Monthly Message | May

Grace and peace to you!

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Yes, we are still in the Easter season and will be for nearly the entire month of May. And we also are in graduation season. Many college seniors will be graduating this month, and then, in June, high school seniors from our region will be putting on the caps and gowns.

The first Easter and then going into Pentecost (which falls on May 28 this year) could be looked at as a graduation time for Jesus’s disciples who had walked with Him for around those three years when Jesus had walked around the regions of Galilee, Samaria, Judea, and other areas. Each of the gospels has different accounts of what Jesus said and did with His disciples between His resurrection and His ascension.

In Matthew and Mark, He commissions them. In Matthew, He says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations …” In Mark, He says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation …” In Luke, He talks about their being witnesses of the things He did, and that He is sending them what God had promised. In John, He breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” He also has the conversation with Peter about tending and feeding His sheep and lambs.

At His ascension, Jesus tells His followers that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and they will be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. Then comes Pentecost when the Holy Spirit does come upon His disciples. They had graduated and were ready to go out as witnesses, leaving the security of their homes to proclaim the good news.

Each Sunday is sort of like a graduation day for the church — the body of Christ. We gather, worship and give thanks to God, hear the good news, and then are ready to leave as witnesses, called to proclaim the good news of Jesus — the good news that Jesus, through His love and His death and resurrection, saves us and gives us life eternal. That is good news for all!

Maybe you feel like some students who will be graduating soon and think you are not ready to go out into the “real world.” Here’s the thing. When college and high school students graduate, their professors and teachers don’t go with them. Graduating students leave their institutions and those who taught them behind as they go out on their own.

When it comes to Jesus and sharing and living out His good news, we are not on our own. We are never on our own. Jesus is with us. When we leave the church, when we leave our homes, wherever we are, He is with us. His Holy Spirit guides us. Believe me, there have been times when I wasn’t sure if I was ready to leave comfortable spaces to do what Jesus called me to do. But I was sure that I wouldn’t be alone.

You are not alone either. Jesus is with you and loves you!

Pastor David