Atlantic District Publications

Letters from the President - Formation 101

March 31, 2010 at 3:19 PM

This edition of the Atlantic District Communiqué arrives just as our congregations prepare for the most holy three day period – the Triduum – in the Church’s annual remembrance. From Washing of Feet through Last Supper to Betrayal to Judgment Hall to Pilate to the Via Dolorosa to the Cross and then finally to the Empty Tomb and the astonished reactions of the women and men who arrived there we walk with Jesus all the way. So that He might walk in front of us and behind us and with us and in us.

From Easter to Pentecost we are given wonderful examples of Spiritual Formation 101 in the flesh and blood stories of Doubting Thomas and Saul who became Paul, of Tabitha who was raised from the dead and Peter who preached, of Lydia the mother of all house churches and the Jailer at Philippi who asked “sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

These women and men are examples for us, are they not? Frail, engaged in their own lives and doubts and fears and persecuting hearts and sickness unto death, they are lifted up from the pages of Holy Scripture so that we might take heart and follow when we are frail and sick and doubting and fearful.

We serve a Risen Savior, yes! But the storms and tempests of our own lives always drive us back to the cross, where our Jesus received the blows and uttered in the dark aloneness of that moment our own despair. And did so for us. Unto death.

I know there are many baptisms and receptions of new members scheduled for early April all the way to Pentecost in May. This is a great sign of hope in our District, which had more accessions by baptism than any other in the last recorded year.

However, spiritual formation takes a lifetime toward our eternal destiny. My prayer for all of us is to follow Jesus, and to follow the example of those who were formed in the shape of the cross of Christ long ago. What a blessed journey it is!