Today we begin a sermon series using texts from Genesis with the theme “Family Matters,” this one from the creation story in Genesis 1. It is clear from the very first pages of the Bible that God called on the earth to “bring forth,” to be co-creator, and that humans were created in God’s own image. God pronounces creation “very good.” This has much to say for our current unrest resulting from injustice and from some humans viewed as less than human, because it is clear that all humans were created in God’s own image. The creation story also has much to say about our responsibility in and for creation.

Today is Pentecost Sunday, a celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit as chronicled in Acts 2. In the story there is some mystery in the telling because the disciples were gathered in a house, then as the Holy Spirit descended, somewhat magically there are no more walls. Here, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of George Floyd and its aftermath, we realize that the Holy Spirit can knock down walls we haven’t even realized were there.

This is Ascension Sunday. The writer of Luke shows us an instance of uncertainty for the disciples as Jesus rises to heaven. They had been waiting for Jesus to restore the kingdom to Israel, but it appeared he was leaving them. In our current time we can identify with a deep desire for certainty because there is so much we don’t know. Jesus tells the disciples it is not for them to know times or periods, but they are to be his witnesses. What does that mean for us?

In the text for today, part of Jesus’s farewell discourse to the disciples, Jesus reassures them that although he will be leaving, they will not be alone. He says he will not leave them “orphaned.” The promise is that the Holy Spirit will be with them. It is reflected in the creed we most often use in our worship services – “In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone.” Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic with its social distancing we see abundant examples of people giving presence to others.

We are in a period when so many things are upsetting our lives -- the COVID-19 pandemic, and, for many of us, storms that knocked out our power for the week. The text for today puts the disciples in a situation where the central part of their lives is falling apart -- Jesus is leaving them and will be crucified. But Jesus tells them not to let their hearts be troubled. What does that mean?

The very familiar 23rd Psalm, containing some of the most comforting words in our scriptures, is the psalm reading in the lectionary today, and it couldn’t come at a better time. It does not pledge that there will not be hard times – the valley of the shadow of death – but assures that God is with us, even in those times, even if we feel alone. And what if the table prepared for us in the presence of our enemies actually means that at God’s table there’s a place for everyone, including those we might have thought of as our enemies?

The text for today is the Emmaus Road story, with two friends walking along, talking about their grief for the loss of Jesus, then Jesus, whom they do not recognize, joins them. We can identify with these friends in our own time of loss. Among the most poignant of words is their confession, “We had hoped . . .” But in this experience, the risen Christ invites them to tell about their sorrows, and then he turns their loss into new and ultimate hope. The story is a metaphor for discipleship.

The three youth, Jillian Horton, Hudson Gilliland, and Aasha Zinke, delivering the sermon today are high school seniors, whose senior year has been derailed in so many ways by the CORVID-19 pandemic and resultant schools cancellations. How can we reconcile all this loss with the passage from Romans 8:14-17?

This is, of course, the most glorious day of the Christian year, the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. We are doing so without a congregation, which can make us anxious, as our whole situation has. Following Matthew’s account of Easter morning we note that the women are astonished by the sudden appearance of an angel who tells them Jesus has been raised from the dead, and they are to go back to Galilee to meet him there. Does this mean they’re to act as if things are back to normal? Are things back to normal?

Although usual attendance at Good Friday worship services is only a fraction of attendance on Easter, this year we are all Good Friday people. We can see ourselves like the disciples who, in that day, feared abandonment, wondered whether God was present, and fled for their own safety. Even Jesus cried out his own abandonment from the cross. When Jesus breathed his last breath, it must have seemed like the disciples, too, had been forsaken by God. But we remember the witness of the women who remained present in every way they could.