Hello House of Mercy,
What a life-giving few weeks we’ve had in the Easter season, especially as we’ve welcomed several new members into our congregation. As we prepare to bless and celebrate our high school graduates, and as the school year ends in a blur and summer plans become real, I want to thank you for your participation in the gospel. It is a joy and privilege to welcome God’s children home to mercy in Jesus.
On Pentecost, the risen Lord keeps his promise to the church: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). The Spirit does not merely inspire us for a season; he gathers, sustains, and sends us in Christ’s name. So when the church enters the long stretch of “ordinary time” after Pentecost, it is not entering emptiness. It is entering the steady, grace-filled life of God’s people, where Christ continues to speak, forgive, feed, and send.
That matters especially in summer, when our bodies, calendars, and minds often begin to drift. We travel, we gather, we remember, we anticipate. Part of us is always already somewhere else. Yet the Lord who meets us in Word and Sacrament does not drift. He holds us in the present tense of his mercy. As the psalmist says, “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in” (Psalm 121:8). And as Jesus promises, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).
So perhaps summer is not only a time to rest, but also a time to receive. To receive the good gifts of creation. To receive the people God has placed around us. To receive the steady mercy of Christ, who meets us not only in the dramatic moments of the church year but also in the ordinary days of June and July. The Spirit who came at Pentecost is still at work, making room in us for trust, gratitude, and love.
As we enter this season, my prayer is that the Lord would keep gathering us, wherever we are, and bring us back again and again to the ordinary miracle of grace: Christ for you.
Shalom,
Pastor Tom