What is it that you might need to let go of and trust that God will care for you?

With God there is always reason to hope.

Now is the time to continue to do the work of truth telling and reconciliation. Truth and Reconciliation is the light shining in the darkness of the past.

The Holy Spirit is wild and disturbing and comes to us in unfamiliar and unexpected forms.

Sabbath-keeping is a resistance movement, and it’s very counter-cultural. Sabbath keeping is a resistance to the clutter, the noise, the advertising, the busyness, and the “virtual living” that sucks the life out of our lives.

There are endless ways to pray. In the face of anxiety and uncertainty, play with your prayer, going beyond seeming proficiency. Try a medium with which you’re not familiar and discover what unfolds.

“The Spirit blows where it will.” There’s really no telling what will happen if we dare to ask.

We are called to awaken our faith, to hold fast to Jesus who once dwelt among us but has now withdrawn heavenward.

His way is not easy but by following him we will be forever changed, and our joy will be made complete.

We are mediators of God’s grace, God’s love, God’s power to save and heal. As branches we receive the life of the vine and pass it along to others.

We are rescued and provided for by the shepherd. We will need that help almost continually.

God looks over this broken and scarred world – and over the broken and scarred people who inhabit it – and reclaims it, and them, with love.

Each and every one of us can know and worship God as no one else can.

You don’t need to be afraid. You are not alone. That is our hope in Jesus. That is our hope in God to make all things new. Now is the time to claim that hope.

Like the residents of Jerusalem so long ago we too are caught up in cries of Hosanna and screams of Crucify. Like the residents of Jerusalem, we too are fickle in our loyalty following first one and then the other.

Following Jesus is a matter of life and death. Or, to put it another way, life and death matter to those who follow Jesus.

Yes, we walked into the middle of a conversation this morning, but more importantly we walked into the middle of an invitation. And that invitation is an invitation to life, and healing, wholeness and salvation.

Why this? Why now? Where is God in all this?

Each of us make decisions daily that hold in tension human values and God’s values.

Let us take this season to look deeper into our identity to see the person God made us to be