As we come to the end of this half year of Christ, the same half year which began with our time of preparation last Advent, we are once again facing the end of the Easter season (i.e. Eastertide) with Pentecost this coming Sunday. Pentecost is celebrated ever year on the fiftieth day following Easter. As Easter is preceded by 40 days of Lent to remind us of the forty days Jesus spent in the desert following his baptism, Eastertide celebrates the 50 post-Easter days prior to the sending of the Holy Spirit. Many people celebrate Pentecost with the wearing of red and as the birthday of Christ's church. Yet this day reflects much more than the birth of the Church, Pentecost celebrates the birth of mission. The Day the Holy Spirit arrived as promised to guide, empower, and sustain us not just as disciples but as "do-ciples". As workers in mission empowering the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God, as Adam and Eve were once workers within God's Garden of Eden.

The theologian Jürgen Moltmann wrote: "Pentecost," as Christians call this event is thus not an appendix and also not an addition to "Good Friday" and "Easter." Pentecost is the goal of Jesus's death on the cross and his resurrection by God into the glory to come. Where the Holy Spirit is, God is present in a special way and we experience God in our lives that are thus quickened by a source out of the depths of our being. We experience life, healed and redeemed, complete and in its entirety, with all of our senses. We feel and taste, we touch and see our life in God and God in our life."

Pentecost calls for us not just to wear red and celebrate the birth of the church, but to celebrate God's presence with us in this otherwise broken world; where brokenness distracts and saps us of our mission focus and strength. Shepherd of the Hills, like the post-resurrection apostles before us have been worshiping and praising God this Eastertide, but soon like these same apostles, we may be called to do things in very different ways.
 

Have you been looking for how God has been present in the life of Shepherd of the Hills (SOTH)? Besides the several associate members who will be moving full-time to the lake within the next 90 days, we welcome several new associate members to include: Pastor Tom and Barbara Omholt from St. John's Lutheran in Washington DC, and Darlene Egtvedt. Besides the already mentioned two associate member families moving to the lake, it also looks like we will be accepting another family into the congregation within these same 90 days. I see these movements as confirmation that God has plans for SOTH, even if we do not know what they are or how SOTH will look like once God's plans are implemented.

Many things have happened as this community has lived through the last 50 days, yet as we approach Pentecost, our time for waiting and watching, like the apostles, will also come to an end with the arrival of the Holy Spirit. With the reminder how even in our most challenging of times we are never alone!  This festival reminds of God's gift to us of the Holy Spirit, or the "Comforter" (from Paraclete) and the "source of Life" (fons vitae). This is why we will be wearing RED for this Sunday -- to remember the gift "...who proceeds from the Father and Son...."

CHRIST IS RISEN!!! ALLELUIA!