Each year as the month of May begins, so too do many important celebrations in the lives of our young people. This month we honor our confirmands, Chapel Choir seniors, and all of our graduates as they prepare for the next stage of their lives.
Is it possible that people can change? I mean change from who they were at one point in time, to someone genuinely different? Not completely different, but genuinely different. Change that is completely different, so often for some of us, conjures up images of a huge weight gain or a huge weight loss.
When I was a teenager, Suzanne Collins' trilogy, The Hunger Games came out. These books FLEW off shelves and caught the attention of many, both their intended audience of teens, and so many more. The books became so popular that they were adapted into film.
As we wait for Easter to arrive, we may become immersed in the aura of the holiday and the season especially because we are hopeful that we can gradually open up even further in our state and across the nation. We have been grateful for some spring-like weather that has come upon us recently, but spring weather is not being felt now in this latest cold snap! However, we always try to make the best of it because it often gets worse before it gets better.
We have all believed in someone or some group so much that we were certain that they could help to open the doors that had been shut and bring the change that we wished could happen for the good. But sometimes, it does not happen quite the way that we had imagined it would, or not at all.
Would you like to meet Jesus? What kind of Jesus would you like to meet? It sounds crazy to say it like that, but when you think of meeting Jesus, how do you imagine Jesus to be when you see him? Visually, there are several images of Jesus all over the world. Which one of the images that you have seen of Jesus would you like to experience if you could meet Jesus in person?
When you are stressed, do you have any little quirks, little ways that you cope with that stress or avoid it? Lately, one of mine has been organizing the bookshelves. Yes, if I have something to do that I want to avoid, or if my mind is just running 100 miles per minute, I go down to the basement and organize the bookshelves. I start by genre, separating the fiction from non-fiction, the children's book from the novels, and make a special place for poetry. From there, it's time to alphabetize.
As believers in God through the love and sacrifice of Christ our Savior, we are in a unique position as God's people. During the Lenten season, we are faced with life-altering decisions about how we are living our lives, specifically deciding on ways we become more faithful to God and be significantly better at following the example that Jesus set for us.
We have just observed Ash Wednesday worship, where we reacquainted ourselves with our mortality as well as with our need to become more aware of how we can best live out our faith in God. Jesus did that too as he prepared for public ministry through baptism, then isolating from other people and emptying himself spiritually and physically, for over 40 days through fasting and praying, to connect more deeply and be in accord with God first and foremost.
Growing up, I loved getting the mail. Sure, one reason why was that like many children of that era, I was hopeful that a letter from Hogwarts would one day be waiting for me in the mailbox, but also, every now and then, I'd find a letter from my Great Grandma Lillian.
How do we share what is good in this world with the people around us and most importantly share God's goodness with them? Part of doing that is sharing in God's blessings. God's blessings can mean anything that we can think, say, and act upon that moves us closer to God's approval and guidance. Blessings also come from God's desire to instill the Holy Spirit in us through unconditional love by way of prayer and the laying on of hands as part of consecration, to set apart someone, some group, or something solely for God's use, to make them or it holy.