"He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’" ~Matthew 13:31-32
Jesus talks more about the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven than anything else. More often than not he takes the traditional images of what people thought the kingdom looked like: a banquet, riches, bread of salvation a garden and turns it on its head. Instead Jesus says the Kingdom is like the finest and fanciest banquet that is attended by the homeless, the sick, the poor and rejected. The Kingdom is not gathering riches but selling everything that you have for the sake of the Good News. The Kingdom is not the legendary unleavened bread of salvation that sustained the Israelites in the wilderness on their way to the promised land, but instead is bread that has been transformed by yeast. The Kingdom is not a perfect and orderly garden, but a garden filled with weeds that grow into trees in order to welcome birds to nest in their branches. The kingdom of God is filled with people and things we would never expect. Who do you think is welcome (or not) in God's kingdom? 

"And Jesus said to them, "Follow me." ~Matthew 4:19

Repeatedly, in each of the four gospels, Jesus invites people - the rich and the poor, the whole and the broken, the religious and the seeking to follow him. Through the years we too are offered this same invitation: to follow in the Way of Jesus. As a church we acknowledge this in baptism when we vow to teach children through our words and actions about the Way of Jesus and in confirmation we extend the invitation to young men and women to join us in following Jesus. Confirmation is not the end of a journey, but a celebration. This Sunday we will celebrate as six young men and women join us in our journey of faith. We will challenge and comfort one another as we continue to seek where God is calling us. We will not always agree, but we will not be disagreeable. We will once again affirm our commitment to love one another, to hold one another accountable and to follow where the Spirit guides us individually and as a community.
~Pastor Eric

"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit " ~Acts 2:1-4

A violent wind, a tongue of fire, a fount of living water, a dove descending on a newly baptized Christ, a guide and a comforter, these are just some of the descriptions we get of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is perhaps the most difficult part of God for us to wrap our mind around because it is by its very nature elusive. The Holy Spirit reminds us that no theology, no one part of scripture, not even one experience or rational argument can fully contain God. That holy nature of God, the unknownness can be disturbing, yet we can feel God's Holy Spirit at work in our lives. Creating and re-creating as it did in Genesis one over the face of the world, igniting within us the energy to proclaim the good news as it did on Pentecost, filling up with the promise of love and grace in baptism, sustaining us for the journey like a cup of living water. How is the Spirit moving in your life?
~Pastor Eric