{"id":1155,"date":"2018-04-05T15:06:06","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T19:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redchairblogs.wpengine.com\/holymoly\/?p=1155"},"modified":"2018-04-05T15:06:06","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T19:06:06","slug":"a-message-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/2018\/04\/05\/a-message-of-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"A Message of Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

John 20:\u00a019\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders,\u00a0Jesus came and stood among them and said,\u00a0\u201cPeace\u00a0be with you!\u201d\u00a020\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>After he said this, he showed them his hands and side.\u00a0The disciples were overjoyed\u00a0when they saw the Lord.<\/p>\n

In the days after the crucifixion, the disciples moved secretly around the city. They moved quietly, looking over their shoulders in fear, trying to process the horror of what had happened to their master.\u00a0We find ourselves as modern-day Christians sometimes battling with fears ourselves. Whether it\u2019s disease, financial troubles, employment issues, school issues, or changes in social norms, it seems the list of reasons that we might have fears grows longer by the day.<\/p>\n

When you look at the text of John 20, we see Jesus shows up during the disciples\u2019 gathering and immediately seeks to ease their fears and their tensions. In our lives Christ comes not just as conquering Lord who defeats death, but also as a comforting consult and competent friend who by his presence and his words seeks to help us better deal with the crazy world in which we live.<\/p>\n

Almost daily I find something in the news or my local neighborhood that causes me to scratch my head and or causes me to seriously pause and battle with my own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It is in these times, when I see things that make me uneasy and sometimes feel unsafe, that I turn to Christ. Christ comes to ease our feelings, provide inspiration, and help us to find direction.<\/p>\n

I invite you, in your moments of discomfort, to not lean on your fears, and not fall into despair. Instead, turn to Christ and the comfort that he provides. Also, don\u2019t disconnect the other lesson of the text: when they could change the situation, or they didn\u2019t even know how to deal with the situation, they didn\u2019t turn their backs on each other. Instead, they pulled closer together. Make sure you don\u2019t withdraw from, but instead learn to lean into, your community of faith. And together with God\u2019s help, you will get through, whatever you have to go through.<\/p>\n

Be Blessed,<\/p>\n

Pastor Kevin L. McNeil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John 20:\u00a019\u00a0On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders,\u00a0Jesus came and stood among them and said,\u00a0\u201cPeace\u00a0be with you!\u201d\u00a020\u00a0After he said this, he showed …<\/p>\n

A Message of Peace<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kevin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1QIf6-iD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}