PMC Pastor Tim Reardon talks about our commitment as members of a lay-led church, our recent leadership planning and visioning day, and the need for us to take many roles to move our mission forward. We are the church, and we choose our direction together as a community in the jubilee economy of God.

On June 3rd, Melissa Hofstetter spoke to Mark 2:23-3:6, beginning with the connection of baptism to census and taxation at the time of the formation of the Mennonite faith, and a move to adult baptism as a sign of discipleship—just as Jesus was baptized as an adult. Pentecost is a season when believers celebrate their collective baptism in the Holy Spirit. For Jesus, this time would have been Shavuot, which marked the harvest festival 7 Sabbaths after Passover. Pentecost, the pouring out of the Spirit of Jesus, marks a harvest of his disciples, reaping the radical love that Jesus has sown in their hearts.

On May 13th, Rob Muthiah spoke to John 17:6-19, as Jesus talks to God within the hearing of the disciples about how they will be cared for in Jesus absence.

Rob elaborates on the themes of name (character), word (truth), and world (in this case as those who do not recognize Jesus as Messiah).

This week, Lisa Finlay spoke in the context of a service dedicated to the theme of healing prayer, and Matthew 11: 28-29. Lisa talked about longing for wisdom in her toughest moments as a therapist supporting others in great difficulty. She shares excerpts and responses to Kate Bowler’s book, “Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved.”

Melissa Spolar speaks to John 10:11-18 and Psalm 23 to talk about developing an appreciation of God’s character through difficult times.

Guest preacher Glen Guyton, the new Executive Director of MCUSA, walks through aspects of his journey, “Surely God was in this place, and I wasn’t even aware…”

So, along the journey, we are afforded a glimpse, a revelation in a holy place of the true order of the world. We are brought to a “thin place” that gives us new perspective of our journey and of Jesus. We are not called to stay on that mountain and bask in the glory. Rather, the transfiguration gives us vision and understanding of the Jesus of the journey. In the transfiguration, the journey makes sense, and reveals the new order that we are working towards and the resurrection that is to come.

Bekah led us this week in a reflection on Mark 10:46-51, the story of Bartimaeus. Delving deeply into her own story of hurt and healing, Bekah speaks of Jesus’s healing and the road that we walk that is a journey through the cross to resurrection. Along the way, Bartimaeus takes his own voice, is named, has agency, and is involved deeply in his own healing, engaging with Jesus as he is coming through Jericho, and choosing to follow Jesus on the journey.