From the Pastor . . . . .

MINISTER'S MESSAGE

Dear friends,

May 11 is Pentecost Sunday, and also Mother’s Day. At first glance it might seem that these two events are unrelated. Pentecost is described in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit is poured out on the disciples in Jerusalem and they are enabled to go out and preach. The people who respond are gathered together into a new bond through faith. Pentecost is sometimes called the church’s birthday. How might that event relate to Mothers’ Day?

I have heard the church referred to as one’s “spiritual mother.” When you think about it, doesn’t the church function this way? Through the church’s ministry, we receive the new life in Christ. We become a family of faith. We are nurtured, protected, and raised in the God’s care in the church. The church is like a comforting home for God’s children. Isaiah 66:13 picks up on this theme about God’s care – “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” Pentecost describes when the Spirit came to the disciples in Jerusalem and created the new Jerusalem of the church, our spiritual home where we receive God’s motherly comfort and care now. We look ahead to the New Jerusalem perfect in heaven. That city in the Revelation is poetically described as a “bride adorned for her husband.”

Pentecost and Mother’s Day fit well together. We give thanks to God for our mothers who gave us life and cared for us, and we give thanks to God for the church in which we are raised together into a family of faith. As we take time this month to give thanks for all those who acted as nurturers, life giver, protectors, comforters, in particular our earthly mothers, we also give thanks for the life we share together in Christ as a church where his care, protection, and comfort comes to us like a loving mother.

In Christ,  Jack