When “I Am” becomes “Us Too”
Jesus Christ is risen!
The stone has been rolled away and we rejoice in the empty tomb. The long journey of Lent has been replaced by shouts of hallelujah. Our Savior lives, he lives in us today.
Easter Sunday has come and passed, yet the Spirit of the season remains. As we count down the weeks until Pentecost, we rejoice with the good news that the gift of the Holy Spirit is with us; guiding us as we continue the story of God through us. How can we honor what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross? We are called to talk up the cross and follow in his way. 1 Peter 2:1 says “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps and Matthew 11:29 Jesus proclaims, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.” One of the best ways to model our lives after Jesus is to ask ourselves the qualities of Jesus that are most important to us.
What do we see when we close our eyes and think of Jesus? During our lenten season we focused on the “I Am” statements of Jesus. In the study Jesus Revealed: The I Am Statements in the Gospel of John, Matt Rawle shared 7 “I Am” statements” found in the Gospels: I am the light of the world; I am the bread of life; I am the good shepherd;I am the gate; I am the true vine; I am the way, the truth, and the life; and I am the resurrection and the life. Each one of these “I Am” statements” may have their own special meanings to us. There may be one in particular that registers with us more than others. Rawel suggests to look at them like lenses stacked on each other, so that each statement is part of the whole artistic expression of “I Am”:
“Our role is to keep pointing to this work of art and welcoming others Into understanding that God’s story, through grace, is our story. We Are called to offer our own drama, our own art to the body of Christ, extending the frame of God’s grace to neighbor and enemy alike until The curtain falls on God’ drama with a new heaven and new earth.”
How can we be the same compassion, comfort, hope, and sustaining faith while providing for the needs of others? How can “I Am” be “Us Too”?
Over the next few months we will be using the “I Am” statements of Jesus to guide us as we discern our next steps as a church. What will our ministry look like? How do we hold on to what is important while changing location? How might it evolve and change? Maybe the best way to do so is by defining who we are in relation to our life with God; our “I Am” statement. We will have opportunities through “non traditional” services and fellowship activities to work as a congregation to hash some of these things out together. On April 7th we will focus on what it means to be connected to God and to one another as branches of “the true vine”. What can we do as a congregation to bear fruit and what might need pruning? In other words, what can we do to be at our best for Jesus?
Baptist Theologian Augustus Hopkins Strong stated that “Christianity is summed up in two facts: Christ for us and Christ in us”. We are Easter people. We believe that Jesus lives. Just imagine what all we can do with Jesus working through us? Let us embrace what we have learned and know about Jesus so we can better continue God’s story and make it our own, so that “I Am” includes “Us Too”.