Dear St. Lukers,
We are in the resurrection season – alleluia! Christ is risen! So often we think of Easter as a day, but in the church calendar each year, it’s actually a season. The fifty days after Resurrection Sunday are known as Eastertide (much like Christmastide is the season of twelve days after Christmas!). Leading up to Pentecost, we use this season as a time to ask the question: because of the resurrection, how are we called to live as the Church?
To name the elephant in the room, this year is one of pastoral transition for St. Luke’s. And yet, in the United Methodist Church, pastoral transition is part of who we are and have always been. We are not just a single congregation, but part of a worldwide connection of churches that share mission, resources, and yes, pastors. Leadership gifts are sent where they are needed, for the flourishing of not just one church but the whole body of Christ.
And that works because the flourishing of the church has never depended on who the preacher is. In this week’s Scripture, we hear Jesus declaring that those who know he is resurrected are witnesses: they are the ones who are commissioned to go and tell the good news. Like the disciples, the laity of the church here and now are the most important preachers of the gospel in our world today.
This Sunday, we will celebrate God’s naming and claiming of young St. Lukers in baptism, bringing them into the mission and ministry of the church. And we will also celebrate, along with all the churches in the Florida Conference, “Announcement Sunday,” where we will hear from our Staff Parish Relations Committee who the Bishop and Cabinet have appointed to our church as pastors for the coming year. And while we look forward to celebrating new pastoral leadership at St. Luke’s, the resurrected Christ reminds us that you are the church.
I look forward to celebrating resurrection with you this Sunday, as we continue to gather in The Commons of Love University this year, and as we hear who will be joining us to support you in your ministry in the year to come.
Blessings,
Pastor Melissa
