Dear Friends and Members of Shepherd of the Hills,

I am deeply enjoying our time basking in the glories of these Easter Sundays we celebrate.  Christ has risen!  Yet, I start to feel the pangs of pain the disciples must have felt as they realized this face to face resurrection joy they have with Jesus was coming to a close.

Jesus is with us, even to the very end of the age.  I believe this by faith.  Lord help my unbelief.  We approach The Ascension of Jesus.  I find two things to be simultaneously true.

One, we, like the disciples before us, are called to carry on the mission and work of Jesus Christ.  That work can feel daunting.  That work can feel fruitless.  As followers of Jesus we are to labor in the harvest field.  Some days that labor yields much and other days not so much. We labor to be the people of faith and love we are called to be, yet struggle with the capacity for the kind of unconditional love our faith demands.  We start each morning in the hope and blessings of Jesus and we finish each evening under his gracious forgiveness and blessed rest.  

Two, we, like the disciples before us, have Jesus’ very real presence with us at all times.   Jesus promises that the comforter, the Holy Spirit, will be with us.  He commits his presence in a special way when two or more are gathered.  His real presence is there in the Words of Institution, “take eat, this is my body…take drink, this is my blood.”  

During the end of this Easter season and the start of this Pentecost season, my we hold both realities to be true.  May we hold dear to the hope we have in the presence of Jesus in the midst of the work we are called into for the sake of Jesus.  

Plan on joining me Thursday, May 18th at 5PM for our Ascension Day service and picnic.  I look forward to celebrating the hope we have in Jesus together.  

In His Love and Service,

Pastor Rust

SAVE THE SEMINARY— PENTECOST CHALLENGE

Our congregations in the Rocky Mountian District have elected to participate in the Save the Seminary fundraising campaign.  The seminary we are saving is in Siberia Russia.  Please consider giving a special offering for the Russian Seminary before Pentecost on May 28th.  If you would like to know more, please visit this web site to explore and read: Save the Seminary RMD LCMS