Pastor Craig - April 2020

 Does this mean that as I am alone and “trapped” in my house God is not listening to my prayers? Does it mean that if I am not able to go to my house of worship, I am not following my Lord’s commands? Does it mean. . . . ? This is an unsettling time for Christians as well as the church. We are trying so many different ways to stay connected to our church community and to our friends. We are using the internet in ways that may or may not be familiar to you. My prayer always is that you know that God is with you.

 We recognize this month as the time when we go through Holy Week. We remember the procession of Palm Sunday, when our Lord enters the city of Jerusalem in triumph with shouts of Hallelujah. We live through the day of Maundy Thursday, the Last Supper with his disciples and arrest in the garden of Gethsemane. We are stunned and grief-stricken to watch our Savior arrested, punished and crucified. Jesus is taken off the cross and with a sense of finality, the stone is rolled and the tomb is closed.

 I think of those disciples gathered together in that room. They are afraid to go out, wondering if they will be arrested and also killed. They did not know what the future was going to have in store for them. Were they going to disband and go back to what they were doing before Jesus called them? It was a time of great fear and uncertainty. Through the years, our sermons have not lingered long on this fear because a few verses later the risen Lord appears in the midst of them and all are happy again. However, the disciples concerns were real. Their questions were honestly put to each other. They were seeking answers to what they were to do now. They needed certainty where none existed. Are we so different?

 Unlike the disciples, we do know the rest of the story. For some of us, we have heard and have shared in this story of Easter for decades. It has become a part of the fabric of our lives. It is so deep that nothing can remove it. Even if we are not able to gather with a large community of faith and hear a preacher proclaiming this word live, we can look in the mirror and give the sermon to ourselves because we know the story WELL.

 I believe that while we have heard the scripture at the top of the page all our lives Jesus did not intend those words to be a “unless” phase. In other words, if you have don’t have two people together, I am not there. I believe that we are never alone. We are always in the company of the saints that have gone before us and the Holy Spirit that dwells in and around us at all times.

 If you need something more visible; then do this. I want you to think of that cat or dog or plant or fish or whatever else depends on you as your “plus one”.

  In Christ,

   Pastor Craig