Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior!
Many thanks to those who helped us have a wonderful Easter Sunday worship celebration of Jesus’ resurrection! Special thanks to Rick Reagan, who along with his wife, Becca, worked on the beautiful flower cross. Many of our winter friends began to return home after Easter or will be returning to their homes soon. I think I speak for the entire congregation when I thank you for braving the difficulties on the pandemic to be us this year. To those who could not come this year, we missed you. As many travel home, we pray you all have traveling mercies during your return trip. We heartily look forward to the return of all our winter friends later this year or in 2022.
Those of us who are reading the chronological Bible in a year are all likely glad that we are past the genealogies in the book of Chronicles. The long lists of hard to pronounce names, many of whom are never talked about elsewhere, can be daunting. Every time I read them, though I am reminded of how important those names are. For the people of that time though, it is their history of love and war, of commitment and the lack of it, but most of all of the love of God for his people, even when they weren’t faithful to him. It is our history, too, though it’s harder for us to see it.
From the very beginning with Adam until now, our God has purposed to be in covenant with the people who follow him, from the people of Israel through Jesus and beyond, now all people can be in covenant with God. Much as our own ancestors ground us in our identity, our faith ancestors help ground us in our faith identity. Our faith identity begins with Adam and continues all the way through Jesus. But it doesn’t stop there for without faithful people in every era, we may never have learned about and accepted a relationship with Jesus. Someone else taught each of us Jesus. That person and many others in our lives have helped each of us become faithful Christians. To the degree you can, reach out this week to the person(s) who helped you become a follower of Jesus and give thanks to God for giving you a place in the genealogy of his people.
May God bless you,
Pastor Kim Uchimura