Greetings from the Pastor’s desk. It’s the weekend! The weather looks pretty good. Sunday looks beautiful. Have any big plans? Now that we are on the cusp of consistently beautiful weather, I’m sure you are thinking about vacations, weekend trips, and all that jazz. This early on in the year, many of your plans may still be up in the air.

You know what else is up in the air? Which scripture reading to focus on this Sunday. We have two options. The first one is the obvious one. It is from a gospel account. Its Luke’s account of Jesus appearing before his followers in Jerusalem. The second one comes from Acts. It is the story of Peter healing someone just outside the Temple. With the healed man clinging to him, Peter walks into the doorway of the Temple and begins to address the masses. Oh, man! Both are so good. I can’t decide. I guess I’m up in the air.

This whole idea of Jesus walking out of a tomb one Sunday morning so many years ago can be tough to understand. There are so many accounts in the Bible of what happened. We have all four gospels telling us about it, and then there’s Paul’s report. And Paul has two accounts. He has what has been passed down to him, and he has his own experience of the risen Christ. There’s so much in the Bible about this that it can be hard to figure it all out. I suppose our understanding of what it means for Jesus to rise from the dead could very well be up in the air.

Let’s not even mention (except that I’m mentioning it now) whether or not we believe all this stuff. If you are like many people of faith, you oscillate between belief and disbelief. Even those considered the most saintly among us have written about how much doubt they have, and how often. Jesus rising from the dead is not only hard to understand, it can be hard to believe. Even the disciples doubted and disbelieved, and they were looking at the risen Jesus standing in front of them. It is right there in the Bible. We find ourselves in good company when our faith persists, but our belief is up in the air.

Yet, through all this, we can trust in the good news God gave us then and continues to give us today. Last week, we reflected on practicing our faith even when we don’t fully understand it. Practice over theology. This week’s scripture readings are awesome. In the gospel, we hear about disciples who “in their joy were still disbelieving.” Yet, these same disciples, just a few days later, were in the Temple healing people and proclaiming the Good News. Even when they didn’t understand, even when they disbelieved, they still practiced their faith. For them, that wasn’t in the air.

Come on out on Sunday as we reflect on these disciples who struggled so much, yet did so many great things for the glory of God and the betterment of humankind. And let’s ponder together what God is teaching us today.

See you Sunday,

Pr. Matt

pastor@ourshepherd.com