Sunday, May 1, 2022


 

“Arise! Arise! Arise and shine! May Christ’s message of eternal life fill your heart with everlasting love, hope, happiness and new dreams.” ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

 

Upon returning from vacation recently I unlocked the office door, breathed deeply, and prepared to wade in to texts and emails and phone calls. Even from outside the office I could hear the phone message alert going off. 

Well, that seemed like as good a place as any to start so I hit the message button -- and chuckled upon hearing a message from Bruce Smith. He writes for the Cascades Presbytery (our regional group of 96 Presbyterian churches mostly in Oregon) newsletter and covers Central Oregon churches.

He wanted to know how PPC’s building program was going. In thinking about my response the first thought that came to mind was a single word: ‘COVID.’ Our Future Facilities teams had interviewed two general contractors when – COVID.

As Oxford Dictionary defines it, COVID is a noun: “a statement, fact, or situation that tells you why something happened;“ yet how COVID has changed our lives and related actions during these past two years makes it feel more like a verb (action-word).

COVID has become this broadly ambiguous yet clearly understood umbrella term to explain all things odd and changing and suspended and undone over the last two years.

However now with Easter having provided an end-date to COVID (at least currently) and our lives once again find stability, we want to remember that while the Cross brought an end to Jesus’ earthly life, His resurrection signaled the start of God’s new season.

And on that first Easter, as the disciples’ joy and astonishment was quickly replaced by anxiety and doubt -- they retreated…until Jesus reminded them that there was more to His story…and in commissioning the disciples Jesus was counting on them to step up and step out in telling it.

So how will we respond? We hope you would  join our response.

As we look to the rest of the ‘post-COVID’ year ahead, and PPC’s future long beyond that; I pray that we all will step up in faith and consider stepping out into new roles in telling all about God’s unfolding story.

Together We Serve,

Pastor Mike

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