I am excited to share about our experience on Pentecost. Last Sunday night, we took time during our gathering of Word and Table to commission each other for our church mission during Ordinary time to take care each other, our neighbors and our location. It was a powerful night.
We began the evening, as always, with dinner. While eating we unveiled our new website to the group. As well as our bulletin board that’s been setup to define both our identity and our activity. I know these two things may seem trivial, but for us they are marks of grow. Both our website and our bulletin board are outcomes of our community working together to accomplish the mission and vision that the Lord has called us to in Pasadena.
After dinner, two of our members lead us in a time of discussion over the lectionary readings for Pentecost Sunday. The discussion was hugely significant for two reasons. First, in our discussion we had a chance to close our theme for Easter: experiencing the power of the resurrection. We’ve been taking time to highlight God’s redeeming work in our lives and in the lives of others around us. And Pentecost was the pinnacle of God’s redeeming work because that night two of our members, who had been on the edge of our community, were reconciled to the rest of the group and embraced as brothers and sisters in our church. This moment of reconciliation was a powerful way for us to transition from Easter to Ordinary time. And the second half of the discussion focused on the work of the Spirit in sustaining the power of the resurrection in our lives.
We let the Spirit work in us that night as we named the people that the Lord would have us take care of through Ordinary time. We then spent time in prayer and in the laying on of hands, praying over each person who has been called to take care of others. As we now move into Ordinary time and accomplishing the mission of care, we invited you to join us in prayer. Please pray for sustained spirituality. In other words, please pray that the movement of the Spirit, which was highlighted on Pentecost would continue in our lives from now until Advent. Please pray we will continue to depend on the Spirit’s power of reconciliation.
