One of the opening declarations of Scripture about us as human beings is that we were not made to be alone. We were made for fellowship with God—walking with him in the garden in the cool of the day is the image we are given before sin broke that fellowship and led to God's children hiding from him. This break in fellowship with God also led to the breakdown of relationship between God's children. So much of the rest of the biblical story is a story of fragile fellowship ending up in fractured relationships as sin further and further isolates people from one another. We see so much of that these days…

​On that first Pentecost after Jesus' resurrection, we shouldn't be surprised that renewed and restored fellowship was one of the great results of the Church being born. As thousands believed and were baptized, the Lord brought them into a new community of genuine fellowship, and life in the Spirit.

St. Luke described this fellowship with these words: “All the believers were together and had all things in common.” This definition still remains the ideal for Christian fellowship today. The early days of the Church's life provide us with a powerful reminder of what we not only need in our church life, but also what we must pursue as a Church. More than people meeting in their isolated silences on Sunday, church must be a place of warmth, inclusion, shared lives, and genuine fellowship and relationship.

We were made for this: real, genuine, shared lives with others. While this fellowship may involve our participation in a big worship experience, it definitely must involve our participation in smaller gatherings where people know us, love us, and we share our lives as well as our meals together. God made us with a need for this, and he has called us into his forever family to have that need met. In the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we have the means for wisdom and understanding in our relationships in order to have community, compassion and forgiveness. We have what we need to fulfill our mission on earth.

It is so very appropriate that we celebrate today this gift of the Holy Spirit given us (in order that we may live together in ways that make sense!). We share the Word, and a meal. We sing and praise God for all good gifts and blessings.

In this season of weddings, the Feast of Pentecost is a celebration of the wedding of the Holy Spirit to humanity—and the birth of our Church. We celebrate our mission, our commission, our joy, our bliss, our life, our faith, our hope and our love! God’s blessings are on us all!

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

Last week in the Gospel Jesus told us He would not leave us alone and today (The Ascension of the Lord) he tells us “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” We are charged with carrying on His message through ministry and the Church. We are commissioned to serve others and are told that salvation is for all.

​As Disciples we depend on the Word, the Paschal Mystery and each other to be the presence of Christ in the world. St. Peter of Damascus wrote that we ascend with Christ to heaven through these real presences of Jesus. We move from “fear to religious devotion, from which springs spiritual knowledge; from this knowledge comes judgment, that is, discrimination (discernment); from discrimination comes the strength that leads to understanding; from this comes wisdom.”

Thanks to the ministry of the Apostles, all believers ascend with Christ into heavenly wisdom. When Christ ascended they had to depend on their faith, believe in their mission, and carry the Gospel to all. (The Holy Spirit at Pentecost makes all this possible!) We are charged with this same mission. We are lost if we only live by what we see and touch, rather than by what we know. Jesus told us, “I am with you always…” Next week we celebrate Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, our empowerment here on earth to fulfill our missions!

Our own personal ascension depends upon our knowledge of the truth of Christ, (keep studying scripture!) our life in the Spirit (keep the commandments!), the Word and Eucharist (keep coming to Church!), and our service to one another as the body of Christ (keep loving and forgiving!). This is the way we too, ascend and attend the eternal banquet.

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

During the remaining weeks of the Easter Season, we hear more readings about the Holy Spirit that will lead us to the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, and to the Feast of Pentecost. The first reading today directly refers to the “laying on” of hands to receive the Holy Spirit! (Do you remember your Confirmation?)

​This Sixth Sunday of Easter Jesus promises that he will not leave us orphans. He will send us an Advocate, the Spirit of Truth. The person of the Holy Spirit is with us always to empower us to love and to fulfill the personal law of God: the commandments and the Love Law.  Jesus reminds us to keep His commandments, for those who observe them are the ones who love him, and they will be loved by the Father.

St. Peter tells us to “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.” If you have life in the Spirit, you have “a reason for your hope.” Living in the true spirit of our faith, St. Peter advises us to be gentle and reverent and to keep a clear conscience; and to suffer for good rather than evil, as did our Lord. You do not have to do this alone, however, because we are never alone. By our baptism we have put on Christ, His presence is within us to empower us with hope and love in difficult times.

When we are filled with the light of this Spirit of Truth, and armed with the blessing of the Lord’s Commandments to help make our choices apparent, we have “the freedom to love, to choose what is good in every situation, even when to do so is a burden” (Pope and Saint John Paul II). The commandments of the Lord free us from the deception and dishonesty in which the world conspires to ensnare us, and the Holy Spirit strengthens and carries us past the temptation and glamour of sin.

Last week we heard Jesus say, “I am the way, the truth and the life…” As the Psalm today says: “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. Sing praise to the glorious name!” That, certainly, is the Truth.

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

Today we hear Jesus tell us “You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” We are called to commit our whole self to God, yet He knows how we are swayed and side-tracked by our feelings. (Remember last week when we were warned not to follow other voices?) The Psalm today says: “Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.” We know that sometimes trusting is so very difficult, and so we may be comforted this Fifth Sunday of Easter by Jesus’ words: “Let not your hearts be troubled.” He tells us that He goes to prepare a place for us, and he will come back and take us to himself.

​Faith takes us beyond our limited understanding. We are constrained by human logic and reason, and faith helps us to curb our mediocre , human impulses and our compromises with “The Way.” Jesus is clear today: “I am the way and the truth and the life.” If we live in His way, we will know the truth, and we will live our human and eternal lives with him. This is the challenge! St. John Eudes expresses it this way: “All that is Christ’s is yours: his spirit, his heart, his body and soul, and all his faculties. You must make use of all these as of your own, to serve, praise, love, and glorify God. He longs for you to use all that is in you, as if it were his own, for the service and glory of the Father.” This is “The Way.” This is our call as disciples of Christ.

St. Peter reminds us today that we “are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Wow! What a responsibility it is to live as a Christian! But, remember: let not your hearts be troubled!

We know that if we live “The Way” we are living the truth; we are living the life that God wants for all his children; we are living up to our potential and God’s plan for us all. The reward is a heavenly dwelling place and communion with Christ, here and now, and always. Yea!

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc