The End is the Beginning

Having recently seen the latest X-Men movie, Days of Future Past, I’ve been trying to reconcile the various space and time dimensions we experience in that movie. So one character sends his consciousness to the past, so the past is the present, but he is also still in the future. And the present continues until he changes the past, which also changes the future. And when he arrives in the future which is now the present, he can't remember the past. Got that? So where is Wolverine – the past, the present, or the future? 

Read Psalm 68 and Acts 1:6-14.

As we read through the Gospels, we learned that Jesus was the Word made flesh, the Word that was with God from the beginning. So Jesus, the Son of God, entered our present world through a stable birth, and lived as fully human – teaching, healing, feeding, laughing, crying. He is betrayed, convicted, and crucified, only to be risen from the grave. Jesus is somehow at once in the past, present, and the future.

The disciples, as they learned from Jesus, must have thought they were on the cusp of a new beginning. With his death, they concluded that it was the end, only to discover a whole new beginning on Easter morning. They then spent forty days together with Jesus, eating and learning – which brings us to today’s reading.

Jesus instructs them to be witnesses to the ends of the earth and is lifted up on a cloud. The disciples stand there awestruck, until two men in white robes shake them up. Another ending – their rabbi and dear friend has now ascended into heaven. Their inner circle follows into an upper room, praying together.

Aren’t our lives full of endings and beginnings and beginning of endings and ending of beginnings? At Trinity, we experienced an ending when Pastor Shelley retired. As Pastor Alex guides us through this transition time, it feels a little like those disciples gathered in the upper room. Rather than going out and witnessing, we are stuck in a prayerful time, waiting for our next installed pastor who will start Trinity on a new beginning.

Where are you? Are you still processing the ending, or are you ready for a beginning? More importantly, where is Jesus? In the past, the present, or the future? Is Jesus up in heaven, removed from our daily lives? Or is Jesus in our hearts? Or is Jesus in the space between us, pulling us together, sending us out to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth? Maybe Jesus like Wolverine - the answer is YES to all of the above!

As we devote ourselves to prayer, let us brace ourselves for the new beginning that is just around the corner. Get ready for the house groups, where we will discuss the future of Trinity and what that means for our next leader. Continue to reach out through VBS, Let’s Help, the Rescue Mission, and our new day camp in July. Let us not forget our call to be witnesses NOW – not when Jesus comes again, not when our new pastor comes again, but TODAY. May this be so.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate