April 2024

Pastor’s Note and Intro to Knox News:

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, God will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.  Romans 8:11

Cultivating faith in a rocky world entails believing and claiming that the power of God is in us. We have not been given a spirit of timidity, but of power, love, and discipline (II Timothy 1:7).

So, for all the times when we feel overwhelmed, for all the times we feel tethered to a past we cannot change and intimidated by a future we can’t control, we are invited to think of the empty tomb and Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead. That power lives in us together. That power is available and already at work in us. So, we cultivate dynamic awareness of the power available to us.

We let our roots go down deep in trust. We nourish our faith with scripture, sabbath rest, confession, pardon, worship, reflection. We tend to the power of God that allows us to grow.

We let our branches stretch out into the life of the world. We build partnerships, we bless the children, we feed the hungry, we strengthen the fainthearted, support the weak and help the suffering. We tend to the power of God that allows us to go.

The power at work within, the same power that raised Christ from the dead, allows us to grow in faith and go with Easter joy.

Tom

May there always be a little light in your darkness.

May there always be a little faith in your doubt.

May there always be a little joy in your sorrow.

May there always be a little life in your dying.

May there always be a little hope in your despair.

May there always be a little courage in your fear.

May there always be a little slow in your hurry.

-  Macrina Wiederkehr