May 2008

May is a month of transition for many.  At the beginning of the month young people in our parish move onto the roster of confirmed members of the church.  At the very end of the month (well, June 1^st this year) the senior class graduates from Tri-County High School.  Many of their younger brothers and sisters eagerly identify themselves with the next grade up the minute classes are done for the year.  In May a number of people are getting ready to transition into married life.  Others are making plans to move over the summer.  Quite a few people in my age group are talking about retiring.

In May the church celebrates two major festivals of transition that are often overlooked but which have much to teach us about dealing with change.  The first is Ascension Day which takes place forty days after Easter Sunday.  That’s May 1^st this year.  The second is Pentecost which takes place fifty days after Easter.  That’s May 11^th this year.  In the best of times these two festivals are overlooked in America in the rush to get to summer.  This year they coincide with other special days.  Ascension Day is the same day as the National Day of Prayer, which is an annual event observed by many American evangelicals on the first Thursday in May.  Pentecost Sunday coincides with Mother’s Day this year.  Mother’s Day, of course is always the second Sunday in May in our country.  What’s more, it is the fishing opener in Minnesota.  No wonder Ascension Day and Pentecost get lost in the shuffle.

These two church festivals together mark a major transition in the life of Christ and his church.  For forty days after Easter the risen Christ appeared to his disciples.  They saw him in a locked room in Jerusalem.  They met him on the road to Emmaus.  They had breakfast with him by the Sea of Galilee.  John 20:20 says “Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.”  But after forty days of this, Jesus ascended into heaven and they were back in a room in Jerusalem waiting for what would happen next.  Luke 24 tells the story as the conclusion of the gospel.  Acts 1 tells the story again as the beginning of the history of the church.  It is a pivotal event, as was Pentecost which completes the transition from having Jesus Christ calling the disciples to faith by walking and talking with them to having the Holy Spirit inspire faith in the hearts of those who heard the gospel those disciples preached.  As Jesus said in John 14:19, “Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also.”

Initially the disciples were quite shook up about these changes.  How could they continue as a group without the physical presence of their leader?  How would they cope with the challenge of the days ahead with their rather well known faults and deficiencies?  Like any of us facing a major transition in life, they were worried.

But Jesus assured them many times over that they would not have to face the new situation alone.  In John 14:25 he said, “These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you.  But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

One way to handle the transitions of life is to see them as an inevitable part of living.  “The one constant in life is change,” some say.  But there is another constant in life for those who know Jesus.  That constant is his abiding presence with us through his Holy Spirit.  Our children may grow up and move away.  A spouse may die or divorce us.  Our job may be shipped overseas.  We might be transferred halfway across the country.  Gas may hit $4.00 a gallon  Anything might happen.  But Jesus is always there for us.  His peace sustains us.

In the Evening Prayer (Vespers) service there is a beautiful prayer that says, “O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.” [ELW page 317]

May the peace that only Christ can give be yours today.

Pastor Gary Halverson