The LINK: 6/24
Friends of Congo-Pres,
We’re excited to start this summer season with you all. Maybe you’re travelling, or getting out onto the river, or your work schedule eases up (or even gets fuller) this summer. As we enter a different season—whether that’s outside, or into a season much deeper within you—I want to make a theological statement, and then unpack it. Whenever we enter a different, new, better, or maybe even worse season, it’s helpful to remember from Hebrews: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever”. By the movement of the Holy Spirit, Christ is with us, claiming us, and calling us.
When you’re travelling, or going through something, remember that Christ is with us: he is the ground of our life, and gives us living bread and water. By his in-carnation he comes to be as one of us with all of us. Remember that Christ claims us: The early church father Irenaeus put it pithy when he said “He became what we are so that we might become what He is.” By his death and resurrection, Christ defeats sin and death so that we might be freed, and so that we can tell others about the freedom he gives. And remember that Christ calls us: We build our lives upon and around his life and teachings, in each of the ways that he gifts us and claims us. It’s like the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, where the proverbial Big Boss gives each of the servants different amounts of money according to their abilities. And God gives that to us, gifts, talents, each of our stories and places in this valley, to serve God and one another, just as Christ taught us.
You can root yourself in the Christ who is always constant with those things we’ve talked about this winter: Prayer, sabbath rhythms, silence, hospitality, scripture, and simplicity. Maybe you have another practice. These practices are given as ways to go deeper into the love of God, and to root ourselves, no matter what season we’re in.
My prayer is that this season, whether travelling or staying, is one where you see and know God, and our Christ who is constant and faithful.
Grace and peace to you all,