Pastor's Letter - May

Pastor’s Letter
May, 2020

Grace and Peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!

I sat down three times trying to write this Pastor's Letter. I had nothing. I know what people are saying to me. "We need something uplifting." "We need to feel better." "We need you to inspire us."

There are times in the Bible when God sent messengers that didn't have the message that the people expected, or messages that the people didn't want.

Here is the one uplifting thing I can say, in the midst of a world where we have become tired of the four walls of our rooms and in which we have exhausted our reading material and in which we are trying to find something decent to watch on Netflix: Christ is Risen. He is risen indeed!

We didn't get to celebrate Easter with a huge packed Sunday service. I sat in front of a camera, almost trying to imagine the people in front of me, a part of me almost trying to will it into reality. But try as I might, I would look around and only see the people helping me record the service and myself.

But yet, Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!

So I don't know if I have quite the inspiration that you're looking for. I don't have magic words that are going to wake you from your doldrums. But I do have Christ crucified and then risen. And you know what? That's all we need.

A colleague of mine shared something with me that I found poignant. She said, "you know, this Easter is a lot more like the first one than any we have celebrated since. It was small- just women at an empty tomb, in the midst of a world that was shaken because of fear." Now, the source of the fear is very different- but I do think that there is truth in that statement. We were witnesses to something that is hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

But we survived it. Together. Even if we weren't literally together. And still, we proclaim- Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!

I hope this newsletter finds you well. I know that we have all had better days than others. But as we seek together to look for a light at the end of the tunnel, in a sense that light has already come. And that light is Jesus, who destroyed the power of death and gives us assurance that inevitably, we will be victorious, because he IS victorious.

See you along the way, even if by internet connection or phone,

Pastor Brian