05/26/2026
✱ ✱ BRIDGE CITY THIS WEEK (Week of 5/31) ✱ ✱
This Sunday is our last gathering before the Summer Sabbatical. And then we are taking three months off. This seems like a wildly irresponsible thing from the outside, I imagine. It’s certainly not a tactic in any church growth book. And yet, it seems the right thing for this moment in time.
Even so, it raises the specter of uncertainty for all of us. I feel it, and the anxiety that comes with it. Maybe you do, too? To serve us both, I’d like to share a chapter from my upcoming book, Love’s Wide Embrace, that talks about this kind of fearful uncertainty. Here you go. This is a reflection on John 14:25–31:
It was finally dawning on the disciples that Jesus was well and truly leaving. This was a crisis! Part of their fear, of course, was the loss of their friendship and connection with Jesus, but there was more to it. He had taught them a new way to see God. “Where else would we go?” Peter had once wondered. “You have the words of life!” In the face of this uncertainty, fear seems a reasonable response.
In the following few lines, Jesus offered two things for his struggling followers. First, he said his teaching and guidance would continue. Second, he promised peace. These are linked.
If Jesus were leaving, how would his teaching continue? Jesus promised a helper — an advocate. This helper would come alongside to “teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.” Even though Jesus would no longer be with them in the flesh, they could trust that his word would still come to them.
Along with this helper, Jesus promised peace, though perhaps not exactly the peace the disciples wanted — the kind of peace that comes when all troubles are resolved, or the kind that comes with certainty. Instead, the disciples got Jesus’ peace, offered in his way. While they were troubled or afraid by this transition, Jesus offered an alternative perspective for the disciples to consider. Perhaps this transition would be something they could even rejoice over.
How could that be? Jesus offered several reasons. Earlier in the evening, Jesus told the disciples he would prepare a place for them. They would ultimately be present with the Father in the same way Jesus would be. A little later, Jesus suggested the disciples would do even greater things than he had done — all because of his departure. Later yet, he told them he wasn’t going to leave them alone “as orphans,” but that this new helper would be within them. Their connection with Jesus through this helper would be a new kind of intimacy and union, something they had not yet experienced.
It was too soon for the disciples to comprehend that Jesus’ departure could result in some good. Having him at arm’s reach felt stable in a way that this promise likely didn’t. It seems Jesus understood this. He told them he knew they wouldn’t understand this until later.
Jesus’ source and guide was the Father through the Spirit, the ultimate communion of Love. He was returning to the fullness of that communion. Jesus wasn’t escaping the troubles of the world for solitary union with the Divine, and he wasn’t offering that to his followers. He was offering a kind of union that would be present even in their experience of darkness, fear, and uncertainty.
Even so, without personal experience of what was yet to come, the disciples couldn’t know the value of the trade. In their fear, they wanted to hold tightly to the certainty of what they understood. This transition didn’t feel like peace. It felt like trouble. Pause a moment and consider: Isn’t this a tension all of us face? Whether we’re thinking about God, our family, or the upheaval in the world around us, our fear and fragility push us to clutch at certainty.
Certainty is what many of us believe we need to feel at peace. Different people enact this need differently: stockpiling financial means to cover every imagined crisis; squirreling away food and survival gear against some coming disaster; accumulating knowledge to ward off being wrong; or building certainty in relationships through manipulation, control, or even surveillance. Through such tendencies, we hope to secure a path of certainty through the fog of circumstances.
Even in our spiritual lives, this tendency surfaces. Legalism and perfectionism seem much more certain than trusting the Spirit to mature us from the inside out. Policing the borders of who merits belonging feels much more certain than trusting God’s heart of welcome. Black-and-white readings of Scripture, fortified by our particular theological commitments, appear much more certain than trusting Jesus’ promise that “the Advocate . . . will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.”
When Jesus qualified his offer of peace — “I do not give to you as the world gives” — he was inviting all his followers to a different kind of peace, very unlike the way to peace we’re used to. This peace isn’t transactional. It’s not the result of congenial circumstances. It doesn’t come from being the stronger one who can defeat all comers. It’s not dependent on feeling happy, or right, or like God is with us. Rather than certainty, this peace is rooted in trust. Trust Jesus’ way. Trust that Jesus’ vision of God is true. Trust that, now and in the world to come, Jesus has prepared a place of belonging.
This was a stretch for the disciples, and it remains so for us. We can imagine many different scenarios and wonder, “Wait . . . but what about that?!” Maybe this is the hard part of what we mean when we talk about “having faith.” For those first disciples and for us, Jesus’ offer of peace comes in the face of trouble, regardless of our feelings or circumstances. It is an invitation to trust that in this present moment, we already have union with God in Christ through the Spirit — even if this union is not something we perceive.
Blessings.
M.
1) THIS WEEK’S READING & PASSAGE FOR DISCUSSION
We close this season out with a familiar gospel passage, often called “the Great Commission.” However, I’m going to invite us to think about it from a little different angle. For context purposes, I’m adding a chunk from just before. Please read this passage this week, and start your reflection with this question: As much as possible, set aside your preconceptions and everything you’ve been told about this passage. If you were one of the folks present, or perhaps one of the people hearing this story for the first time, what would most draw your attention? (Work hard to set aside everything you’ve been taught… it will be hard! But those lessons might obscure something else that is important in the passage.)
Pentecost / May 24, 2026
The First Reading: Genesis 1:1-4
The Psalm: 8
The Gospel: Matthew 28:1-10; 16-20
The Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Focus Passage: The 2nd Reading.
You can read the lectionary passages here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=p&d=52&y=17134
You can read the extended passage for Sunday here:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028%3A1-10%3B16-20&version=NRSVUE
2) SUMMER SABBATICAL REFLECTION GUIDE
Our Summer Sabbatical is not primarily about rest – although a summer of uncommitted Sunday evenings sounds nice. This Sabbatical is also meant to be an intentional season of reflection and discernment to prepare us for conversations in September about the future of Bridge City. With that in mind, we have prepared a short packet. It contains 5 assignments. There are 14 weeks between our last gathering (5/31) and our first church family meeting (9/13). That means you can take about 2 or 3 weeks for each assignment, which includes several questions for reflection. We recommend you journal your responses thoughtfully and with prayer. Our conversations about the future will be much more clear and focused if we come to them having done this preparatory work. These packets will be available in person at the 5/31 gathering, and then for anyone not able to make that gathering in person, they will be mailed the following week.
3) SUMMER PLANS
The 31st is our final gathering before the Sabbatical. We ask you to make it a priority to be with us that day, in person if at all possible. During the Sabbatical, there will be no official gatherings. The elders will be available for prayer, support, and pastoral care. Our various forms of mutual aid will continue. But there will be no administrative work or official gatherings during this time. We encourage you to take the time you would normally gather with us on Sundays to do the Sabbatical Reflection assignments. If you’d like additional spiritual material to supplement your own devotional practices, you can find more than 200 great sermons at the church's YouTube page, and if you’re a reader, Marc will happily recommend something rich and encouraging for you to read if you ask. We will gather back for our first Church Family Meeting on Sunday evening, September 13th at 6PM with a meal and our first conversation about the future.
4) PLEASE CONTINUE YOUR SUPPORT OVER THE SUMMER
How do church finances work over our Sabbatical? Well, they only work if we all continue in our financial support. Choosing to take this break is a strategic ministry decision, and our financial commitments continue, even if we are not meeting. So we invite you to continue with your support over the summer. Our bank-grade, secure online giving portal is a very easy way to do this. https://givebridgecity.churchcenter.com/giving/to/general-church-fund
