Dear friends,
Thank you to the families who tried out our on-line Sunday School during Lent. And thank you to the parents who volunteered to lead, learn and have fun with the kids. So appreciative! As we think more about the best ways to bring kids (and kids at heart) together to talk about faith, we’ll go back to one of the most important ways: recentering faith conversations at home. I’ve attached a new Sunday School at Home lesson for you that I hope adds an alleluia to your week. Because…
Easter keeps going! We tend to think it’s just the ALLELUIA!! of the one big Sunday. But it’s actually a 7-week season—one whole week longer than Lent. Which seems about the right balance of alleluias after all that preparation and reflection. The gospel readings for these first three weeks of Easter focus on stories of the Risen Christ appearing to his followers, and the next four weeks will explore Jesus’ teachings about intimacy with God. The point of arranging the readings this way is that the Easter season isn’t just about the astonishing “ALLELUIA!!” of Jesus’ rising; it’s also about the astonishing invitation for human beings to rise into a more intimate connection with God, too! Our focus scripture for Sunday is John 21:1-14. A good title on this beautiful day might be “Breakfast on the Beach.”
And…What is beautiful about this time of year is that it is the intersection of many faiths’ celebrations of renewal and seeking more intimacy with God with Passover, Easter, Eastern-Orthodox Easter, and Ramadan flowing one after the other and sometimes over each other. April 12 was the beginning of Ramadan for our Muslim brothers and sisters and it goes through May 12. Check out the attached lesson for a special Ramadan treat you might like to try suggested by the Tri-Faith Initiative, a place of intersection shared by a synagogue, a UCC church, a mosque, and an interfaith center on one 38-acre campus in Omaha, Nebraska.
Blessed on-going Easter to you, and Ramadan Mubarak! to our Muslim brothers and sisters,
Pastor Karyn
