Jacob Waldrip, Associate Pastor
Friends, in the midst of this difficult season, I have something to confess: I feel excited. And this is why: we have a couple of important moments coming up in the life of our Children’s Ministry and Student Ministry. First, on Aug. 9, from 4-5pm, we’re going to recognize the beginning of another school year with a drive-thru kick-off. Though we don’t know what this school year will look like, we want to send our students and teachers forward with a blessing for a good year. We hope all of our children and students and teachers will come, take advantage of a photo-op, receive a blessing for their backpack, be a blessing by participating in a school-supply drive, and then go on to bless their schools by being present in whatever way possible as the very image of God!
Second, on Sunday, August 16, we will restart our Sunday night Student Ministry Gathering, “The Emmaus Road.” We’ll meet out at City Lake Park, be socially distanced, and bring our own food – and we’ll journey The Emmaus Road.
Friends, that’s a journey that I want to invite every one of us on. When you get a few moments this week, read Luke 24. It’s a fascinating post-resurrection story. Two of Jesus’ disciples are walking home, distraught following his death and the disappearance of his body. Suddenly a stranger is with them, walking them through scriptures that they thought they understood, reinterpreting their beloved scriptural narrative through the lens of a crucified messiah. This stranger shifted their entire understanding of God’s Kingdom – and finally revealed himself to them as Jesus through the breaking of bread.
Friends, I invite you to allow Jesus to reinterpret your understanding of the Kingdom of God, too. Perhaps our understanding of the gospel – the good news that Jesus is Lord and King – could be expanded. Perhaps questions of life after death isn’t the only thing that the good news is about.
So read the Emmaus story in Luke 24 – and see if Jesus is possibly asking you to journey through scripture again – with eyes to see how Jesus not only conquers death, but becomes the human one perfectly bearing the image of God we were created to be but seemingly could never be on our own, how he becomes the Israel that Israel could never be no matter how hard they tried, how he becomes the King that David could never be no matter how expansive David’s kingdom, how he joins God in new creation right here on earth, and through justification into his family invites us to do the very same.
I ask you to do these four things this week: 1) Pray for our children and students as they embark on another school year, one unlike any they have experienced before; 2) Pray for our students as they walk The Emmaus Road on Sunday nights; 3) Read the Emmaus story in Luke 24:13-35; 4) Commit to come with me to discover Jesus in the fullness of his glory.
Amen.