It is June already! And, as I wrote about last month, June 11 is the Jewish festival of Shavuot, which is the day of Pentecost in the year that Jesus was resurrected. It is the day that Jews from all over the known world were in Jerusalem to celebrate this pilgrimage festival and witnessed the remarkable events of that year…the crucifixion of Jesus and His resurrection, and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the disciples followed by Peter’s sermon through which 3000 Jewish people came to faith in Jesus.
The church grew from 120 to over 3000 in one day! And presumably, many of those Jews went home following the end of Shavuot and shared their faith with those in the lands that they returned to, and churches grew everywhere. They were from what is today Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Rome, Greece, the Arabian peninsula, and of course, Israel. They were the descendants of the first diaspora following the Babylonian exile begun in 597 B.C. and I’m convinced that the church that Paul writes to in the Epistle to the Romans is the fruit of Shavuot. 23 years after this Feast of Shavuot, Pentecost, Paul writes to what seems to be largely a non-Jewish (Gentile) congregation that has grown in Rome. In the interim, Peter and Paul will discover that when it comes to the Church, there is no longer Jew or Gentile, just brothers and sisters, united in Messiah.
Unfortunately, that can’t be said of the world. There are so many divisions and distinctions being made between race, language, money, gender, sexuality…oy vey, the list goes on and on! But all these people groups that we’ve divided ourselves into all have two things in common. We will all die, and we all need Jesus.
This summer, the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League is having conventions all over the country. Each group has their own theme, but they are all united in purpose, I hope, to share the gospel of Jesus with all people. Our ministry is going to be represented at the Michigan convention later this month and our workers in Michigan will be giving out a broadside (kind of a Gospel tract?) that I wrote for that state’s theme from Psalm 34:8, “Taste and See that the Lord is Good!” (If you’d like to see a copy, just e-mail me and I’ll send it to you!). But, if you are planning to go to your state’s convention, and you’d like a broadside for your convention, let me know and I will write one for you and send it to you. It is sometimes easy to overlook the Jewish people in our witness, for a lot of reasons, and I would love to help your LWML group figure out how we can share the Gospel with all people and even the Jewish people. After all, that’s what Paul wrote for the group in Rome, and I promise mine won’t be nearly as long… or nearly as good!Blessings to you all as we stand united in the desire to share the Gospel and stay cool this very hot June!
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Incensed! 