A Message from Pastor Kaji
Dear Beloved:
What happens when God knocks…and we don’t answer? What if the problem isn’t that we don’t hear the knocking, but that we’re too entrenched to move?
This Sunday, we celebrate Jesus’ ascension into heaven. It’s the last Sunday of Eastertide (the 49-ish days after Resurrection Sunday), and it commemorates Jesus’ blessing and commission to the disciples before he rises into heaven. If you’d like more details on the Ascension, I’d recommend reading the narrative in Acts 1.
But our text this week comes from Revelation, another text appointed for this Sunday. Here’s where we’re headed: ascension isn’t just about what happened to Jesus, though that is incredibly important. Ascension is also about what happens to us when *we* are called to rise.
Sometimes we find ourselves stuck. Habit, fear, exhaustion, and just plain stubbornness, sometimes can all affix us. In those places, it’s easy to believe that faith is about waiting. But what if the Spirit is already nudging us to move?
This Sunday, we’re going to wrestle with the sacred tension between staying put and rising up. Between stuckness and surrender. Between the God who knocks and the people who listen.
As you prepare for worship, I invite you to consider these questions:
- When have I known, deep down,that something needed to change, but I stalled anyway?
- What small sign have I ignored lately that might’ve been a nudge from God?
- What does “rising” look like in my life right now? What might be getting in the way?
I can’t wait to see you on Sunday!
Pax Christi,
Pastor Kaji
Revelation 3:20-22 (Year A, p. 323):20 Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and dine with you, and you with me. 21 To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Abba on God’s throne. 22 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”