St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church Welcomes You!
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A Message From The Pastor
Greetings In The Name Of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
We are coming up to (2) important events in the history of the church during the month of May…..can anyone think what that they are? Well. . On May 21st we have Christ’s accession and on the 31st of May there is the Day of Pentecost. These are the 2nd and 3rd biggest events of the church year. Why, you may ask are these 2-events important in Jesus’ ministry? Well . . . the ascension (40 days after Easter) marks the day that the risen Christ removed his bodily presence from mankind and passed into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. The Word “Ascension” simply means “raising up” and should reminds us of the moments in worship when we ascend to the altar as to the presence of God.
Ascension appears to be a sad moment. But remember the disciples returned home rejoicing. Christ returned triumphant to his heavenly Father, who obviously accepted his victorious Son back at his right hand of power, where he now reigns in glory for us. Isn’t that fantastic! If you wish to read about the ascension you may find it in several places; Act 1:1-12, Act 2:34, Mark 16:9, John 24:49-51. These are just a few.
The day of Pentecost. . . .Hum. . Pentecost (from Greek pentekostos, “fiftieth”) the 50th day after Easter. We read a little about that in last weeks Gospel didn’t we. Jesus appears to the apostles in a locked room and the disciples were afraid and unsure of what they saw. Jesus shows them about the marks in his hands and side. He then proves it is he, by eating a piece of broiled fish. Then he tells them to stay there until they receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus promise his disciple (and us), even before he died. “I will come to you.” The way he would do that, he said, was by sending the Holy Spirit to be with them. The Holy Spirit would be a kind of “Heavenly Helper” for those who follow Christ, teaching us, inspiring us, encouraging us.
The coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost is described in the second chapter of the book of Acts. Some people say that the name of the book of the bible should really be “The Acts of the Holy Spirit” because the spirit is the one who moves the apostles to do what they do in the name of Jesus and works through them to accomplish wonderful things. The color red for Pentecost, traditionally reminds us of the offering of life—lives of Christians martyrs gone before us and our own lives—in the service of Christ. Likewise the use of a dove or pigeon represents the Holy Spirit. (The Word “apostle,” by the way, means someone who is sent to do something.) Remember. . We too are “apostles” because we are also sent out into the world to do the work of Christ Jesus.
Pastor Casaday
