For our final sunday together, we shall celebrate the wonderful season we’ve had.

We have all been Samuel—reluctant to move forward as we are called. God is already where we are called to be. Let us embrace the new season by first letting go of the old.

Jesus addresses his disciples late in our Gospel we call "John."  He tells them they are no longer servants (the greek means slaves) but friends.  Then he expresses the love for his friends he is about to show them through the cross.

What does it mean to be friends with God?

Do you feel like God is your friend?

Do you have the same kind of relationship with God you have with your closest friends?

Or are you still afraid of God...like God may not actually be your friend but a slave master (as if you are still a servant)?

What does a friendship with God look like?

In December of 2017, I took a trip to Israel with my seminary (Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary) for a cross-cultural experience.  We did much more than sight-see.

These past months I have been forming the appropriate way to tell people about the experience.  This is where I currently stand with the continual life-changes of my time in The Holy Land.

Our mission as the United Methodist Church is "to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."

Where do we even begin?

Let's focus on the Holy Spirit and our own spirits to understand what Jesus invites us into when we are called to be "born from above/anew."

If we can learn from Nicodemus's difficulties, perhaps we can begin to discover transformation within which will lead to transformation of the world.

We celebrate 50 years of the merger which created The United Methodist Church.  Our history runs much longer and deeper, but it is a time of celebration as we look back to the more ancient observance of Pentecost.

We look across time to see how God is ever drawing us together through the Spirit which unites us.  Will we continue on the way forward?

Let's revisit our past to help us moving towards the will of God.

We have come a long way since the Ascension...

yet in some ways we are still there.