Pastor Dan - May 2018

 I learn so much from the young children who come each week to be a part of the Mount Zion congregation. Their attitude toward life and faith and family is displayed like a pure crystal flowing stream. And like a pure flowing crystal mountain snow melt stream, for just a few moments, as I watch them scurry and dance, run and laugh, my being is refreshed as if I was drinking from that cool, cold, clear stream. The other day, I saw a couple of the little one's skipping. Remember skipping? No, I'm not talking about skipping out or skipping school, I'm talking about stepping from one foot to the other with a hop or bounce. Skipping. I had to take a moment and think about the last time I skipped. Sadly, I couldn't remember.

 This May, it seems that there is so much going on in Mount Zion, in our lives together, in my life and in the world. Personally, I have my son and daughter-in-law coming out from PA, I have a concert in Flagstaff with my daughter and future son-in-law, it will be the 10th anniversary of my mom's passing to remember this Mother's Day, there are graduations and promotions, baptisms and Pentecost, there's people coming and going in the congregation and an upcoming commitment to Valencia Middle School. There's so much happening and you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to skip. No, not skip over or out, but skip with one foot to the other with a hop or bounce from one event to the other.

 I wonder if Jesus skipped. When Jesus informed His disciples that He was going off to pray, did He skip off into the wilderness? Did He walk soberly or did He rush off? Was He in a hurry from one thing to the next? As I move about my day to day from one event to another, I see many folks (sometimes including myself) who seemingly rush by, or rush through or push and force their way through the day. The rushing and pushing seem to create tension and unnecessary motions and words which put down and create ugliness among us. "Skipping" seems it would lend itself more to a lightness and joy in our day to day moving from one event to the other.

 I have always had a thick head and I am slow to learn, but many years back I began to realize that where I grow in faith, love and hope isn't so much at the events I participate in but in the journeying to get there. Those times I travel by myself and I am not accountable of word or deed other than to myself and my Lord, I have learned, are seemingly more important to growth in discipleship. This is something I have learned from Christ.

 Jesus began the journey to the cross in Galilee and as He made His journey to Jerusalem, He didn't push and shove and run and rush and be rude. He healed, He taught and He expressed His care for the world and for all the people He came in contact along His journeying. Yes, the cross was the most important meeting anyone in this world ever had to attend, but He journeyed to the cross as only the Christ could. I would like to think, that somewhere along the way, Jesus skipped.

In Christ's love and service, Pastor Dan