May 2009 News Letter Article

A Community Renewed
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” Acts 2.1
For quite sometime now, we have been gathering together in one place. Usually as a youth group it happens on Sunday nights and now we have begun to meet again, together, on a Tuesday night. We have been on this journey together, where we walked through the wilderness, where we have experienced Resurrection and now, we are waiting for something. Yes, we are waiting again, yet in a different way in Advent or on that Holy Sunday.

The Ides of March have come and gone, the April showers have reminded us of the claim God has upon us, and now, now we wait for what those April showers bring. The new life which had been promised, yet also left us with wonder, has sprung forth and we see the buds and sprouts stretching themselves out, for the day when they will be all they have been created to be in their fullest bloom. No matter how long we live and no matter how many times we will go to bed one night and wake the next morning with tree’s in bloom that weren’t the day before will continue to be a mystery to us. Biologically we get glimpses as to how it all ‘works’, but deep inside, we still stand breathless as we admire the beauty and creativity.

This sort of waiting, it too happens and is happening now with the church as we are in these final days of Easter and are waiting for the Sunday a great wind overcame the church, Pentecost. This event, this is the day when the first church community was born, a day when we are reminded and experience God’s promise to us, God’s people. This day is the day when, much like the moment the beautiful purple petals from a tulip erupts from his holding-time, the church was and is awaken and things get shaken loose and break open. In this moment, a wind sweeps across the early church and again, new life happens! People begin to speak in different languages so all of those people who were visiting Jerusalem at the time, could hear the Good News proclaimed. They welcomed new people, different people, all sorts of people, and this once inclusively exclusive community expands and begins to flood the scene and make some noise!

Whether we want to believe it or not, the same Spirit that swept through those people, the one that caused many folks to join in on the Jesus revolution, the one that caused a great speech to be had, is the same one which sweeps through our group/community. It is the day when God’s call is made known to them, made known to us! It was on this day salvation came and was enacted, the day when a great gift fell upon the people gathered there, a day when the movement of the good news to be taken to all parts of the world began. Reconciliation took place and today, it can take place. New life came that day through the Spirit, through the gifts of the new members and through the continued commitment and participation of those whom sat personally with Christ.

This then is where we will find ourselves on May 31st, 2009. Together, we will be gathered in an upper room, much like the disciples were, with our windows open, with hopes the wind will blow violently and our community will experience a prompting into newness of life. For it will be on this night, we invite you now 5th graders (who will be in 6th grade starting in the fall of 209) to come to youth group, and be welcomed by us. Our story as a youth group is one full of richness and well, sometime down right silliness, and we want to properly welcome you to our group. You will be reminded a little later with an invitation and we hope you will come and be with us as we begin to show how another way is possible. Again, please come, be a part of our community and join with us in bringing the Kingdom of God to this place, here and now!

Shalom friends.