April 2026
Click to access April Steeple
Dear Church Family,
Jesus is ALIVE! This is what we celebrate extravagantly at Easter, but how does it trickle in your life throughout the year? Resurrection is the bedrock of our faith, but it came as a surprise (took them a while to put pair some of those Old Testament texts to what they witnessed), and I want to keep that hope filled disruption a fluid part of my journey.
Every Holy Week we are invited to consider the perspective of those who accompanied him to Jerusalem, witnessed his death, and were astonished by his resurrection. What would you have felt? What would you have told other people? What questions would you have had? One would assume anyone who shared these experiences in real time would have no choice but be forever changed. But what did change look like in the following days, months, and years? To follow Jesus is to let these stories transform how we live, sometimes we get a big leap of change, but often it’s little by little. Jesus’ example throughout his ministry was one of invitation, embrace of those on the margins, truly being with people, grace in the face of rejection, forgiveness in the face of hate. A slow erosion - letting God get in the cracks of our normal patterns and assumed traditions. Does my life embody the Spirit’s power? Does my life reflect the goodness of God?
The title of ‘Christian’ is just a label, and hope is set in transformation, not surface affiliation. Our invitation is to live as a reflection of Christ, not claim a label just because our parents told us to or because ‘upstanding people’ check ‘Christian’ off their list of associations. It is because when we are rooted in his good news, the Holy Spirit’s power transforms lives. God worked miraculous resurrection after the devastation of death, and that is good news to live, not just acknowledge! It is a beautiful and tall order, but to read God’s stories is to examine our own lives to see what God has done, and explore where we still long for God’s transformation. We explore what it means to actually love God with our whole selves as we love our neighbors, step by step, day by day.
The New Testament after the gospels is a collection of correspondence and ponderings on what it means to let God work in you. How this resurrection truth transforms our lives as well as the world around us. This month in April, we’ll explore some of the stories from those witnessing Jesus come back to life, as well as the early church in Acts. And guess what? They are all wrestling with what this means in their actual lives! Jesus meets people in despair, in grief, in confusion, and invites them to know him more fully. It turns out doubt, and questions, and wonder all play key roles in this exploration of faith coming alive. God is interested in meeting us in the midst of the chaos of life - the burdens we carry, the anxiety we feel, the grief and losses we feel, the transitions before us - God is with us in it all. It’s not about appearing perfect, but about embracing God’s presence, and walking with God in kingdom ways so that the world around us might also taste and see that the Lord is Good.
I’d love to hear how you are exploring God’s transformative love in this season of your life. The fun (and hard!) part is the growing never ends - there is always more to learn, which also means there is more to delight in as we get to know God more each day.
Blessings,
Pastor Becca
