Pentecost 2b - conclusion

I’m writing this conclusion for Pentecost 2b on Sunday afternoon, May 27 as the last of two weeks’ worth of blogs I wrote yesterday and today. Lauren, our administrative assistant, has been posting them every day since I began a two week vacation tomorrow - which is to say May 28th. Thanks Lauren. Hopefully they have been good words for you these past two weeks. I’m anticipating that my not working and writing blogs every day has been good for me as well. Instead I spent time with my son Josh on Mustang Island. I've ridden Seraphina along the levee more than a few times. Lisa and I spent time hanging with horses and went to Billy Bob's to see Travis Tritt. And I might get some time with Mary Ruth but since she just got her driver’s license and her mother’s car... well she is a busy girl. The lesson to be learned from Pentecost 2b is that temptation, like the story of the fall, is rarely recognized until it is too late. That means like the psalmist we often find ourselves crying out of the depths. But we do not lose hope because like Paul we recognize that whatever we go through is temporary – even the difficulties brought about by our own sin. Therefore the Jesus who raised a ruckus will also raise us, not just out of depths by forgiving sin, but into the new reality of the forever future where all is made new and Jesus' brother, sister, mother, and yes, father, are those welcomed by God’s gracious will.