FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK: The Next 40 Days with Jesus!

From the Pastor's Desk: "The Next 40 Days With Jesus"

Well Easter 2025 is over, and what a glorious time we had at Mt. Carmel! I want to personally thank everyone who helped with the set up all of the Holy Week services, the Easter Egg Hunt, the music for the Palm Sunday Cantata, and the sunrise and Easter worship services, and the delicious cupcakes and breakfast that were made for the whole congregation. But now that Easter is over, what’s next for us? Has the news of Christ’s resurrection changed you? One of my favorite post-resurrection stories is in Luke 24:13-52, the disciples’ walk to Emmaus. After all that had happened to Jesus that week, two disciples decide to return home not knowing if Jesus was truly alive. Yet something amazing happens in Luke’s account with the two disciples walking home that day:  “As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them.” (Luke 24:15)

That is pretty amazing that the risen Jesus was walking among them. But Luke is careful to point out that they were “kept from recognizing Him.” (Luke 24:16). I wonder what caused them to not see Jesus, and what things keep us from seeing His presence among us today? If you read the rest of the story, you will see a progression of how the disciples’ eyes were opened as Jesus explained the scriptures to them, and was later invited in their home for a meal. It was in the breaking of bread together that the risen Christ was fully revealed to those disciples. The disciples describe the experience: “They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32, NIV)

Rev. John Wesley describes a similar experience at a Bible study on Aldersgate Street on May 24, 1738: “About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.” What happened next for Wesley was his heart was on fire for spreading the Gospel to all the world! This is “what’s next” for you and me. While Jesus made many appearances over the next 40 days to His followers, through the power of the Holy Spirit we are invited to walk with the risen Christ! But you can’t see the risen Christ without a daily relationship with Jesus. We can have that by spending time in His living word, and in communion with Him through prayer. We can also see the risen Christ every time we come together as the community of faith.

During these next 40 days from Easter to Pentecost, I hope you will join me in spending time daily walking and talking with Jesus through the meditation on God’s Word, prayer, and praise. There is a wonderful resource we will be using in our Wednesday Prayer and Bible Study group that you are free to use: (www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/40-days-prayer). Look for more opportunities to connect with the risen Jesus in the next 40 days in this newsletter. I want to especially encourage you to attend the NC Global Methodist Conference which will be held in Winston-Salem at the end of June. Our church has been asked to set up the Prayer Consecration Room. If you would like to help with that, let Brenda Walburn know. I will be praying for each one of you to have a heart- warming experience of the risen Christ.                   In Christ Alone, Pastor Mary Miller