News and Notes

From the Pastor

A Little Love Note

Eastertide is the season in which we lean into life in the risen Christ: a resurrection life that shouldn’t have been possible but is through the grace and love of Jesus Christ. Acts 2:42-47 portrays a community of believers that is living in direct response to the proclamation of the risen Christ. Their community is marked by; (1) Apostles’ teaching of Jesus; (2) community fellowship; (3) breaking of bread; and, (4) prayer.

Would you say that our faith community is characterized by these tenets?

I think in the Northwest family that we are centered in Christ and these tenets of a Jesus-following community. Even when we might face disagreements or challenges, we come back to these access points of remembering and experiencing God’s grace, these works of piety and adoration of Jesus Christ. Just like the apostles and the early faith communities written about in the Bible, we are human. They started to fall apart in Acts 5...three chapters after the scriptures on this ideal faith community! Just like the apostles and early believers, we return to what matters most, and that is love of God and love of neighbor. We cannot love God fully without loving all that is under God. That’s the gist of what we are doing here. There is no full life in God without our neighbors. This community is where we experience salvation. It is where we experience the risen Christ.

Potlucks are the perfect example of community: sharing a common meal with one another. Bringing our food together and sharing it in a way that multiplies the impact of the food and the joy is a powerful statement. It’s even more powerful knowing that it is in the breaking and sharing of the bread that the disciples recognized Christ.

It is how we recognize the risen Christ and how we are able to truly see one another. After the Walk to Emmaus, after the Pentecost moment when the Holy Spirit rested upon each person and Peter proclaimed the risen Christ, Peter and John noticed the person who was born with a mobility issue in Acts 3:1-10. It was in the name of Christ that he was healed. It was the noticing, the seeing without the blinders that was the first step to the miracles done in Christ’s name. Practicing these tenets of a community following the risen Christ is life-giving. It helps us to see one another. It helps us take notice and provide an environment of mutual care. It is in community that God led people to grow and experience salvation, according to Acts 2:47. That is how vital our congregation is for the people in and outside our walls.

I am grateful for each and every one of you: for the love and care that you share with one another and the way you love God. It’s that kind of love that makes all the difference. It’s that kind of love that will change the world.

All my love,
Pastor Melissa

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