“God is faithful”. A good thought to keep in your heart & mind. It’s not always easy. I think of Israel in exile. I think of Abraham struggling to keep trusting in God’s priomise. I think of Jesus’ own struggle in the garden.
So, I feel a bit embarrassed a little to whine about the length of winter. Today, as I write this there are only 11 days of April left and for the 5th week in a row we’re expecting snow. Today’s forecast says it could be up to 5 inches. It seems winter simply will not go away. “When will this dark time pass?”
But then I remember Easter! “...While it was still dark.” When Mary comes to the tomb, Resurrection has already happened! In the “nights”, the darkness’s, the storms of our lives, God is already doing the work of Resurrection! Yes, there’s snow forecasted but where I can not see, Spring is already happening! Birds are returning to our feeders, Sap is already flowing (my friends who tap trees have been quite busy in the past weeks), While my attention might be drawn to the cold and flakes of snow, the truth of the coming season has already begun and is happening.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding...” (Proverbs 3:5). In the times when God seems distant or not attending to your prayers...Remember the unseen resurrection activity that has hap- pened and is happening in your life and in the world. Let’s not “lean on our own understandings”. What we know is limited for we are limited. I can’t see past the horizon of my experience but God is already about the work of rec- onciliation, renewal, and resurrection! “Easter”, God’s redemptive work has already and continues to break forth! Like Mary, we need to run and catch up with it! One of the joys of following and living with Jesus is the invitation Christ gives to you & I, and each & all to participate in this redemptive movement!!
We (the Church – not the institution but movement of God’s work of Mercy and Justice done by those who seek to follow the Way of Jesus and claim Him to be Christ of their lives) are the Easter People! We can, through the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, live, act, serve, and witness to the work of God’s transforming action in the world. In fact, I believe Christ is counting on the Church! What transformation might we see in the world if the Church would live into the Easter promise of Renewal, Reconciliation, Redemption, and Living in New Ways of Grace and Justice with Humility?!
Sometimes the dark moments, the storms of our lives, the chaos of violence and hate, and the times when “winterish seasons” refuse to let go of our lives – can seem to overwhelm and out last us. But the Truth is...God Is Faithful and Easter Has Happened and Christ Is Risen....indeed!!
Be God’s, Pastor Jim
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