hearing and reading God’s word, spending more time in prayer, and doing good in our communities. It is during the “Ordinary Times,” however, when those things become not part of a season but just part of who we are. The fact is Jesus is always with us and breaks into our lives and into the world no matter the time of year. He comes in the ordinary times of our lives.

At St. Mark, I believe this Ordinary Time between Pentecost and Advent has become a special time of year here where growth happens. I know that is especially the case this summer because of the church’s celebrating its 200th anniversary as a Lutheran congregation and our celebration weekend in July. But even without that special event, summer and fall have become times where faith continues to grow and move us. Our relationship with Jesus continues to grow and move us. We spend more time outdoors with the green of God’s creation all around us as we worship on Sundays or listen to music during an outdoor concert.

An addition to this summer is I am planning three worship walks — one during each summer month. We will visit a park that has a walking trail, and, as we walk, we will spend time in prayer, hear and reflect on a scripture reading, and have Holy Communion. The first walk is scheduled for June 18 at Bald Eagle State Park. If you can, please come. More information can be found on page 3.

May this Ordinary Time become a time for you to grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus. May it become a time for us as a church to grow in Christ and being Christ’s body in the world, extending the love Jesus wants us to have for one another to everyone who comes in contact with St. Mark. May this be an extraordinary season for all of us in our walk with Jesus.

Go in peace. Christ is with you all of the time!

Pastor David