Rev. Ryan's Weekly Reflection

image of paul: Unknown source

We are 18 days into the 50-day Season of Easter and we are still proclaiming "He is Risen!"

This past Sunday (Easter 3) we were galloping alongside Saul in his gleaming chariot (Acts, Chapter 9) just as he got upended by the Spirit and presence of Jesus. Saul is transformed. . . and just as important, so is Ananias (though Saul/Paul's fame would be quite more enduring that Ananias!). 

I invited us to walk the way of Saul this week. . . open to the marvels and the surprises of how God loves and finds a way to reach those who seem "un-reachable." Be encouraged because God loves the world (John 3:16) and God gets what God wants!

My other invitation was to encourage us to walk the way of Ananias this week. The Spirit of Jesus is always wanting to expand the boundaries of the dream/kingdom of God. And God chooses to use US as the people who will enter places where people need to encounter of the love, kindness, hospitality and welcome of Jesus. We, like Ananias, might say: "Really God? Are you sure you didn't get your wires crossed?" And the Spirit of Jesus gently replies to us and says: "Go. . . this is a matter of my choosing, and my restoration."

May God's Empowering Presence grant us courage and strength for the journey in these days of Easter.

Here are words of inspiration that may encourage us along the way:

Jesus will have no hierarchies,
no separations or divisions,
not even between us and him.
“Call no one good but God.”
There are no greater and lesser,
no servants and masters,
no insiders and outsiders.
Not even believers and unbelievers.
Only friends, peers, siblings, companions.
Every stranger is a sibling.
Every person you meet is a friend
for whom you would lay down your life.
There is no “them.” There is only us.
In the love of Christ, befriend this world
and everyone in it;
you will never be alone.
— Steve Garnaas-Holmes, “Friends”