A Message From Pastor Margaret
This month of June we have lots to be
grateful for. For a few weeks now we have
been enjoying and wandering through the
beautiful spaces of this season of Spring.
We have been showered by the beauty and
aromas coming at us from all directions,
from the amazing trees and shrubs, and
the most delightful gardens, small and large,
to the sights and sounds of different species
of birds, bees, and a few butterflies. We
have experienced the blessings from God in
more ways than one. Some have put their
hands to work in the garden soil, and we
are seeing our farmers hard at work
preparing and planting for this new season.
Others are simply enjoying the beauty of it all. This season brings a change so needed after a long winter. Our different seasons present different realities to us, and we engage with them in different ways throughout the year. We observe the rhythm of our seasons, and we go with it, and live through it and when we look back, we see the
changes around us and inside ourselves.
These seasonal changes are important metaphors for our own life changes. We change all the time. We learn and we grow, we hold on or we let go of things in life. We encounter new people and experiences, and we move forward, incorporating these changes in our lives as we take the next step forward. Sometimes we are stuck, due to unforeseen circumstances, things that happen that make it hard to move forward.
These changes in our lives are not always easy, but they are part of our growing into the human beings God wants us to become. While our personal lives change all the time, sometimes for the good, such as birthdays and anniversaries, and graduations and new jobs, and sometimes not so good, when we experience illness and even death of a loved one, and when we go through financial or other personal struggles, we know that we have God as our companion to be with us through it all. We have the promise of Christ that when He left to sit at the right hand of God, that His disciples needed not worry, because they were not alone. He made sure they would have the Holy Spirit with them. And this is the promise of Pentecost that God is with us always. Pentecost reassures us and Pentecost gives us hope for this life and beyond. We have this extraordinary opportunity to walk with God in the
Spirit, to approach all seasonal changes with this hope that God comforts us, and in time makes all things new when we believe.
This promise is for all of us, irrespective of who we are. God’s human garden consists of all God’s children, with their diverse looks and sounds and beliefs and convictions. We are all precious in God’s eyes, and God wants to nurture us always. May God help us see this and may we experience the ongoing showering of God’s blessings in our lives. Amen
Pastor Margaret Keyser