A loving, inclusive Christian church in Greenville, SC

From the Pastor – April 2017

From the Pastor

Sometimes the season of Lent is hard to get through. It is a long season of reflection, contemplation, and fasting as we walk the road to Jerusalem with Jesus. The dusty road may be an apt metaphor for this season. It is long, the fasting is difficult, and we are reminded of how much we need the cleansing of Christ. The road is also a place of great growth as you work to overcome the challenges that lie before you. It seems more difficult though when the fasting of Lent continues through the change from the bleak winter to the renewal of life and beauty of spring.

The date of Easter moves in the calendar each year. Sometimes it works out perfectly so that we can remember the resurrection of Christ with the first blooms of the flowers. This year, however, the temperature has already grown warmer. Many of the flowers have already bloomed. It seems like the celebration is delayed. As much as I itch to move forward with the celebration of the greatest moment of hope the world will ever know, still I am forced to wait, and to walk, and to pray. Perhaps this is just a reminder of the important spiritual exercise that Lent provides.

Since the weather has gotten more pleasant, Lelia, Hattie, Murphy, and I have been spending more time walking through our neighborhood. We aren’t the only ones who have happily emerged from our winter cocoons. It seems that everyone in the neighborhood was ready for spring to arrive. Somehow this has reminded me of just how much everyone needs the hope of the resurrection. This has also focused my sense of contemplation and prayer as we reach Lent’s homestretch.

As we walk through the neighborhood and see flowers in bloom, people walking their dogs, children playing, and gardeners diligently at work, I have tried to take time considering how the celebration of Christ’s resurrection might be good news to my neighbors. Perhaps you have wondered the same thing at some point. Perhaps we should all be reminded of how the news of Christ’s triumph over death has lifted our spirits, and enabled us to endure, and given us hope in the midst of our despair. Our neighbors need that too.

We are almost there. Easter is upon us, and we will again enjoy the greatest celebration of our faith. I hope you will take part in as much of our Holy Week observances as you can. Join us for our Palm Sunday worship and the ARCUM palm procession on Sunday, April 9. Join us for worship around the tables in the Fellowship Hall as we remember Christ’s final meal with his disciples on Maundy Thursday, April 13. Lift your hearts and voices in worship and praise through our Easter Sunrise Vigil, breakfast, and Resurrection Worship on Easter Sunday, April 16. Make the most of the holiest week of the church year.

Once the Easter celebrations are over we must continue to ask how the news of Christ’s resurrection might be good news to our neighbors. How can we live as resurrection people following God into our neighborhoods to partner in the work of the kingdom that is already taking place? As you walk through the neighborhood listen to your neighbors. Pray about how God might be working among them. Bring what you are learning back to our community of faith. Together we will further understand God’s vision for our church as we proclaim the resurrection in both word and deed.

Peace,
Rev. W. Mattison King