A Congregational Letter to Morgan’s Point and Forks Road East United Churches
This letter will be my last one to folks on the Pastoral Charge for a couple of weeks. I begin my Study Week starting tomorrow, Sunday afternoon. It will be a time of preparing worship services for the next few months. It is always exciting to look several weeks/months in advance, and become grounded in the direction that the lectionary is taking us as Christians seeking to understand Jesus’ words for our daily living. Following my Study Week, I will be taking a vacation week. During that week, I know that it will be grand to sit on our small deck, in Beamsville, and enjoy the flowers, humming birds, golden finch, and all the marvelous sounds and sights of nature around me. It is my prayer that each of you have a wonderful two weeks as well.
Our Gospel lesson, this week, is from the Gospel of John 17:6-19. The scripture is part of what is known as the ‘Farewell Discourse’. It is the night of the last supper, and Jesus has gathered the disciples. He washes their feet, and then, begins a lengthy monologue that takes us through four chapters, and 117 verses. He prays for his disciples and reflects on their safety with his impending death. In the rest of the prayer, Jesus talks about what God has done, what he has done, what the disciples have done, and what the world has done. Jesus is trying to get some clarity out his life as he considers what he has done, and what is coming next.
In a very real sense, Jesus has come to a dividing line in his life. More often than not, dividing lines are places of deep and heartfelt prayer. We all come to dividing lines in our lives - a time of before, and a time of after - a heart attack, a cancer diagnosis, the death of a loved one, a divorce, the loss of a job, a shattered dream, or an aging body – to name but a few. In some ways our lives are a series of dividing lines, and with every dividing line, we look back and see questions that have been raised, the choices we have made, the struggles we have faced, and the ways in which our life has changed.
Today, we see Jesus working out his life. Who among us does not know what that is like? We have all struggled to work out our life, at times. So, what are you working out, and struggling with, today? What is the dividing line running through your life? What attitudes, choices, and behaviours will you bring to that dividing line? How will they help you get across? What if we took our cue from Jesus? What if we came to the dividing lines in our life trusting that Easter is always on the other side of the dividing line. For us, as an Easter people, Easter is always there on the other side – with Jesus. There is new hope, and the promise of better and brighter ways of living as we cross that dividing line into new Easter hope and promise.
I would invite you, as always, to continue to pray for one another every morning at 10:30, remembering that God grants us wisdom, love, and peace as we hold each other in God’s tender keeping. Much love and care to you all. Keep well and safe.
God’s Blessings, Pastor Laura