March/April Pastor Pen
March 11, 2019
Categories:
Have you ever heard someone say something was from the Bible and think,” I don’t think that’s in the Bible”? Many times we hear things that are quoted as scripture but do not have a biblical foundation. This Lent, we will be exploring such phrases that are said and compare them to the Bible. The series will lead us right up to the triumphant arrival of Christ to Jerusalem in Palm Sunday.
Holy Week this year will be focused on one central theme, reconciliation. Through the events of Holy Week and Easter Sunday, there is a core direction to Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. It is the reconciling of a sinful humanity with a Holy God. Through the cross and empty tomb, Jesus reconciles the the sin between us and God and establishes an eternal Kingdom that rooted in the love of God.
Finally, a word on General Conference 2019. The General Conference voted to approve the Traditional Plan at its gathering. However, key petitions within the plan have been ruled unconstitutional. Judicial Council will be deliberating and rendering a ruling on the Traditional Plan by he end of April. To those who want to know what was the outcome of General Conference, the answer is simply,” I do not know.” What I do know is that First UMC will continue to be a place where all are welcomed and celebrated as children of God. We will continue to minister to our community and seek to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. As I said in the March 3 sermon, our way forward as a people of God is through the love of God being manifested in our discipleship and relationships with one another. Let us focus on these things.
Grace and Peace,
PJ