As I write this, I am contemplating “Pink Hair Sunday.”   Thanks to the Sunday School youth who not only met their challenge of collecting 1,000 items for the food pantry, but exceeded their goal with a total of 1,303 items (what a great job!!!), Pastor Jeff and I will be sporting some pretty colorful hairdos.  I think it will be fun, because I like color.

After this winter, with all the snow, and last week with all the rain, I’m ready for some color in the landscape.  I’m ready to see the shades of greens as plants begin to peek up through the soil.  I’m ready to welcome the pinks and yellows and purples and reds of shrubs and flowers in bloom.  I’m ready to experience again the wonderful variety that exists in God’s creation.

Of course, variety is present not only in the flora and fauna of the landscape, but that wonderful variety exists in humanity as well; a variety of colors, of shapes, of personalities.  We have been gifted with a variety of skills, interests, talents, and resources.  In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul wrote: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone…For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

The challenge for us is to take advantage of the opportunities to share those gifts for the sake of the church on earth, for the body of Christ, and for God’s mission in the world.  There is a way for all us to be the church with one another, not in spite of our differences, but because of our variety and diversity. We just need to lay aside our fears and doubts, trust in the Spirit and be the church as God has gifted us to be.   As I was thinking about that, and being in the mood for the colors of spring, a song entitled “A Dazzling Bouquet” came to mind. [Copyright 1997, Augsburg Fortress.  Text and tune by Bret Hesla] 

Mine is the church where everybody’s welcome.

I know it’s true ‘cause I got through the door.

We are a dazzling bouquet of ev’ry kind of flower.

Jump in the vase, ‘cause we’ve got space for more.

Come here, all you six-foot gladiolas;

Come, all you purple lilacs shining bright.

Come, let us all bloom together in the garden:

A carnival of fragrance and delight.

We don’t simply tolerate each other;

We ask and tell; we don’t just turn away.

We give attention to ev’ry bud and blossom.

Let ev’ry face come grace the grand bouquet.

Our demons keep trying to divide us;

They document their lies to make them true.

Today we’re freed from our judging and excluding.

Just look around, enjoy the lovely view.                                            

So, my dear friends, “Jump in the vase at Holy Communion, ‘cause we’ve got space for more!”

In Christ,

Pastor Kathy