A Letter from Lindy May 17

Hello Pilgrims,

I write this note to you the day the Christian calendar names the “Ascension of the Lord.” As a church that lives into a Sunday rhythm for all of its high holy days except for Christmas, we will hear this story as told by the author of Acts on Sunday. Holding the invitation I shared last Sunday to tell the story of our faith journey as did Paul to the Athenians, I wonder how you might respond to the likely incredulous follow-up questions from your listeners. “Wait, what? Jesus was teleported how? Where? And then these mysterious beings in white suddenly appeared? And then the disciples just returned to the upper room in Jerusalem as if no big deal? Devoting themselves to constant prayer, really?!  Well, as I said, the gospel is scandalous to the ear and eye.

What I also reminded us, if you remember, was that this story of Jesus has been entrusted to us to share. To pass on to those who are curious. To those who wonder. And yes, to those who question. Not to brow beat anyone into acceptance, rather to point to the “unknown God” because our lives have been indelibly marked by the Holy Breath that is “the ground of our being.” Our enfleshed storytelling is not any one person’s individual responsibility, rather a collective effort in and through beloved community so that any listener might want to hear more later.

I believe this embodied storytelling is the covenant into which we enter on New Member Sunday. However these wonderful people find their way to Pilgrim’s doors, they are trusting us to help them become part of God’s story with and through us. I know it feels like a bit of a harangue your pastor makes when I remind you to pay attention to the promises you make because your words have consequence and those who join us should and will have expectation for us to live into them fully. 

With delight, I invite you to get to know Noah Crosswhite, Marta Beramendi-Conde, Michael Flanders, Maria Flanders, Greyson Kentopp, Ken Palisin and Mary Beth Twining as they choose to make Pilgrim their beloved community. I for one cannot wait to discover how God will use us all to share their holy, healing light and love in our hurting world.

grace and peace,

Pastor Lindy

(she/her)  Pronouns matter