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From The Pastor’s Desk—

One of the things that Jen and I have come to appreciate about the Outer Cape is exactly how present the seasons are. When the leaden skies of Winter break they are replaced -almost at once- by sun and a bright profusion of flowers and new leaves. As nature turns, so do the affairs of industry: the shops and restaurants return fitfully, more and more joining each week. We are, if we look, if we choose to be aware, intimately rooted in the endless cycles of tides and seasons: every changing, ever passing, ever becoming.

This month we will celebrate Pentecost: the culmination of the period following the first Easter, where the disciples walked and learned with the risen Christ. During these seven weeks (“Pentecost” literally means: “50th day”), the disciples begin to preach and testify to what they have witnessed. Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the gathered disciples is understood as the birth of the Church, long before dogma and creed splintered Christ’s body into denominations and sects.

This Easter season, which culminates in Pentecost, is a change for us all to remember that Jesus’ resurrection was not an event frozen in time. Instead, it is a reminder that we are all reborn, all being reborn, constantly. Like the work of the disciples, we are called to testify to what we have seen: how God is at work in our lives and in this world. As flowers bloom, as trees spread new leaves, as life returns to empty buildings and homes, may we appreciate the ways in which we all are coming alive, as individuals, and as the church.

—Pastor Jon