|
|
Rev. Missy Turbeville *From the May 2026 FUMC of Bartow Newsletter
I baptize with water… The one who is coming after me is stronger than I… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. -John the Baptist about Jesus in Matthew 3: 11
This newsletter is beginning with pictures from Holy Week and Easter and ends with a calendar that marks our celebration of Pentecost. In some ways this echoes the season of contrasts that our larger Church family is going through. As First and Asbury take time to worship, live life together, and discern whether to merge, we are like the early Christians facing uncharted territory. We know God is with us, even as we acknowledge that doesn’t guarantee smooth sailing. Jesus’ followers faced the highs and lows of amazed and angry crowds, of miracles and betrayal, of despair and resurrection. Both our churches have seen a lot of sometimes difficult changes over the last few years. There have been births and deaths, arrivals and leave-takings, endings and beginnings. We have been promised new life through Christ and empowering through the Holy Spirit to be something called Christians. In this new season, will we open the gift that we have been given or will we huddle like the disciples did at first in the upper room on Pentecost? Will we close our hearts like the shutters of windows and doors as if a hurricane approaches or will we welcome the Holy Spirit to blow through our hearts and lives and set us afire so that we might witness to the good news of Christ?
As many of us know already, this isn’t always comfortable. It can even be scary. The Holy Spirit is a fire that does not burn skin, but instead takes up residence in our hearts and changes everything we’ve ever expected. The fire of the Holy Spirit burns away the chaff of our lives as individuals and the church. It refines and sanctifies us for beautiful participation in God’s loving kingdom. Sometimes things we thought were essential lose their importance to us in this process. Sometimes new or old things take on a significance that they had not had as the clutter of the world’s priorities are burned away.
Anyone who has seen my office knows that I am intimately familiar with clutter. I will never have a sparse office because I enjoy being surrounded by reminders of ministry and experiences, but there are times when it is too much. Each time a new church season progresses, more bags and boxes begin to take up space on the desk, floor, and chairs. Candles, seasonal handouts, baskets, and the like take over. As
wonderful as these things are, when their season ends and everything is used up or stored for another time, the open space becomes a place of possibilities.
Like the early disciples, we are called into the possibilities that the refreshing wind and refining fire of the Holy Spirit brings. Thankfully in the midst of what can be confusing and chaotic, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit who is also Comforter. But the Comforter is not with us so that we can snuggle up and stay in our warm, safe beds, the Comforter is with us so that we will find peace and strength to go and face these days empowered by God. The disciples didn’t get to stay in their room at Pentecost, sitting cozy with the flames dancing over their heads. They went out in the power of God to witness to the good news of Christ in word and deed and the world was changed.
As we move into this new season, let us love one another sacrificially like Jesus loves us. Let us serve, remembering Jesus who washed the disciples feet. Let us forgive, following the example of Jesus who forgave us all on the cross. Let us pray for each other and for God’s will to be done as Jesus taught. Let us do all this and more because we are people on fire with the power of the Holy Spirit to witness to Christ in Bartow and Beyond!
With love in Christ,
Pastor Missy
I baptize with water… The one who is coming after me is stronger than I… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. -John the Baptist about Jesus in Matthew 3: 11
This newsletter is beginning with pictures from Holy Week and Easter and ends with a calendar that marks our celebration of Pentecost. In some ways this echoes the season of contrasts that our larger Church family is going through. As First and Asbury take time to worship, live life together, and discern whether to merge, we are like the early Christians facing uncharted territory. We know God is with us, even as we acknowledge that doesn’t guarantee smooth sailing. Jesus’ followers faced the highs and lows of amazed and angry crowds, of miracles and betrayal, of despair and resurrection. Both our churches have seen a lot of sometimes difficult changes over the last few years. There have been births and deaths, arrivals and leave-takings, endings and beginnings. We have been promised new life through Christ and empowering through the Holy Spirit to be something called Christians. In this new season, will we open the gift that we have been given or will we huddle like the disciples did at first in the upper room on Pentecost? Will we close our hearts like the shutters of windows and doors as if a hurricane approaches or will we welcome the Holy Spirit to blow through our hearts and lives and set us afire so that we might witness to the good news of Christ?
As many of us know already, this isn’t always comfortable. It can even be scary. The Holy Spirit is a fire that does not burn skin, but instead takes up residence in our hearts and changes everything we’ve ever expected. The fire of the Holy Spirit burns away the chaff of our lives as individuals and the church. It refines and sanctifies us for beautiful participation in God’s loving kingdom. Sometimes things we thought were essential lose their importance to us in this process. Sometimes new or old things take on a significance that they had not had as the clutter of the world’s priorities are burned away.
Anyone who has seen my office knows that I am intimately familiar with clutter. I will never have a sparse office because I enjoy being surrounded by reminders of ministry and experiences, but there are times when it is too much. Each time a new church season progresses, more bags and boxes begin to take up space on the desk, floor, and chairs. Candles, seasonal handouts, baskets, and the like take over. As
wonderful as these things are, when their season ends and everything is used up or stored for another time, the open space becomes a place of possibilities.
Like the early disciples, we are called into the possibilities that the refreshing wind and refining fire of the Holy Spirit brings. Thankfully in the midst of what can be confusing and chaotic, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit who is also Comforter. But the Comforter is not with us so that we can snuggle up and stay in our warm, safe beds, the Comforter is with us so that we will find peace and strength to go and face these days empowered by God. The disciples didn’t get to stay in their room at Pentecost, sitting cozy with the flames dancing over their heads. They went out in the power of God to witness to the good news of Christ in word and deed and the world was changed.
As we move into this new season, let us love one another sacrificially like Jesus loves us. Let us serve, remembering Jesus who washed the disciples feet. Let us forgive, following the example of Jesus who forgave us all on the cross. Let us pray for each other and for God’s will to be done as Jesus taught. Let us do all this and more because we are people on fire with the power of the Holy Spirit to witness to Christ in Bartow and Beyond!
With love in Christ,
Pastor Missy
|
|
|
Worship on Sundays at 10:30AM both at the sanctuary and streamed online on our Facebook page.
|
