Christ is (almost) Risen!
It’s an almost-but-not-yet time of year. We know resurrection is coming, but it’s not quite time to celebrate. We can smell the bread baking, but don’t get to taste it yet. Each year, as we walk with Jesus through Holy Week, we encounter a whole cast of characters we only get to meet in this in-between season. Folks whose names and stories were recorded so long ago, and who still play an important role in who we are today.
But do you ever wonder what’s happening in the margins of the story? Do you ever wonder about all the people who aren’t named? The people who made food for Jesus and the disciples? The people who did their laundry? The people who told them jokes and made them feel loved and appreciated? The people who passed letters and spread the word in their community that Jesus and the disciples had been spotted coming up the hill? The people who repaired their sandals and applied first-century Palestinian band-aids to their blistered heels? Those people were all part of Jesus’s ministry. Those folks and the gifts and talents they had to offer all mattered. Their time and efforts were a large part of what made Jesus’s ministry on earth possible.
Sometimes when pledge time comes around it’s easy to think that the only thing God (or the church) wants from us is our money. Certainly, the Marys and the Lydias and the Phoebes of modern faith communities are important. Equally important are the folks who offer tangible stuff or a kind ear or sustenance to empty bellies. The Body of Christ needs all its parts.
I’m still learning about who the folks of SCF are. Who likes to serve on committees and who doesn’t want to touch them with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole. Who is crafty. Who cares for people. Who is passionate about ideas. Who tinkers. Who likes to work behind the scenes, but doesn’t have any interest in being in front of people. In short, I’m still learning what makes you all come alive. What makes you come alive?
Coming out of this Lenten season, we’ve all been asked to consider that question again—what makes me come alive? What part of the ministry of Christ is mine in this part of my life? How is God drawing me toward God’s self, and drawing out of me the deepest parts of myself? How is God asking me to bloom in this kin-dom garden in which I’ve been planted?
I can’t answer that for you, but I’m so curious to hear what you’ve learned for yourself. Here is a link where you can make your time and talents pledge. There are the usual questions about ministries that keep the parish running, but there’s also a place for you to respond with whatever else may have arisen for you. And for folks who are just overwhelmed with all of this, there’s an “I don’t know what, but I want to offer something” option too. If none of those are you, you can also email me.
I believe that God is always moving in and through us, calling to us, gifting and invigorating us for the life we have now. Thanks be to God that we are not only gifted for what has been, but for what is yet to be! I know resurrection is upon us, and I celebrate all that God is doing in the lives of the folks of Sts Clare and Francis!