Atlantic District Publications

Letters from the President - Transitions

May 1, 2010 at 9:25 AM

“I was strolling through the park one day/in the merry, merry month of May….”  This is the end of what they call “Mud” in the North Country at Camp SonRise – the transition between winter and summer that’s usually termed “Spring.”  In my front yard the azaleas are in bloom, and the garden, Judy’s terrain, is in great shape.  The great natural transition – trees blossoming, flowers blooming, birds chirping – calls us from God’s created world to thoughts of abundant life.

Right smack in the merry middle of May our gaze is elevated as we celebrate the third transition of our Lord – through death, to resurrected life, and up to the heavens – on Ascension Day.  As God gives strength, I will be privileged to be with some of you at St. John Lutheran in Stuyvesant on that day of wonder, awe and expectation, celebrating Christ who IS the Abundant Life. 

As disciples we are encouraged by the Message of God’s Word not to let ourselves get dazzled or frightened by heaven’s portal, but to stay rooted and anchored here on earth and wait for power from on high so that we can deal with life’s transitions from a perspective of divine destiny. 

I inhabit that angelic exhortation personally every year, since my birthday, the Beatle-driven 64th this time, falls in May, as does my mother’s.   “Stay anchored and rooted in the love and faith that God has designed to carry you through every breath you take,” the angel of the Lord is saying to me.  This year my mom draws near to her transition to the eternal and heavenly version of her life with Christ in God (Colossians 3).  Our family is surrounding her in these hours.  Although there is sadness, there is no fear in our hearts, or certainly in hers.  For God makes good on all of His promises.  We follow in Christ’s train with all the faithful who go on before us.   

Be blessed in the Lord in the month of May, dear sisters and brothers. May your transitions be signs of the eternal hope and confidence we have in Christ who died, Christ who is Risen, and Christ who having ascended will come again!