This week, the fruit of kindness is ripening in our fruit of the Spirit series. We will read the story of King David and Mephibosheth (can you imagine the trouble he had in grade school putting his name on papers?) and consider how kindness is not just a character trait that we are training for, but something that comes out of us as we reflect the presence of God into the world. We will also be celebrating James Rowher's baptism and bidding farewell to the Rowher family as they move to Utah.

The fruit of the Spirit continues to bloom at Trinity and this week, it is the fruit of peace. The song The Kingdom of Jesus by The Porter’s Gate asks the question, “To what shall we compare the spirit of this age, if not a sword?” We live in such a violent and fearful time. The temptation in every age is to protect ourselves from violence with violence or to anticipate violence with violence. This seems “reasonable” to us. This morning, we are going to consider whose “reason” this is and what worldview undergirds it? What is more, what different vision of the world is set before us that we might “not learn war anymore” so that the peace of God and the God of peace may be with us? The Lord is calling. May we answer and be blessed with peace!

This week in worship, we carry on our post-Pentecost series “Seeing the Spirit,” picking up with the second fruit of the Spirit: joy. Joy, like love before it, is more than a feeling. As we will see in Nehemiah and the words of Jesus, joy is a gift that comes from walking in the faithfulness of Jesus. Joy is durable. Even in the face of so much hardship in the world, joy remains. So join us this Sunday, as we go looking for the fruit that is joy!

On the day of Pentecost, God gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church. The disciples lived in the power of God’s Spirit by healing and preaching and bringing the good news of gospel to all they encountered. Today, we are also gifted the grace of God’s Spirit and can walk in all of God’s gifts mentioned in Galatians 5. These “fruits” are how we See the Spirit in our midst. Over the course of the next nine weeks, we will explore all the ways the Holy Spirit makes herself manifest through our lives.

If you’ve ever experienced something that you just couldn’t quite find the right words to express, you already know everything you need to know about Pentecost. How do you put into language the experience of feeling inspired, or being pushed into some new thing by a force beyond yourself, or the spark of a new idea or an "AH HA!" moment? Maybe we call it a fresh breeze or a burning inside of us? Whatever the Holy Spirit is doing, she (the Hebrew roots of the word for Spirit are feminine and though the Holy Spirit is, well, Spirit, and beyond gender, “they” feels too impersonal for the person of the Trinity who is said to dwell within us!) is utterly outside of our control, calling and gathering all people together in God’s embrace. Today we will celebrate God’s uncontrollable work, give thanks for those whom God is joining to our congregation, and celebrate communion - extending the feast into a picnic! Don’t forget to wear red!

In 1965, John Coltrane handed eleven musicians some basic material, walked into the studio, and let them play. The result was chaos and brilliance. The album was called “Ascension.” The disciples at Jesus’ Ascension knew something of that feeling - Jesus had given them everything they needed, then disappeared into a cloud. They stood there staring, catching flies in mouths agape. We know the feeling. This Sunday, as we baptize, receive, and send our confirmands into the world, we'll sit with that same ascension anxiety - and discover that Jesus has already given them (and us) everything needed to follow him faithfully into the chaos.

In other news: I haven’t ever been more proud of a graphic than I am of this one. It’s truly a “if you can’t please yourself” moment. Google Coltrane’s Ascension album and you’ll know why!

What does the resurrection of Jesus matter? That’s the question we’ve been asking over the weeks since Easter morning. We’ve seen how what we learn from the Lord Jesus in his resurrection changes how we approach relationships and reconciliation, how we expand the table to invite all people in, how our sufferings are transformed, and last week, Pastor Kim invited us to consider how the resurrection was a public act and Christ invites us to following him proudly. This week, we continue to ask that question as we see the Apostle Paul walk into Rome and engage with the philosophers of the day. I’m going to suggest that engaging our culture, and discovering how Christ is pulling this whole world forward into righteousness (which is just Bible talk for “upright living,” or what we might call “being a decent human being!”), is, in fact, not accidental to the work of the church and Christian people who are products of the resurrected Jesus. It’s Mother’s Day, so I’ll be happy to see her drag you to church this week. wink! See you there!

This week, we will be “touching resurrection” by exploring how we make our faith public. How is our faith in the resurrected Christ seen in our everyday lives? It is through the hope we have and our openness to be transformed in our living out of this faith. Our faith is not something we just experience emotionally between us and God, but our faith is something we must proclaim.

Easter celebrates that while Christ suffered for what was good, refusing to return evil for evil, he was raised and vindicated by God. We, too, suffer in this life. If we are honest, we sometimes suffer for doing what is right and at other times we suffer because we have neglected to do what is right! In this season after Easter, we trust that we can know the power of Christ’s resurrection even in our sufferings. We learn to suffer, knowing that our suffering is neither in vain nor eternal. Instead, our God walks with us, gives us hope, uses suffering to bring change, and promises an end to all pain. With our eyes fixed on Jesus, let us walk this life arm in arm with God and one another!

-Jake

There's a moment in one of the resurrection stories where two of Jesus' followers spend an entire day talking with a stranger on the road — processing, arguing, trying to make sense of everything. Hours of conversation. And they still don't see what's right in front of them until they sit down and break bread together.
Something about that rings true. The people we debate, scroll past, or keep at a comfortable distance stay ideas to us. Abstract. Manageable. And at arm’s length, we suppose we can examine them just fine. But something shifts when we actually share a table. When we are passing bread to the person next to us, the stranger becomes a person and in that person, if we're paying attention, we catch a glimpse of the presence Christ.
The early church believed the table was where resurrection became real - and where they learned what it meant to be a community of the Risen Jesus - not just as a doctrine to affirm, but as a life to be touched. We still believe that.
This Sunday we're in Luke 24, thinking together about what it means to be a community of welcome. Join us!