Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!– Psalm 150:1, 6

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places – Ephesians 1:3

As we consider different elements of worship and what they mean to us in our summer series, we might sometimes encounter an element of worship that we have never experienced or never considered. For many of us, that will be true with confession and forgiveness, which we talked about in Sunday’s sermon.

As our worship protocols become less restrictive, I hope you’ll find space in your hearts for this understanding. We’ll still ask for masks indoors, even though the mandate has been lifted. While we won’t require masks outside, we will ask for distancing to keep others as safe as we can for these last months of pandemic.

Today, our country experiences a dangerous rise in what’s known as Christian Nationalism. This is the belief that America is somehow unique or ordained by God’s favor.

Happy Pentecost! After this past Sunday, the church enters the long season of Sundays after Pentecost. It takes up nearly half of the liturgical year. The church colors are green, symbolizing the time of growth and nurture that come in this long season where we focus in on faith, development, and being a community of believers.

[The Lord] put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. – Psalm 40:3a

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. – Galatians 2:15-16

…and in cleansing their hearts by faith [God] has made no distinction between them and us. – Acts 15:9

…they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. – Acts 6:5b

Jesus clearly tells his disciples that their work won’t let them stay put. As witnesses to Jesus’ work, they are called out of where they are comfortable and safe and out into a world that will reject them, ridicule them, and even attack them.

But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. – Luke 24:11

It is the day of our Savior’s death. It is the day that the disciples ran and hid, fearing for their own lives. It is the day that his followers knew the hopelessness of crushed dreams and ideals.

We’d rather keep things happy and light, so we stick with Palm Branches and Easter celebrations and avoid Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

Don’t give into that temptation.