Rest in the Lord

 Where do you go to find rest?

Last week my two older boys were out of school for Spring break. They were excited to have some time off, and they wanted to enjoy every moment they had. We were not able to make a big trip happen this year, so tried to find a few other local activities. We drove up to the snow on Mt. Charleston, we explored Ice Age Fossil's state park, we went swimming, and we camped out in the backyard! Nothing was too wild or extreme, but it still felt like we took advantage of the time we had.

A few fun moments from Spring Break!

I think we all need to find little ways to take a step back and embrace a fresh perspective. Perhaps you are unable to fly to the other side of the world, but we still need to find a way to appreciate the blessings that surround us. 

This week in worship we will consider what it means to turn to God and find rest. There are a number of Biblical examples of people who needed to get away from the chaos of the world so that they could rest. I think this is important for everybody. I can personally get so caught up in the details of life, I can forget to the gifts right in front of me.

Enjoying a few of the little things...

Today I hope you can all find some rest. I hope you can embrace God's gifts of love, and I hope you can live inspired to follow God's Spirit.

Blessings!

Pastor Brian

A season of Ashes and Hope

As a church, we are in the season of Lent, and over the next forty days we will travel to the cross with Jesus. When I was a child, I thought this time of year was kind of exhausting. I lived in Minnesota, and the weather was alway cold and dreary. The worship services also felt like laments. The season reminded me of the death that Jesus went through. It was meaningful, but also exhausting...

Lent is still a season that reminds me of human imperfection and mortality. However, this season is also about hope. In the Bible, Genesis 3:19 says, "For you are dust and to dust you shall return." This verse encapsulates much of what the season of Lent is all about. However, the very next verse in the Bible is about hope. Together the verses read:

By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,

for dust you are

    and to dust you will return.”

And Adam called his partner Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

Now I hope I'm not going too deep into the weeds with the translation here, but I think something really cool is going on. The word Adam in the original Hebrew is the same as ground and very closely related to the word dust. The name Eve means "life" or even "everlasting life." So originally the test would read something along the lines of:

"You are dust and to dust you shall return. Then the human (or dust of the earth) called his partner Living One, because she would become the mother of all the living...."

If you can follow all of that, the Bible is telling us that we are indeed dust, but when we come together, we find new life. This is the same story that Jesus came to fulfill. Christ wants us to come together as a church. We are all broken individually, but when we gather in Christ name, Jesus is with us.

Today I hope we can open our hearts to the people around us. I hope we can see that we need each other. Instead of finding reasons to divide ourselves, let us open our hearts to the grace that binds us all together.

Peace,

Brian Ward