Pastor Marc's message in the Messenger for May.

I know that it's only May (and hopefully it won't snow during these last weeks in April!) but the first weekend in May is a herald to summer. The blockbuster movies that raise over a billion dollars worldwide will launch (I'm looking at your Avengers 2); the lines at Dairy Queen are longer; baseball households will break out their gloves and head to Yankee Stadium. Even though school is still in session, water parks aren't open, and the water at the shore is freezing, summer is coming and we can't wait for it to arrive. 

On Memorial Day Weekend, we'll celebrate Pentecost. Pentecost was originally celebrated among Jesus' followers as a Jewish festival of thanksgiving, taking place 7 weeks after Passover. For us, however, Passover is celebrated as the moment when the Holy Spirit made itself known to the disciples. Scripture says that tongues of flame appeared over their heads and all the disciples started to speak different languages. As they shared Jesus' story, people from all over the world heard their own languages being spoken. The miracle of Pentecost isn't that the disciples suddenly started speaking in languages they didn't know. The miracle of Pentecost is that people from all over the world, no matter where they came from or where they grew up, were invited to hear Jesus' story in their own language and words. Jesus, who grew up speaking Aramaic and whose deeds and words were recorded in Greek, doesn't stay in that world. Instead, God opened Jesus' message to the entire world, inviting us to share Jesus' story to all. 

Summer is going to bring us to new places and bring new people to us. We're going to find ourselves in situations where we don't know the people we're talking to and where familiar places are going to seem different to us. Even in our own neighborhood, while sitting outside on the steps or the porch, something different is going to happen. We're invited, where ever we go and where ever we end up, to share Jesus' story and to make his love known. This requires more than just speaking. We need to make Jesus understandable. That happens when we meet people, learn their story, and listen to what they have to say. We learn how to share Jesus' love when we get busy learning what people need and how God has been active in their lives. This summer, we're going to feel the warmth of the sun. Let's make sure we share the warmth of the Son too.