Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
We meet Jesus and the disciples today in a threshold moment. They are at the edge of something new, anticipating change. Jesus is preparing them for his death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. He knows their sorrow as they anticipate loss, a loss many do not understand. Jesus also knows the gift of the Holy Spirit that will come upon them. He knows how difficult it will be to move through this threshold moment in their lives. Transition is always hard. There is grief as we lose what was.
We know that in the garden at his resurrection, Christ will say to Mary Magdalene, “do not hold onto me.” Do not hold on to the way we were in relationship. Do not hold on to what was, as beautiful as it was. There are times in life when Christ says this to you and me, “do not hold onto me in the way you have known me.” Why? Because God is doing something new!
God is doing something new. Something you cannot even yet bear to imagine! Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, what God has ready for us! Christ says, “I have much to share with you, but you cannot bear it now.” There are things we cannot yet bear. Certainly, some of things we cannot yet bear are the challenges and loss that come with transition. But it can also be hard to bear, to imagine how WONDERFUL our new life in Christ, our new way of being in relationship with God and moving with the Holy Spirit, will be!
God is so good! Christ always walks with us, even as the way Christ walks with us shifts. The Holy Spirit is as close to us as our very breath, moves in us and around us. Paul reminds us that “in God we live and move and have our being!”
Yes, there is much we cannot yet bear to know as we stand on the edge of life’s threshold moments. Some of what we cannot bear is the loss and grief that come with change. And some of what we cannot bear is the sheer joy that will be poured out upon us when we take a leap of faith, trusting God who walks always with us, God who is Spirit bringing us to new life, God in whom we live and move and have our being!
—Kelly Adamson