"You call from tomorrow, you break ancient schemes..." (sermon for Pentecost Sunday, May 31, 2020)

Opening Thoughts About Pentecost Sunday

In recent times Pentecost and Pentecostal experience have come to refer to the experience of a particular stream of the universal church, and a particular kind of spiritual experience.  What’s lost in that particularity is the fullness of how holy Spirit is experienced and expressed in many different ways, by all kinds of people. 

In our Creed say we believe in God “who works in and others by the Spirit.”  In this we mean God’s Spirit has as many faces and as many ways of acting in and upon the world as there are people into whom God’s life is breathed, each of us living with our own experience, gifts, image and fire of God within us.

Today we reflect on the holy spirit that dwells within us, feel it stirring, and feel gratitude for it.

Reading: The Coming of the Spirit (Acts 2:1-36 Good News Translation)

When the day of Pentecost came, all the believers were gathered together in one place. ² Suddenly there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there. ⁴ They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

 ⁵ There were Jews living in Jerusalem, religious people who had come from every country in the world. ⁶ When they heard this noise, a large crowd gathered. They were all excited, because all of them heard the believers talking in their own languages. ⁷ In amazement and wonder they exclaimed, “These people who are talking like this are Galileans! ⁸ How is it, then, that all of us hear them speaking in our own native languages... about the great things that God has done!” ¹² Amazed and confused, they kept asking each other, “What does this mean?”  ¹³ But others made fun of the believers, saying, “These people are drunk!”

¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the other eleven apostles and in a loud voice began to speak to the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, listen to me and let me tell you what this means. ¹⁵ These people are not drunk, as you suppose; it is only nine o'clock in the morning. ¹⁶ Instead, this is what the prophet Joel spoke about:

¹⁷ ‘This is what I will do in the last days, God says:
    I will pour out my Spirit on everyone.
Your sons and daughters will proclaim my message;
    your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams. ¹⁸ Yes, even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will proclaim my message. ¹⁹ I will perform miracles in the sky above
    and wonders on the earth below.
There will be blood, fire, and thick smoke; ²⁰     the sun will be darkened, and the moon will turn red as blood,
    before the great and glorious Day of the Lord comes. ²¹ And then, whoever calls out to the Lord for help will be saved.’

²² “Listen to these words, fellow Israelites! Jesus of Nazareth was a man whose divine authority was clearly proven to you by all the miracles and wonders which God performed through him. You yourselves know this, for it happened here among you. ²³ In accordance with God’s own way, Jesus was handed over to you; and you killed him by letting sinful men crucify him. ²⁴ But God raised him from death, setting him free from its power, because it was impossible that death should hold him prisoner…

³² God has raised this very Jesus from death, and we are all witnesses to this fact. ³³ He has been raised to the right side of God, his Father, and has received from him the Holy Spirit, as he had promised. What you now see and hear is his gift that he has poured out on us…

³⁶ “Listen to this, then:  Jesus, the crucified one, is the one God has made Lord and Messiah!”

Pastoral Reflection

What is Pentecost this year, and for us?  What good news does the story of this day have for us in a time of pandemic – when much of the world is shut down, we’re both looking forward to and fearful of re-opening, there’s a lot we can see now that was terribly wrong in the old normal, and we wonder what the new normal will be?

 

Linda McEneny has made a wonderful Pentecost image for our sanctuary this year.  

It’s a kind of statue of cut-outs of people in black silhouette holding hands in a circle, dancing around a bright orange and red crepe paper flame in the middle of their circle that burns large and high above them.

And I have to admit the first thing that came to mind for when I saw a picture of it, was a scene near the end of William Golding’s classic tale, The Lord of the Flies.  The story is of a bunch of well-heeled English schoolboys alone on an unknown island somewhere in the ocean.  The plane they were on for a school trip has crashed there.  The adults have died in the crash, and now the boys must fend for themselves in the jungle.

They begin civilized enough.  But with external restraints gone, they soon descend step by step into suspicion and mistrust of one another; into jealousy, fear, power struggles and tribalism between them; eventually into violence, warfare and murder.  The marks of humane society fall away, and near the end we see one group in particular finding its power and its unity in a wild, naked, orgiastic night-time dance around a raging bonfire, opening themselves to vast range of darker spirits that humanity is so easily and so often susceptible to.

I think of Don McLean and his song, “American Pie”:

And as the flames climbed high into the night

To light the sacrificial rite

I saw Satan laughing with delight

The day the music died…

Is that, however, the only option for us and for the world in this time of dislocation and change?  Is fire only and always just the devil’s only friend?  Are the flames of destruction and death the only ones for us to dance around?  Is the orgiastic chant of self-defence and self-serving the only song for us to sing and dance to in the world?

Or is there also still another flame – the flame of God’s love that first brought all things to life, and has sustained them through all time? 

A light that shines not just in, but also against the darkness for the healing and well-being of all?  A glow that brings warmth and nurture, not fear to all God’s creatures?  A Pentecostal spark of hope and joy not just in a chosen few, but in all the world? 

Is there still a holy fire of love and life that comes to us from beyond our present distress, because it is deeply embedded within all the world and in our own bones, just waiting to be stirred, awakened, and set free?

The end and collapse of an old order is the context of Pentecost and of openness to that eternal flame, both in the Book of Acts and today.

In Acts in first-century Palestine, when Rome and Jerusalem condemned Jesus to death as a problem they could not tolerate, and God immediately affirmed him as messiah by his resurrection from death an d his ascension to the heavens, the bankruptcy and the eventual end of the old normal of Rome and Jerusalem was obvious to all who knew and followed Jesus.

Things could not continue as before.  Blind resistance to the way and will of God for all the Earth could not last.

But, what would take its place?  Would the new normal be better, more self-giving, more life-sustaining, more healing and holy, more in tune with God’s desire for the wholeness and healing of all the world?

It was in that time of transition – of collapse and re-creation – that the followers of Jesus were opened to, and caught up in the Spirit of God with a message for all the world around them.

And isn’t that where we are today?  With the problems and flaws of the old normal suddenly so clear and obvious to all?  And all the world – all humanity, wondering together in a wonderfully opened way what the new normal will be? 

Yes, there will be elements of fear and greed.  There will be jealousies, suspicion and tribal sentiments.  There will be violence, warfare and murder.  Humanity is easily and often susceptible to the darker spirits.

But in this in-between time, do we also see a different light and a different truth?  Feel a different spirit gathering new strength?  Can we see and even feel within ourselves the sparks and the glowing of a different, more holy fire?  Can we learn to dance together in new ways with others for the well-being of all?  Can we learn to sing together across boundaries, distance and differences in the key of life – join in the song of all people, of all creatures, of Earth itself set free from at least some of the sins of the old normal to give praise to God?

Give some time to this question: 

In the last two months, what have you seen happening in your life, in life of your community, or the life of the world that seems good and right and meant to be, and that you hope and pray will remain as part of the new normal once we start to move beyond the pandemic?

Hymn VU 375: “Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness” (Let the words of this hymn help you remember and be opened to the eternal presence and purpose of God in the world)

Spirit, Spirit of gentleness, blow through the wilderness, calling and free.

Spirit, Spirit of restlessness, stir me from placidness, Wind, wind on the sea. 

You moved on the waters, You called to the deep,

Then You coaxed up the mountains, from the valleys of sleep;

And over the eons You called to each thing,

“Awake from your slumbers and rise on your wings.”

Spirit, Spirit of gentleness, blow through the wilderness, calling and free.

Spirit, Spirit of restlessness, stir me from placidness, Wind, wind on the sea.

You swept through the desert, You stung with the sand,

And You goaded your people with a law and a land,

And when they were blinded with their idols and lies,

Then You spoke through Your prophets to open their eyes.

Spirit, Spirit of gentleness, blow through the wilderness, calling and free.

Spirit, Spirit of restlessness, stir me from placidness, Wind, wind on the sea.

You sang in a stable, You cried from a hill,

Then You whispered in silence when the whole world was still,

And down in the city You called once again

When You blew through Your people on the rush of the wind.

Spirit, Spirit of gentleness, blow through the wilderness, calling and free.

Spirit, Spirit of restlessness, stir me from placidness, Wind, wind on the sea.

You call from tomorrow, You break ancient schemes,

From the bondage of sorrow the captives dream dreams;

Our women see visions, our men clear their eyes,

with bold new decisions your people arise.

Spirit, Spirit of gentleness, blow through the wilderness, calling and free.

Spirit, Spirit of restlessness, stir me from placidness, Wind, wind on the sea.

Closing Blessing

How is God’s Spirit at work in you – both for your own fulfilment, and for the growth, the healing, and the well-being of others around you?

You are a child of God.  You are created by God’s Word.  Holy spirit dwells within you.

May God help us and others, to grow through this time

in faith, in hope and in love …

so that none of what is suffered may be in vain,

so that none of what is learned may be lost,

so that all of what God desires may be fulfilled.

Go now, ready always to know and to share God’s love for all.

Who's in charge? (sermon from Sunday, July 7, 2020)

Scripture reading (Matthew 28:16-20) 

The ending to the Gospel of Matthew sounds like one of those “this-is-the-end-of-the-beginning, because today-is-the-beginning-of-the-rest-of-your-life” kind of stories.

It’s been 40 days since Jesus was killed, buried, and then raised from the dead by God.  The risen Jesus has appeared a number of times to his followers, helping them to believe that he is raised, and to believe that his way of life and of death actually is the way that will change the world and transform their lives.

Now he plans to see them one more time, and he has told them – in good spiritual-story tradition – to meet him on a hillside, where they like he will find themselves between heaven and Earth, at one and the same time open to God and connected to the world.

The eleven disciples went to the hill in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him, even though some of them doubted…

[...interesting that the early church that wrote the Gospels was not afraid of doubt and even disbelief among its members … somehow that it's not an impediment to discipleship and to being part of the community of Christ in the world.]

… Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.  Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”

Reflection

Who’s in charge here?

The last week or so a little picture – is it a meme? – has been making the rounds on Facebook, and it came my way from one of our members.

  

In it two men are walking in a sunlit garden.  We see them from behind, and in the balloons above their heads we read what they say to one another from under their protective sun-hats.  “Ya know,” one says to the other, “I’d like to ask God why he allows terrible things like hate, racism, war, famine and homelessness.”  Good question. To which the other replies, “I’ve always thought God was asking us that same question.”

Really!?   Who is in charge here?

Is it us?  Or God?

Either way, for good reason some people find it hard to put much faith in either one as being able to bring about what we’re invited to believe in and to live towards, which is the coming of the kingdom of God, and the healing of the world. 

But might it be, like it usually is, that it's not a matter of either/or – either us or God, but a matter of both/and – both God and us, us and God in covenantal relationship?  And with the relationship of the two as the key to the whole thing.

Usually the answer – if it’s to an important question, is not in just one or the other of the binaries that we always seem to set up – between you and me, us and them, right and wrong, us and God – but in a third thing, which is the relationship between the two.  In the ongoing covenantal commitment of one to the other.  In the communion of the two.  In the co-mingling of that which we try to hold apart.  In the dwelling-together of that which we think should be separate, and the indwelling of one in the other regardless of how different they seem to be.

And does that make a difference to what we believe, what we look for, and how we live towards it?

***

In the Gospel of Matthew as Jesus prepares to ascend from Earth to heaven and prepares his disciples for the life they are called to, he says, “All authority has been given me in heaven and on Earth.  So go to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples; baptize them in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; teach them to do all I have commanded you.  And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”

 

At times we have interpreted this to mean Jesus is now in charge, elevated to the throne and wearing the crown of God. 

That he is now set up as the one who is the answer, with the power to make it all right, fix whatever’s wrong, and by magic or divine fiat (however we imagine it to work) to take responsibility and in some ways take us off  the hook.

But is that what Jesus is saying?  Does that even sound like the Jesus of the Gospels?  Is that how after walking with him for three years those first disciples would have understood what he was telling them?

Or is what he is saying more along the lines of “God has now affirmed my way – the way I have shown you of community-gathering and community-creation – to be the way of true life for the all the world”?

Of “I call you now to call others as I called you to the ways of forgiveness and reconciliation, of compassion and love for others no matter how ‘other’ they are”?

Of “you now are to invite others to see and to celebrate as you do, the fullness of God and of holy life above and around and within you all”? 

And of “as you lift up and empower the disempowered, and cast down and humble the haughty as you have seen me do, I will be with you and the kingdom of God will be among you over and over again, to the end of the age”?

All of which makes God’s kingdom sound a lot more like invitation than institution, like something to live steadily towards rather than a steady state set up once and for all.

***

What are the signs of hope that lift our spirits these days, and that we’re happy to share with others as good news in the midst of the uncertainty and anxiety?  The markers of true life and the glimpses of God’s kingdom on Earth that give us something to live towards?

In the midst of the pandemic and in the face of COVID-19 isn’t it over and over again the little instances of compassion, the expressions of creative good-will to strangers, the gestures and actions of self-giving care for one another – especially the most vulnerable among us?

And in the midst of the protests, against the framework of systemic racism we all are schooled in, is it just anger or is it also human hope and divine dignity we hear expressed in the “Black Lives Matter” voices?

In the news of disorder in the streets, isn’t it stories of protesters talking with police and the police listening to them, that encourage us?  Pictures of police chiefs, National Guardsmen and military personnel breaking formation on the street to take a knee in memory of George Floyd.  Twenty-one seconds of silence exercised by our prime minister, and the words of the Governor of Minnesota when he says there is no pride or comfort in knowing his state is ranked among the top ten states in standard of living and second only to Hawaii for happiness among its citizens, when being able to share in those things depends on the colour of your skin not being black.

“All authority is given me in heaven and on Earth,” Jesus says.  “Go, show them how to be.  Help them all share in the fullness and love of God that you see above and in and for all things and all people.  And when you do, I will be with you in and keep you going well to the end of the age.”

***

So what can we do?  Where can, and do we start? 

We start where we are, don’t we?  The same as anyone anytime, including Jesus of Nazareth.

We believe in the incarnation, and learn to see the presence, the purpose and the call of God not just somewhere else and in someone else, but wherever we are and right in us. 

Right where we are with whatever is given to us, is the place to reach out, to show compassion, to break down barriers, and to live with and for others as though we are community together until it’s true. 

It might mean some study groups in the fall – maybe sooner, around some of these issues and how we and God come together in them.  It also means taking action and living out what we can right now in the way of God’s love at work in  the world, among us and through us.

Today is Case for Kids Sunday – the first Sunday in June, the day of the year we usually go for a nice walk down at Bayfront Park to raise money to support Wesley Urban Ministries’ programs for children, youth and families at risk and in need in the city. 

Because of the pandemic we can’t do it this year.  But so what?  Does that stop us from being God’s people and being the answer we are called to be together?  Not likely. 

Barb M has put together some information about Case for Kids this year, and how we can be part of it.  Please see the letter by going to  https://fiftyunitedchurch.org/ and clicking on the Case for Kids link on the home page.

What to do until (or as?) the messiah comes

At-home worship from Sunday, May 24
Ascension Sunday

Entering a quiet time (if you have a candle, light it and let these words quiet your heart):

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary -- pure and holy, tried and true;

and with thanksgiving I'll be a living sanctuary for you.

Opening Thoughts and Prayer

Today is the last Sunday of the Easter season.  Thursday was “Day of the Ascension of our Lord.”  That’s the day the Christian church celebrates the story of how 40 days after his resurrection from death, Jesus is raised from Earth to heaven – which means not so much that he is now up there and not down here, as it means he is present in a more universally intimate way to all of Earth, beyond the limits of what we can see and touch. 

In the ancient world “the heavens” is where the gods live and from where they constantly influence life on Earth.  So to say Jesus is raised to heaven is really to say he is now in that place of the gods, influencing life on Earth as they were said to.

We pray:

Loving and holy One, 
God of all creation, crafter of the cosmos,

hear our prayer

and let us find comfort, not fear

in the immensity and unending mystery

of all you have made.

Lord of this Earth, 
you who came to show us

the presence and the unchanging good purpose of God

in making the Earth and all its creatures and us to be,

hear our prayer

and help us to confess 
how we have missed the mark and made a mess of so much,

help us also to hear and accept 
your words and the truth of forgiveness.

Holy Spirit 
at work in all the world, at work in us and in others,

help us to pause …

and be silent …

and to quiet our pride, our fear and our shame 
long enough, to be aware

of the holiness, 
the light, 
the connection with God, 
the connection with all God has made

that is at the heart of who we are.

Gather us in, and help us to know

who we are with you and with one another. 

In the name of Jesus, the one we call Christ,

and by holiness of spirit in us as in others.  Amen.

Song:  “Be Still”

There is not a single heartache that our Lord will not heal.

There is not a single sorrow that His heart does not feel.

There is not a single problem; there is not a single care

There is not a single burden that He will not share.

Be still, be still, be still and listen.

Be still before the Lord.

Be still, be still, be still and listen.

Be still, and hear His voice.   Be still.

He brings us hope and healing rest from toil and pain and tears.

He brings a peace to calm distress and banish all our fears.

He never bids us go away, nor turns a deafened ear,

His tender voice calls one and all; we need but only hear.

Be still, be still, be still and listen.

Be still before the Lord.

Be still, be still, be still and listen.

Be still, and hear His voice.  Be still.

                                                                                       

Reading:  Acts 1:1-11

The Book of the Acts of the Apostles was written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke, and the two books are part 1 and part 2 of the single, continuing story of the good news of God’s kingdom appearing on Earth. 

In part 1 – the Gospel, Jesus announces the kingdom of God and begins to gather and teach a community to live it out.  Now in part 2 – the Book of Acts, what Jesus began is carried on by the community of those who follow him.  At the beginning of the Book, the author prepares us for the transfer of spiritual power from Jesus to his followers.

Dear Theophilus:

In my first book I wrote about all the things that Jesus did and taught from the time he began his work until the day he was taken up to heaven.  Before he was taken up, he gave instructions with the help of the Holy Spirit to those he had chosen as his apostles.

For forty days after his death he appeared to them many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that he was alive. They saw him, and he talked with them about the Kingdom of God.  And when they came together, he gave them this order: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift I told you about, the gift my Father promised.  John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

When the apostles met together with Jesus, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time give the Kingdom back to Israel?  Will we have a king of our own again?”

Jesus said to them, “How and when the Father will bring all things to their good end is not something you know.  But I tell you this: when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  After saying this, he was taken up to heaven as they watched him, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They still had their eyes fixed on the sky as he went away, when two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them and said, “Galileans, why are you standing there looking up at the sky?  This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”

Reflection

One of the stories told here at Fifty is about a young child who started coming to worship here a few years ago with no previous introduction to church or anything related to it.  She was brought by her mother to learn about God, and Jesus, and living a Christian life.

The young girl – maybe 5 or 6, or even 7 or 8 – was unsure of what to expect, but prepared for anything.  She sat through the service with her mom.  She was struck by the distinctive look and warmth of the sanctuary, the friendliness of the people, the easy flow of the service, and the tall, dignified, white-haired man in a long white robe who talked a lot from a raised platform at the front of the sanctuary and whom everyone accorded great respect.

It was unlike anything the little girl had seen.  Later when her mom asked her what she thought and if she had any questions, there was only one thing on her mind.  “That tall man at the front all dressed in white,” she said, “is that God?”

Not likely.  Even though I – and maybe other ministers, sometimes act as though we are.

But isn’t this the way we often see God?  Raised up above us, dazzling white (in every sense of the word) and wise, commanding respect from all.

What is your image of God?  In your mind, where does God dwell today?  And how does God appear to make things good for all?

When I was a child and even far into adulthood, this -- a dazzlingly white-robed, glorious person raised up above us all, is also how I imagined Jesus at the end in the story about his ascending from Earth to heaven.  And how I imagined he will be known when he comes back.  His work on Earth all done.  Glorious and dazzling.  Crown of gold on his head.  Royal scepter of power and authority held firmly in his hand.

But is that really how he appears at the end to his followers as he ascends to the heavens?  And is that the way they will see him as he returns to keep unveiling God’s presence and God’s kingdom on Earth?  To make Earth good for all God has called into being?

In the Bible the risen Jesus still has the scars and wounds of his crucifixion in his body – in his hands, his feet and his sides.  Probably the stripes of the whip on his back as well.  And does he ever have a gold crown, or just the blood marks and bruises from the crown of thorns that was forced on his brow.  And a royal scepter in his hand?  Or does he still appear at their side with a servant’s towel draped over his arm, forever ready to wash the feet of those who are ready to betray and deny him?   

Why wouldn’t he?  Because isn’t that how his work and God’s work is done on Earth?  And the world, as bad as it can be, is made good, as good as it’s meant to be?

When ministerial robes first began to be worn in the church they were meant to be representative of the dress of servants of different kinds.  Some robes were patterned after those of lawyers and scholars, who gave their lives to learning and speaking the truth to the world regardless of the cost.  Others were patterned after the simplest kind of servant garb – a simple tunic that was often the only thing worn by any household servant.

I wonder, if we were to start all over designing ministerial robes today, what they would be patterned after. 

Hospital scrubs, maybe – the kind worn by everyone on the medical team from nurses and doctors to cleaners and porters?  The lab coat of a medical researcher giving their life to developing a COVID-19 vaccine for others?  Maybe the company shirt and uncomfortable face mask and gloves of a grocery cashier or pharmacy clerk serving the public in risky times.  The yellow-x’ed safety vest of a garbage collector, handling and hauling away everyone’s discarded trash to keep our homes and streets safe and clean. 

All the people we call “heroes” these days.  And I wonder if it’s more to the point and more helpful to drop the word “hero” and call them instead “real and true human beings” living out the love and care of neighbour and of others that true human being is about.

Who are some of the people who have been “true human beings” for you or for your family these days?  Who’ve restored your faith in humanity by being a friend of neighbour no matter the cost?  Who have given you a whiff of hope for how true and human and good your own life can be?  And already is?

When people saw Jesus they were attracted to him because of the deep and true humanity he lived out among them.  He knew God’s way of making the world good, and he spoke of it wherever he went no matter the cost.  He invited and gathered people across all kinds of divides into the most unlikely and healing experiences of community.  He helped people know much they really could care for others without it being the end of their world.  He set people free from the weight of their sins, their broken past and the way they used to be, and from the prison of forever holding onto other people’s sins against them.  He set people free from going back always to the past, and to look for God instead in the future that would continue to unfold for them and for others as they learned to follow him and walk in his way.

And isn’t this how the will and way of God are done on Earth as in heaven?  How the world is made good as God desires it to be made, and how the Christ – the living Word of God, is seen again and again among us and within us unveiling God’s kingdom on Earth for all?

He comes and it comes not with a bang but with … not with a whimper, but maybe as a whisper.  Not in a blaze of overpowering glory from somewhere above and beyond us, but by the power of the holy healing whisper all over the face of Earth, of true and new humanity being lived out among us and by us, over and over again rising from us like a prayer from Earth to heaven, and coming back to us as the answer from heaven to Earth. 

Thanks be to God.

Hymn:  “Make Me a Servant” (to read as a prayer)

Make me a servant, humble and meek
Lord, let me lift up those who are weak
And may the prayer of my heart always be
Make me a servant; make me a servant
Make me a servant today.

Closing Thoughts:

The conclusion to a sermon prepared by Rev. James Eaton of Albany, NY for his congregation for this Sunday:

 
The message of the angels (who appeared beside the disciples as they stood staring at the sky) is one we need to hear as well: don’t stand around waiting for Jesus.  [New life beyond what is changing and dying] comes from moving to make his vision a reality. Don’t wait for Jesus; don’t stand around. Wait for the power of the Spirit and when you feel it, live it. Don’t wait for Jesus, share the news that we can live for him today, loving God, living from God, loving others, letting that love blossom into those fruits of the spirit today. Our future isn’t just reopening, it’s renewal of our life as the body of Christ. Don’t wait for Jesus: he’s already going ahead, making the way for us, loving us, inspiring us. 

Amen.

Blessing:  “Go Now in Peace”

Go now in peace; never be afraid;
God will go with you each hour of every day.
Go now in faith -- steadfast, strong and true;
Know God will guide you in all you do.
Go now in love, and show that you believe;
Reach out to others so all the world can see:
God will be there watching from above.
Go now in peace, in faith and in love.