Highs and lows

Beloved of God,

    This is one of those weeks when we get to walk together in highs and lows because that’s what Jesus did and still does. 
    On Sunday we’ll have a chance to give thanks and pray for our graduating seniors as they brace for new adventures. If you know of a High School Senior who would like to participate, but who I have not yet contacted, I hope they will email me directly as soon as possible. It’s a joy and an honor to walk with young people as they grow up in this church.
    If you would like to register a child for VBS or if you would like to serve our young people as they learn about Jesus, you may do so by following this link. Vacation Bible School is always a valuable opportunity to pour into young people in our community, and perhaps even gently guide them into faith in Christ. I hope you’ll join us!
    This week the McCumber family faced the sudden loss of their youngest, Andrew. I hope that you will make time to celebrate his life and grieve his loss with them on Sunday, 1 pm at Fuller Lodge. The family has asked that photos, videos, and written memories be collected for them, and you may do so at this link.

    We know the details in Scripture are important, but that doesn’t make it any easier to pay attention. Our Reading from  Acts 1:6-14 this week has an awful lot going on, and between the final earthly words of Jesus, His ascension, and an angelic appearance, you may have read through so quickly that you don’t realize where you are. Where is this? Where are the disciples standing as they watch him go?
    To be fair, Luke buries the lead until Acts 1:12. He gives you all the exciting details before he tells you where it has been taking place. The disciples walk back into town from the Mount of Olives of all places. A place that just 40 days ago had seen Jesus weeping, praying, asking for a different way, yet committing to God’s will…while they slept.
    Almost scrawled in the margins here is something stunning. This place marked by so much passion and sorrow is the very place Jesus chooses to seal his victory and promise his return. He has his disciples walk back down into Jerusalem without him, but this time under very different circumstances; this time with the promise that they will be changed, and so will the world, and Jesus will come back. 
    Why God chooses to do this sort of thing I don’t know. I don’t know why God sometimes calls us into places and moments we remember as hard, dark, difficult, only to transform them, but He does. I suppose it’s yet one more way to teach us or remind us, that God’s mercy and power extend even that far. And they do. And we need to remember that they do. The scene of Christ’s prayerful agony is the scene of Christ’s glorious ascension. What hard places and hard moments will he not dare to redeem in you?

Please join me this week in praying for:

• Those of us who are mourning.
  
• Those of us who are sick, hurt, or convalescing.
• Our Associate Pastor Search Team.
• Graduating seniors and their families.
• Teachers and students on the cusp of Summer.
• Those who are traveling this week and next. 
• Those who respond to emergencies in our wildlands, on our roadways, in our communities, and even in our homes. 
• Those in positions of public trust at the federal, state, and local levels. 
• Family, friends, and neighbors who face struggles in their faith. 
• Each other (please email [email protected] if you’d like to be added to our prayer list).

You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world,

Marshall 

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