Jesus: The Living Water

Posted on March 20, 2020 by Wayne Gillespie

Samaritan Woman Pic

The coronavirus has created a world-wide crisis.

The shelves in grocery stores are empty, and schools and businesses are closed. People have stockpiled hand sanitizers and toilet paper. It’s nearly impossible to find sanitizing wipes and isopropyl alcohol. Pastors are communicating with the faithful people they serve using new and previously unexplored technologies. And, of course, we’re all being told to wash our hands both thoroughly and frequently.

People in the United States don’t usually worry about having enough water.

We simply turn a knob when we want water and the water magically appears. Many of us wash laundry whenever we want, and even water lawns and flowers in the summer. I once listened to a group of teenagers complain about the fact that they need to get up early every morning, so that they can beat their siblings to the shower; because, if they don’t win the race to the shower, there’s not going to be any hot water left.

But it isn’t that way everywhere.

I had a well when I lived in a rural community and I needed to carefully space loads of laundry during dry spells. I remember talking with one of my friends from Africa who was simply horrified that Americans wash their cars with water that they can drink. In some places, even today, people have to walk long distances to get fresh water. And that’s what we see in a story about an encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at the Well of Jacob (John 4:5-42) – which, by the way, contains the longest conversation that Jesus has with another person in the entire Bible.

Picture a woman who is parched after a long journey in the hottest part of the day.

Here, we find a woman who was coming to the Well of Jacob because she was looking for something that she needed to survive. When things like water are scarce, there’s a very human part of us that tells us that we need to look out for ourselves first. The Samaritan woman needed water; and yet, she was being asked to give what she thought she needed to survive to someone else (Jesus). Have you collected so much hand sanitizer that other people can’t get any? Are you one of the people who has been hoarding sterilizing wipes and toilet paper? Do you have boxes of masks to put over your face (that are desperately needed by other people) to protect yourself from the coronavirus?

Our survival instinct tells us that we need to get as much of whatever we think we are going to need quickly – even if it means that other people won’t be able to get any of it.

And yet, when the parched Samaritan woman comes to the Well of Jacob, Jesus offers her something different: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10). Here, Jesus reminds us that we can find an abundance of God’s love and mercy and forgiveness. Jesus reminds us, in this short passage, that He’s come into the world to offer us an abundance of God’s welcome and goodness and peace and strength. And, if you think about it, isn’t that what we’re all trying to find?

We begin the Season of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, by remembering that we are dust and that, one day, we’re going to be dust again. We admit that we’re mortal. We admit that none of us are going to be around forever. In fact, as hard as it is for us to admit, we are all going to die at some point – and it doesn’t matter if it’s because of the coronavirus or because of something else. That might sound harsh. But it’s true.

And in Jesus – The Living Water – God provides a solution that gives us faith and strength as we journey through scary times. In Jesus – The Living Water – we can find the courage to continue to live well with each other even in a time when our fear is calling forth our worst human instincts. All will be well. In fact, even when we’re tempted to think that all will not be well, all will be well because we’re safe in the hands of God and because God has already shown us – in Jesus – that no matter what we face, in life or even in death, we are already far more than conquerors (Romans 8:37).

And so, as you journey through scary times, live your life with faith and courage.

Even though there’s a deep human instinct that’s telling us to look out for ourselves, we need each other and must learn how to continue to live well with other people. We can’t allow fear to drive us into uncontrollable panic and we can’t afford to allow ourselves to allow our imaginations to just run wild.

We need to somehow continue to find ways to live well in these challenging times, and we need to continue to search for ways to care for each other and to treat each other in kind and loving ways.

Right after Jesus offered the Samaritan woman “living water,” she said, “Sir, give me this water” (John 4:15); and she, immediately, ran to all of her friends and told them about what she had discovered in the midst of her own time of desperate need.

How can your faith carry you through these times of challenge and uncertainty?

How can your faith help you to calm those around you who are allowing fear to bring out the worst in them?

In every crisis, there’s an opportunity. And, perhaps, this crisis provides a chance for all of us to bear witness to our faith and our trust in God in new and exciting ways?

Click Here for This Week’s Message

A Gift that Changes Lives

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Wayne Gillespie

Candle at Both Ends

Have you ever felt like there’s not enough of you to go around?

I’d venture to say that many us define ourselves by the roles that we play in our lives and by the things that we do with our time. Maybe you’re a doctor or nurse, an administrator or a carpenter. Maybe you’re a mechanic or artist, a pastor or a musician. Maybe you are a Christian who has been baptized and who attends weekly worship. But, no matter who you are and no matter what roles you play, you’re probably going to realize that there is just not enough of you to go around at some point.

Have you ever considered the fact that there are going to be times when you cannot be where you want to be…?

My parents were 250 miles away from where they wanted to be on the night I watched my best friend die in an automobile crash. I’ve held the hands of many good people who were forced to watch children die many years after their parents were dead and buried. Maybe, when we feel like there’s not enough of us to go around, we’re being challenged to think about life on a different level? We can’t be in more than one place at a time. We can’t always do what we want to do because we don’t have an unlimited store of time and energy. People like us (mere mortals) only have a very short amount of time to live; and we, sometimes, need to help people that we love prepare for the times in life when we’re not going to be able to be with them.

This week, we encounter a very unusual story in the Bible.

The Bible tells us that, one day, Jesus was transfigured (Matthew 17:1-9). He had climbed to the top of a mountain (where people tend to encounter God) with Peter, James and his brother John. And, when they all got to the top of the mountain huffing and puffing and sweating and trying to catch their breath, something happened…. Bright lights came on…! Jesus began to glow! Moses and Elijah appeared out of nowhere and there was a big and booming voice from a cloud! And Peter said, “Wow! It’s good for us to be here!”

But Peter didn’t really understand what was happening. In a very short time, Jesus would be arrested and dragged away. Jesus would be condemned to death and He’d be nailed to a Cross. Peter would be stunned! In fact, Peter would be so stunned that he’d lock himself in a room with Jesus’ remaining disciples to keep the rest of the world at a safe distance.

I’m sure that Peter’s parents and friends never imagined what it was going to be like for him to watch Jesus being dragged away and executed. I’m sure Peter’s family and friends never imagined what it was going to be like for him to watch Roman soldiers prying the dead body of Jesus off the Cross. And, with that in mind, consider this:

I don’t know what kind of challenges or difficulties you and the people that you love are going to face. But I do know that there are going to be times when you’re not going to be able to be where we want to be – no matter how thinly you stretch yourself.

Peter’s family and friends never imagined the great, big hole that was going to open up inside of him when Jesus died. My parents were 250 long miles away on the night when I watched my best friend die in an automobile crash. I’ve stood beside many people after they’ve received horrible news from a doctor or learned about another type of tragedy.

And yet, I’ve also seen that there’s a great source of Living Water that’s never exhausted.

Peter was given a glimpse of something that he could hold onto in the glowing moment that he’d never forget. I will ever forget my father standing beside me during worship services and guiding me through services by moving his index finger down the pages of an old hymnal. Many people shared the story of Jesus with me in different ways as I was growing up. Good and faithful Christians planted seeds in my life that later sprouted and became just what I needed as I’ve journeyed through life! And, I believe, that same story, the story of Jesus Christ crucified and risen, is the most precious gift you can ever give to another person. The gift of a relationship with Jesus is, truly, a gift that has the power to change lives forever!

It was no accident that I ended-up pounding on the doors of a church at 2:30 am on the evening when my best friend was killed. It’s no accident that I still continue to begin my times of daily prayer by taking a deep breath and saying, “Lord, it’s good to be here.”

My parents, who are both dead now, planted seeds that are still growing in my life even though they can no longer be with me. My parents wisely recognized the fact that simple people can only be stretched so thin and that they can only live so long. And so, as I was growing, they invited me to “come and see” what they had seen. They gave me chances to meet Jesus and they just allowed God do whatever God wanted to do with me.

Is there someone that you could invite to “come and see”?

You have a chance to share a gift that has the power to change lives! You have a chance to invite someone that you know to “come and see” Jesus. And yes, you have a chance to plant seeds that will sprout and grow, and that may even become something magnificent that someone you love will need during a time when you can’t be where you want to be.

Click Here for This Week’s Message

Salt Shakers and Bright Lights

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Wayne Gillespie

Salt shaker with spilled salt on a black background

I met an unusual man when I was a student at Penn State.

Bro Cope stood on the steps of the Electrical Engineering building every morning (with a Bible in his hand) challenging students to repent and to change their sinful and horrible ways. His always-faithful disciples heckled Hare Krishna-s when they passed and bullied women whose dresses were too short (according to Bro). Bro told us that we were going straight to Hell, and his message was always the same….

“You’re all gonna be dead a lot longer than you’re all gonna be alive!“

Bro would scream: “You’re all gonna be dead a lot longer than you’re all gonna be alive!” as students walked past him without looking up. And, quite frankly, even as a student who was involved in the Penn State Lutheran Campus Ministry, I was turned away by Bro’s message every time that I listened to him speak.

Have you ever heard that you are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world”?

Jesus tells us that we’ve been set apart by God for a special purpose (Matthew 5:13-20). As the “salt of the earth,” we carry the message of Jesus Christ to other people, and we bear a message can bring healing and bind-up the broken-hearted and even send people away much stronger than when we first met them. As the “light of the world,” we carry the lamp of Christ’s love, and bring light to people who think that they’ve been forgotten and bring hope to people who believe that they’re trapped in darkness. As the “salt of the earth,” we bear a message that can challenge and purify what’s less than what God made it to be, and that can preserve what’s pure and holy and good. As the “light of the world,” we’re beacons of hope who shine in the darkest corners of our world and who remind people that God is always near to them.

As I prayed about salt and light last week, my eyes were opened to something new.

Salt can be used to season food, to heal wounds and to keep things from spoiling; but, Roman soldiers also used salt to poison wells and fertile soil, so that farming would be impossible for many years. Light can be helpful at night and can even be used (in the top of a lighthouse) to guide ships in dark and foggy nights; but, think for a moment about what it’s like when you’re driving on a dark road and an approaching car has its high beams on. That doesn’t feel so good, does it?

Bro Cope taught me that we need to remember that, when we’re trying to share our faith with other people, there really can be too much of a good thing.

Many people go after the “un-saved” with vigor and energy shining their high beams into the darkest places in people’s lives. Many good and faithful Christians are determined to get people to change their ways to avoid the raging fires of an eternal Hell…. And, almost every time people come on too strong, the top comes off of the salt shaker and what they are trying to season is ruined. Almost every time people shine their bright spotlights into dark corners in other people’s lives (in an effort to do something really good), they cause people to flinch and shrink back and run away. And what they’re trying to do (or what they think they’re trying to do) fails. And, why? Because, when we give people too much of what we think is a good thing, the love of Jesus can simply disappear!

Some of us are really good at sharing our faith with other people, and some of us would rather walk across a bed of hot coals than talk with another person about God.

But, this week, I’d like to challenge you to think about something. Some of us share our faith with others by talking about God. Others share their faith by doing acts of love and kindness. We all tell people what we believe about God when we speak to them in kind and generous ways. We all tell people what we believe about God when we extend fiery judgment and condemnation. And, as we share what we believe about God (however we choose to do it), we either season and preserve, or poison the well. We either shine with the love of Jesus, or we burn other people’s eyes with our high beams.

You are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.” You are an important part of what God’s doing in the world today, and what you do really matters.

And this week, as you’re doing all of those things, please remember that you can scream at the sinners, or use your salt and light with love and care. You can drive people away in horror by igniting the fires of raging Hell beneath their feet, or you can tell them a story about God’s love in gentle, Christ-filled and loving ways.

Click Here for This Week’s Message

Holy Moments – Holy Lives

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Wayne Gillespie

End of World

Our lives consist of many moments when ordinary life and the sacred connect.

Many Christians live their lives awaiting the return of Jesus Christ. We see nations rising against nations. We hear about earthquakes and famines and fatal illnesses and disease. This morning, I learned that the government of China has begun to arrest Muslims and remove them from society. We hear about children shooting each other in our schools. We see world leaders rattling their sabers in an effort in intimidate each other. I’ve even noticed that every time something happens, like a “Blood Moon,” people start saying that this is yet another “sign” that the End is near. And it all simply wears me out….

John the Baptizer proclaimed that the Kingdom of God is near to us. Reza Aslan, who wrote the book Zealot got it right when he said that the message of John the Baptizer was carried forward by a much more famous man named Jesus. In a world that’s filled with nations rising against nations, the Kingdom of God is near. In a world filled with bad news about earthquakes, famines, diseases and school shootings, the Kingdom of God is near. When your life is filled with abundant blessings, the Kingdom of God is near. And, the Kingdom of God is near when you climb out of bed, when you kiss someone that you love, when you’re afraid that you’re going to flunk a test, or when you lose someone who was dear to you.

Our lives consist of many moments when ordinary life and the sacred connect.

What would life look like if, instead of waiting around for Jesus to return, we went out into the world to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is near? Maybe, realizing that God journeys with us each day, we could bear witness to the fact that the Kingdom of God is near by buying a child, whose family is struggling to make ends meet, a new winter coat – or maybe, we could proclaim that the Kingdom of God is near by visiting people and sending them encouraging messages when life is hard? Maybe we could proclaim that the Kingdom of God is near by not running away and hiding from people when we know that they need our help now more than ever? Maybe we could try harder to speak-out on behalf of people in our world who aren’t being heard by people who look at them as nothing more than a drain on society? Maybe, especially at the holidays approach, we could tell other people that the Kingdom of God is near by carrying light and love into dark places where people are grieving, fighting diseases, trying to escape from abusive relationships or fighting a battle with some kind of substance that’s taken over their lives?

One of the most important lessons that I’ve learned in my journey of faith is that every moment that I live is a “holy moment” when the Kingdom of God is near. And in those “holy moments,” God prepares me to go out into the world and tell other people about God’s love and to remind them that the Kingdom of God is near in every moment of their lives, too.

You see, it doesn’t really matter what day, or month, or year Jesus returns. It doesn’t matter if the End arrives before I have a chance to post this message, or if the End comes long after I’m dead and buried.

What matters is that I have the wonderful opportunity to live a life that’s full of times when God is near. What matters is that, in the “holy moments” when the Kingdom of God is near to me, God always points me back to people who believe that things are so bad in their lives that the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.

When we realize that the Kingdom of God is near and that each moment of our lives is a “sacred time” when God is close to us, our walk of faith becomes more about learning to live faithfully in a world that can be pretty scary, rather than about waiting for some Day when Jesus will return to fix everything. When we realize that our lives are filled with “sacred moments” when the Kingdom of God is near, we have something to share with people – when their lives are going well and when their lives are falling apart.

Click Here for This Week’s Message

Seeing Who You Really Are

Posted on August 14, 2018 by Wayne Gillespie

reflection

John 6:35, 41-51

When was the last time you looked at your own reflection in a pool of water?

You and I are signs that can open the windows of Heaven and point other people toward Jesus. We can point people toward Jesus by treating them with love and respect, and we can point people toward the “Bread of Life” by participating in the ministry of a Christian congregation. But, we don’t always see ourselves as “signs” that can point people to Jesus, do we? That’s something that I struggle with, too.

Jesus once had an interesting confrontation with people in Capernaum. He had just fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two little fish. He had just finished telling the people that they hadn’t come to see Him because of the “signs” that He had done. In fact, according to Jesus, the people had only come to see Him because they had just had their bellies filled with the bread and fish. And right after Jesus had told the people this truth, He told them that He’s the “Bread of Life” – the one, lasting thing that satisfies the deepest needs in our daily lives.

And people shouted, “Who does this guy think that he is?” “Didn’t we know this guy when he was just a little kid, and don’t we know this man’s father and mother..?” “How can this son of Joseph, an ordinary guy, do the “works of God” and be what we need the most?”

This is the all-too-real dilemma that we face in: “Seeing Who You Really Are”.

What makes me, the son of Robert and Lois, worthy to stand in a pulpit and to preach a sermon? What makes YOU, the son or daughter of your own ordinary parents, qualified to teach a Sunday School class, or serve on a Church Council, or express your opinions during a meeting at the church you attend? What is it that makes YOU, a son or daughter of your own ordinary parents, qualified to do God’s work?
Jesus has something to say about that.

Jesus says you’re qualified to do God’s work because, when you do God’s work, it’s God who is working within you. In John 6:35, 41-51, Jesus reminds us that we’re qualified to join hands with others in Christian ministry – not because of our lineage or background; but rather, because God touched us in the waters of Baptism and because God continues to reminds us of “who we are” every time we gaze into a pool of quiet water and reflect upon the day of our Baptism.

This week’s message, “Seeing Who You Really Are”, ends by drawing you into an ancient Indian myth that tells the story of mighty Symba, King Kimbalu and their little cub. It’s a message that challenges you to gaze into the still waters of Holy Baptism until you begin to more clearly see who you are, and until you begin to feel a great, primal ROOOOAAAR erupt within you. This is a life-changing message that you need to both hear and to share with others! It’s a message that might help you to discover the identity of the person that God has created you to be, and that might help you to more clearly see what God wants you to do as you live your daily life in a world where you have the chance to point other people to Jesus.

Living in the Legacy of Jesus

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Wayne Gillespie

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Have you ever thought about the purpose and the meaning of your life?

The Bible presents the story of a God who’s at work to topple the forces of evil. The Sacred Story tells us that God created the world by bringing order to chaos, but it also tells us that everything fell apart in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate fruit from the “Tree of the Awareness of Duality.” The Sacred Story reminds us that people have struggled since the beginning of time to “get right with God,” but it also tells us that the path to peace with God has been provided by Jesus. God is going to win! The Sacred Story tells us about a Great Day when God’s going to wipe every tear from our eyes, and when there will no longer be pain and sorrow and mourning. And the great “Hero” of the Sacred Story is Jesus. Jesus – the great “Hero” – rises-up to confront what’s wrong with the Creation and to conquer the forces of evil, so that good will ultimately win.

You and I, and all of the people who have been bound to Jesus – the “Hero” – in the waters of Holy Baptism are engaged in the Great Epic Battle. You and I, and all of the people who have been bound to Jesus in the waters of Baptism, are called and summoned to step-up to the plate, to directly engage the forces of evil and to overcome it in the name of God. And our participation in that Great Epic Battle – the ongoing war between good and evil – is ultimately what provides meaning in our lives and the purpose of our ministries.

“Living in the Legacy of Jesus” is a message that’s been created to stir you and to call the Church, as a whole, into action. We live in an Age where increasingly large numbers of people are struggling with an addiction to opioids, and when a growing sadness in many hearts is driving people to suicide. We live in an Age where poverty creates a situation where nearly half of the children in America go to school with an empty stomach – and lose an important meal every day during their summer vacation. We’re living in an Age where racism and bigotry have been revealed as the Achilles’ heel of American culture. We live in an Age where countless boundaries and barriers and walls are being created, and where people are being encouraged to experience life as “Us versus Them.”

As we fight the epic battle against duality – following Jesus, the “Hero” – we write a story that not only tells the story of our lives, but that also tells the world how we make sense of what it means to live in the legacy of Jesus. As we fight the epic battle against duality, the story we write is used by God to stir-up and create faith in others.

The story that we write helps people to understand what God’s doing in the world today. The story that we write is also one that invites others to join hands with us – so that, they can also be a part of what God’s doing.

You and I, and all of the people who have been bound to Jesus – the “Hero” – in the waters of Holy Baptism are called to engage the forces of evil, and to overcome them (with God’s help) in the name of everything that is good and right and holy and true.

“Living in the Legacy of Jesus” – by participating in the epic battle against duality is, ultimately, something that gives meaning to our lives, and provides a purpose and a “calling” to the ministry of the Church. And as we write the story of what God’s doing in our midst and in the midst of our churches, as we celebrate our victories and learn from our mistakes, and as we tell others about what God’s doing, ministry becomes magnetic – and people see that we have something both significant and life-giving to share with the world – as we invite them to be a part of what we’re doing with the help of God.

Visit my new Podcast!

Posted on May 26, 2018 by Wayne Gillespie

RealStory - Picture

Please note that I’ve added a new menu item to the homepage of The ExploraStory Café to take you to my new podcast entitled: RealStory.

I hope that this new bi-weekly podcast will help you to understand the relationship that people are seeing between their daily lives and their faith-journey, and that it will help you to more deeply reflect upon your own relationship with Jesus Christ.

Each episode will contain a short interview where someone is invited to share a story and to reflect upon what he/she learned about life and faith while journeying through the event(s) that are described.

You can learn more about RealStory by clicking here.

And please don’t forget to follow the podcast by clicking the link that I have provided, so that you get new episodes of the podcast as they become available. This podcast will also be helpful to your friends and family members – so be sure to tell them about it, too.

Where Life and Faith Meet

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Wayne Gillespie

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Let me ask you a question….

What is it, in your life of faith, that leaves other people feeling amazed and perplexed?

On the surface, that might seem to be an unusual question. Many of us believe that our faith and our relationship with Christ are a private matter. We’ve all been taught that, if we want to avoid controversy in our lives, we need to learn to avoid the topics of religion and politics in daily conversations. And yet, Christ calls us to be His witnesses. The story of Pentecost is a story where people were amazed and perplexed by what they saw other people doing. And so, perhaps the question – “What is it, in your life and faith, that leaves other people feeling amazed and perplexed?” – is one that we need to consider.

The Day of Pentecost started-out like most other days. Roosters had been crowing to announce the beginning of the day. Little children were jumping out of their beds and were getting ready to play. People had begun to come out of their homes and loud voices could be heard in the streets. And then, a rushing wind sent people scrambling. The Sacred Story tells us about “fire-tongues” falling from the sky and landing on people’s heads. We hear about the disciples speaking in languages that they didn’t know. And the whole thing, according to Acts 2:7, left people feeling both amazed and perplexed.

Let me ask you again….

What is it, in your life of faith, that leaves other people feeling amazed and perplexed?

“Where Faith and Life Meet” is a message that challenges us to think about that, and that encourages us to think about how the Holy Spirit is working in our lives. Can we see the Holy Spirit at work in the Church when people who disagree with each other continue to gather together, sing songs, and share a Meal with each other – in times of division and deep separations? That, if you think about it, is both amazing and perplexing. People are amazed and perplexed when we refrain from judging them and criticizing them because they don’t live their lives in the way that we choose to live ours. People are amazed and perplexed when we forgive them and allow relationships to continue after we’ve been hurt and disappointed. People are amazed and perplexed when they see us welcoming and embracing them – no matter who they are or where they’ve been in life – because we know that God created them to be precious, valuable, and worthy of love.

The Sacred Story reminds us that, when the Holy Spirit works in our midst, things that we do will leave people both amazed and perplexed.

And so, I ask you, once again: “What is it, in your life of faith, that leaves other people feeling amazed and perplexed?” Take a moment to stop and to listen to what God’s telling you. Think about how the Holy Spirit is already working in your life to do amazing things. Think and pray for a moment about how God may be challenging you to do things that other people may not fully understand, but that they will deeply appreciate and see as a sign of what God’s doing in our world right now.

Love Each Other!

Posted on May 6, 2018 by Wayne Gillespie

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I believe that God’s placed us on the earth to learn how to love.

We live in a world where life’s not easy for anyone. The Sacred Story reminds us that God has given us the gift of each other, so that nobody has to travel through life alone. And it’s love that makes that possible.

We’ve all been taught to think about Jesus and even about the ministry of the Church in certain ways, and it’s hard for us to change the ways that we think. We’ve all grown-up believing certain things about other people, and it takes time for us to dig deep and to be honest with ourselves – and it can take even longer for God to change the ways that we think about life and the world, and bring healing.

We take the sin in other people’s lives quite seriously and minimize the importance of the sin in our own lives; and, sometimes, that keeps us from being “Christ’s Church for All People.” We struggle with packed schedules and endless lists of commitments; and, sometimes, that keeps us from listening to each other and from caring in the ways that we could. Renewal takes time because renewal is something that challenges our cultures. And, when we gather in Christ’s presence, Jesus nudges us and challenges us and even confronts us in, of all things, a Meal.

In this week’s message, “Love Each Other!”, Jesus speaks to us and tells us to love each other in the same way that Jesus has loved us. The love of Jesus continues to challenge us to live-well with each other when we agree with each other and when we don’t. The love of Jesus calls us to gather together for a Meal – where Jesus comes to be with us and to bind us together as His people in the world today. The love of Jesus continues to remind us that people – both inside and outside of the walls of Church buildings – need to hear about God’s love and embrace. The love of Jesus challenges us to cry-out for justice and peace, and to tell people that the world doesn’t have to be what we see right now because God has the power to change it.

As Jesus calls us to “Love Each Other!” and as we share Holy Communion, Christ’s love binds us to each other in ways that remind us that God’s placed us in this world to take care of each other, to work with each other, and to stand beside each other through thick and thin. And, as we capture that truth today and as we build all that we’re doing around it, “Christ’s Church for All People” becomes a “Beacon of Light” for the world – and people both inside and outside of the Church’s brick walls experience the love and transforming power of Jesus. And God’s Spirit ignites hearts with passion and determination. The Holy Spirit lives and moves, and brings growth and renewal to the Church. And the seeds that God has given to us to sow begin to sprout and to grow and to become signs of what God continues to do with people, just like us, in the world today.

“Love Each Other!”

Share your lives with each other. Celebrate your hopes and dreams with each other, and stand together when life gets tough. “This is my commandment,” Jesus says, “that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) That’s our mission as both individuals and as “Christ’s Church for All People.”

I continue to believe that God has put us on the earth to learn how to love – spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to all people – and freely serving others in a world that needs to see the power of God at work in the lives of God’s people.

What Comes After Easter?

Posted on April 2, 2018 by Wayne Gillespie

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What’s Next?

The Sacred Story of our faith has carried us through the Season of Lent and to another celebration of Easter. We’ve explored 5 Faith Practices that can strengthen our lives of faith, build-up our families, help us raise faith-filled children and grandchildren, and even strengthen our ministry as a church. We were challenged to reflect upon Christ’s call to love each other and to live-well with each other on Maundy Thursday, and we explored what it means to love and extend compassion as we gathered in the dark shadow of the Cross on Good Friday. And then, on Easter, we witnessed the dramatic collision of grief and hope, and we were reminded that we are the carriers of a Sacred Story that has the life-giving power to change people’s lives and to shape the future of our world.

And now, we find ourselves standing in a very different part of the Sacred Story.

“Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint [the body of Jesus.] And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the Tomb.” (Mark 16:1-2) The women who went to the Tomb had heavy hearts and grave concerns about the future. Life hadn’t unfolded in the way that they had expected, and there were many reasons to be afraid. And, when they got to the Tomb, the women experienced the totally unexpected. Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead! The empty Tomb stood as a clear sign that our God doesn’t remain silent in a world where the raging rivers of life sweep people away. And we can still celebrate that fact on Easter. We can still celebrate the fact that we have a God who comes into the world to shatter the darkness and to bring life-giving Light once again.

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome could have walked away from the Tomb and said nothing. They could have very easily said to each other, “Wow! What we just witnessed is incredible, and it’s something that fills our hearts with faith!” They could have returned to their homes and families, to their friends and acquaintances, and to the places where they lived and worked without saying a word. And the Sacred Story may have ended right then and there. One of the most important things that we need to remember in the days and weeks after Easter is that, if people hadn’t continued to share the Sacred Story with each other, Easter would probably be just another ordinary day of the year—much like any other day.

What’s Next?

We live in world where Easter just IS another ordinary day of the year for many people. Easter’s a day when little children hunt for Easter eggs and eat chocolate, and it’s a day when people peel foil-covered chocolate eggs and eat yellow peeps. We live in a world filled with people who rush to the Easter buffet to get ahead of the “Church crowd,” and where schools coincidentally schedule “Spring Break” at Easter. And in that same world, we’re stunned by violence and bullying. We continue to be shocked by incidents of road rage and to be stunned by the shooting of innocent students in our public schools. We don’t always speak to each other in helpful ways, and we often walk away from people who don’t think about life in the same ways that we do. And, ironically, the Sacred Story tells us that we shouldn’t be surprised by any of that…. The Sacred Story continues to point us toward the fact that mere human beings don’t have the power to transform our world into the place that God created it to be. Secular humanism has clearly failed – and humanity’s best route forward continues to be found in an ongoing process of death and resurrection.

We have a mighty task before us as carriers of the Sacred Story.

God continues to call us to live-well with each other, to encourage each other, to forgive each other, to build each other up, and to spur each other on. Christ continues to call us to interpret our lives through the lens of the story of God’s love, and Christ continues to draw us together into a community of love where He nourishes us. Christ continues to call us to share the Sacred Story of God’s welcome, love and warm embrace in a world where people continue to divide themselves into smaller and smaller groups. Christ is a Risen Lord who continues to call us to serve each other, to surround those who struggle with our warm embrace, to feed the hungry, to spend some time with the lonely, to help people who are struggling with illnesses that we don’t fully understand, and to be a voice for those who have no voice in a world that’s content to simply leave them in the dust.

What’s Next?

St. James once wrote: “Be doers of the word, and not just hearers only” (James 1:22); and, I believe, that that’s the great mission that’s set before those who see themselves as Easter people. The Sacred Story reminds us that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome could have walked away from the Tomb and said nothing—but they didn’t do that because they knew that they had something important to share with the world. The women who came to the Tomb on that first Easter morning could have easily said, “Wow! What we just witnessed is incredible, and it’s something that fills our hearts with faith!” And then, they could have returned to their homes and families, to their friends and acquaintances, and to the places where they lived and worked without saying a word. And the Sacred Story may have ended right then and there.

How will you be changed by the Sacred Story’s proclamation of Christ’s victory?

We live in a world filled with little children who are being taught that hunting for colored eggs, eating chocolate, peeling foil-covered chocolate eggs and biting the heads off yellow peeps is what Easter is all about. We live in a world filled with children who are being taught that they need to rush to the Easter buffet, so that they can get ahead of the “Church crowd”—and we’re teaching those same little children that Easter is nothing more than an excuse for a “Spring Break.”

Will we, as God’s people, allow that trend to simply continue unchallenged, or will we continue to understand that we are the carriers of a Sacred Story that speaks of hope and new life in the face of life’s great unanswered questions?

What’s Next?