One of the things that has always struck me about the resurrection of Jesus is just how much the Risen Christ had changed. Whenever people encountered Jesus after he had risen from the grave, whether outside of the empty tomb or on the road to Emmaus, they did not even recognize him at first. Something about him was so different that even his closest friends could not tell that it was him…And yet he was also the same. He taught. He fed. His body still bore the wounds of the cross.
I have often thought about how the Resurrection of Jesus Christ might be a Gospel reality for us in our living, and not just our greatest hope in our dying. In different moments of my life I have asked: How does this mystery of faith play out in our world? I confess, sometimes the question sounds more like a complaint: “Really, God? Where is new life found in THIS mess?”
I have come to believe that we experience the resurrection of Christ in our lifetime when out of a “death” we experience a “new life.” This death may be the literal death of one we love, but it also can be the death of an aspect of our lives that was foundational to our identity or way of being in the world: a state of health, relationship, or employment. The new life that may follow, by God’s grace, would be a new way of being in the world in which we find a wholeness, love, or security. It will be different from what was, but REAL and tangible still.
The Resurrection does not fully undo the loss felt by the disciples. Jesus will not be present to his disciples—or to the world—in the same way that he was before his death. They don’t go back to following him around from town to town, watching him heal, hearing him teach while sitting at his feet. The traveling, teaching, and healing will be their work to do. But they won’t go it alone. Jesus will be with them in a new way: through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within them and equipping THEM for ministry. New life WILL emerge out of the death and resurrection of Christ. The ministry to which Christ has called his disciples will continue. God’s mission in the world persists. God’s grace and love prevail.
But things won’t look the same.
I think of this resurrection reality for this season of our life together. We all may be experiencing this truth in particular ways in our personal lives through tremendous seasons of transition we experience each day. Yet as a congregation, this is a persistent reality for US as the Body of Christ. The loss of Pastor Randy’s departure is still a grief felt by many—even 11 months later. Who we were when he was our pastor—who we were before Covid, who we were before is not who we are today, or who we will be in the future.
Yet God is God—and God is faithful still.
The resurrection of Christ assures us that new life will blossom for us too, here and now. We still are God’s people. We still are called to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed. We still are equipped by the power of Holy Spirit to do the work to which we have been called. And God is with US still.
Our task is not unlike the disciples’ was all of those years ago. Like them, we must discern how to live into this new season in faith and hope and trust.
We have to figure out how we will do the work of God’s people without the leader we had known. We have to take risks. We have to work together. We have to pay attention to God’s Spirit in new ways—through new voices and ideas and insights…even our own!
We still need to grieve, if that remains our work to do. And then we need to pay attention to how God is engaging us at ELPC, here and now. For us, too, God will work in ways that are the SAME as what was, and in ways that are DIFFERENT from what has been. Like the early Church, our new life together will bear the emblem of both—the ministry that has been ours, to our core AND a fresh ministry for a new moment in God’s history.
In the coming months, we will be invited to ask many questions of ourselves—as individuals, as a community. In all of these questions, though, we will need to challenge ourselves to ask: “How is the Resurrection of Christ a reality for US, here and now? (Even if we feel like saying, “Really, God? Where is the new life to found in this mess?”)
I invite you to engage…to engage the life of this faith community, to engage in ministry together, to engage God in prayer. Engage the questions of this season with a healthy nostalgia for what has made ELPC a special community for you—and engage the questions of this season with a healthy dose of curiosity as we strive to see what God is preparing for our present and future. Engage with hope.
In the coming weeks, we will be launching an informational series called: ELPC Matters: The More You Know Series. These sessions will be brief (no more than an hour), hybrid sessions that will address some of the frequently asked questions that people have about our life together—the unknowns of which become magnifiers of stress and anxiety in seasons of transition. These presentations will hopefully be spaces where general questions can be answered, so that as a community, we will share greater ownership of our life together and build a greater understanding of the ins and outs of our ministry together.
In the meantime, know that Pastor Patrice, Pastor BJ, and I are here to walk with you through this season of transition—but more importantly, God is with all of us. Let us together be open to all that is possible with and through a God who is stronger than death. Thanks be to God!
—Pastor Heather