We are in the season of Easter.  Next Thursday much of the church will celebrate Ascension Day.  That day will bring the season of Easter to its close.  But we are still in Easter.  It is in this period of time, the forty days between Resurrection Day and Ascension Day, that Jesus met repeatedly with his disciples ‘speaking to them of the Kingdom of God’ (Acts 1:3).  Eugene Peterson captures the force of these days:

“Following Jesus’ resurrection, his followers had forty days to be present with him and listen to his voice, listen to him ‘speaking about the kingdom of God’….Hallucinations can’t be maintained for forty days.  Dreams don’t last forty days.  Religious hysteria cannot be sustained for forty days.  Those forty days grounded Jesus’ resurrection as a life to be lived on streets, in homes, with families and neighbors-a life they, his followers, will live.  And not as a private ‘spiritual’ experience, but historically in the company of all of Jesus’ followers in workplace and politics, in the carnage of war and the quietness of worship.’  (Eugene  Peterson, Practice Resurrection. p. 42)

I head to Africa on Monday.  Why?  Because the resurrection really happened.  Because the ascension really happened.  Because the kingdom of God is really here.  Because Pentecost really happened.  Because Jesus is alive.  And because He is enthroned, and because He is clothed with power and glory, and because the church has been empowered by His Spirit to show the realities of the kingdom to the world and to fulfill His purpose of gathering a people from the nations, what we do as the church matters.  Please pray for this trip, for the pastors who come for encouragement, training and fellowship; for the water projects being completed this week; and for the kingdom to be made more real and more visible.

Thanks.

Mike Malone