There was celebrating in heaven this past Sunday.  Grace, "Momsie," Hanson went home to be with the Lord.  Her heart gave out at age 87.  I can't imagine her heart ever wearing out.  Every beat released love to those fortunate enough to be in her orbit of concern.

It would be impossible for me to honor Grace and Bud Hanson enough for the debt I owe them; and the debt that Wellspring owes them.  Most who now worship at Wellspring each week have never heard of them or seen them.  Yet their influence is felt every time we gather to worship or pray.

Some back story is in order.  Bud and Grace grew up in Hartford and were raised in the fervor and passion of the Pentecostal stream of the church.  They came to Kensington Baptist Church about a year before Debbie and I moved our family here from Minnesota.  There had been some upheaval in their home church and they came to KBC to worship with their daughter, Jan and her husband Ron; and with son Paul and his wife, Jill.  At KBC they found a healthy and sound church family.  They were welcomed and loved.  They adopted their new church home and family.  They were faithful in attendance and in many service opportunities.

Yet they missed the fire of the Holy Spirit they had known in the churches of Pentecost.

About the time they came to KBC, their son-in-law, Ron, served on the search committee that called me to serve as senior pastor.  Bud and Grace began to pray for the new pastor who would be coming.

I learned years later that Grace also began to pray for the fire of the Holy Spirit to fall upon her new church family.  She loved her new church, but she longed for more of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the corporate gatherings and church life.  She didn't complain.  She didn't accuse.  She didn't try to make waves.  She and Bud would pray.  And Momsie would come to the sanctuary and pray for the outpouring she so yearned to see at Kensington Baptist.

When our family moved into the parsonage and took up life as pastor and family, Momsie adopted us into that great heart of hers.  I knew that all of my children were on her prayer list.  I knew that I was regularly being brought before the throne of grace in her prayers to the Father.  I knew this to be true because of the passion that came into her voice and the tears that welled up in her eyes whenever she spoke to me about our children and the work of the ministry at KBC.

Pentecost has come to KBC/Wellspring.  Momsie's prayers--and those of many other faithful folk over the years--have been answered.  In recent years health issues led Bud and Grace to move to Covenant Village in Cromwell.  It has been a long time since they have worshiped with us.  But they have never left my heart.

A couple months ago I was at a conference with Rick Joyner.  He shared that the Lord had given him a promise that if he and the ministry he leads would honor the fathers and mothers of the faith who had touched their stream and lives, that God would release revival upon their ministry.  He set out to do just that.  When I heard that story, I grabbed onto that promise for myself and for our church.  I immediately made plans to visit Bud and Grace at Covenant Village.  I was fortunate enough to get there and visit Grace before her home-going.  Dementia had robbed her of much of her awareness.  It was sad, as that condition always is sad.  But I was able to be present with her and honor her faithfulness and her prayers that were now touching so many who had never even heard of her.

Good bye Momsie!  I am forever indebted to you for your great love and your great faith that touched me and my family and our church so deeply.  We will seek to live in a way that honors your memory and life.

I must confess.  I have never read any of the "Left Behind" series of novels or seen any of the films based upon the books.  Reason?  I grew up watching that movie.

Regularly in church we heard teaching, complete with end-time charts and really compelling stories about "the last days."  We knew which modern day nations were Gog and Magog (look in Ezekiel 38 and 39).  We heard that the limestone for the third temple in Jerusalem was already being quarried in Indiana and being shipped to the Holy Land.  We were warned against sinful forms of entertainment.  Because what if we were out dancing when Jesus came back?  Etc, etc, etc.

This Sunday (May 6) I will be introducing a two-part sermon that Mike will build upon the following week.  It is audaciously entitled, "The Real End, Parts I and II."

Neither one of us have the definitive understanding of the real end-time scenario.  The title is part hype and part tongue-in-cheek spoofing of ourselves.  But we are both very serious about the content of what we will be sharing these two upcoming Sundays.  At the core of what we will be sharing has to do with what the Lord says in the Bible about the future of this real world (earth, that is) in the end-times and beyond.  Here is a hint of where we are going (following the Bible's revelation to us)--we don't believe we are escaping this world, or that God is getting ready to just blow the whole thing up and ship us all out to heaven.

So what if Jesus returns between Part I and Part II?  Well then I guess I missed it.

Pastor Rick

Just a reminder that Rabbi Librach has invited us to join with the congregation of United Jewish Center in Danbury for an evening of Holocaust Remembrance on Wednesday, April 18 at 7:30 PM.
Mr Kaiser, a holocaust survivor who is a member of UJC, will speak; along with the rabbi and myself. It will not be a service, per se (i.e. no liturgy or singing), but a solemn remembrance. The meeting will not be lengthy. Also, there will be no hospitality following the gathering, in keeping with the solemnity of the event.
If any of you desires to carpool to UJC, be ready to depart the Wellspring parking lot at 6:30 that evening. I would love to have the support and to extend this connection with the folks at UJC.
Questions? Call Sandy at 860-225-0661 x110.

Greetings on this Most Holy Week,
This post is both an invitation and commentary. First the invitation. You are all invited to a Maundy Thursday observance this Thursday at 7:00 PM.
The word 'maundy' comes from the same Latin root from where we get our English word, 'mandate.' It refers to the fact that at that last Passover celebration Jesus shared with his disciples, he both instituted our sacrament of communion and mandated (commanded) us to continue to partake of the bread and the cup 'in remembrance of him.'
This Thursday evening we will obey Jesus' command as we gather to worship, read the gospel narratives of the Passion Week and share in the Lord's Table. This is a very reverent and solemn observance as we honor the Lord's suffering on our behalf. There is childcare provided for children up to six years.
Now the commentary.
This year the calendar happily syncs up the Jewish Passover celebration and our observance of Good Friday and celebration of Resurrection Sunday. This is not always the case. The reason? Early in church history, the observance of Holy Week was de-linked from Passover as an act of overt antisemitism. The Jews were accused of deicide in the death of Christ. This made Holy Week an occasion for annual pogroms where Jews lived in Christian lands. It is an ugly truth of history.
That is why I had asked Rabbi Librach to come to Wellspring last week and teach on the biblical observance of Passover as Jesus and his disciples would have celebrated it. I did so for several reasons. One was to continue the ongoing friendship between the rabbi, his congregation and the Wellspring family. The second was to take an action directly opposite to the centuries of persecution of Jews associated with this week. And the third was to continue to help us, as Christians, to re-center our understanding of Jesus' passion as the fulfillment of the themes and prophetic portents of Passover.
It was not only hateful to de-link Holy Week from the Jewish observance of Passover, it is unbiblical. The Old Testament calls Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles perpetual 'festivals of the Lord.' They are not only festivals of Israel--they are festivals unto the Lord, which have ongoing meaning for the people of God. We see New Testament fulfillment of Passover in the cross and resurrection. We see New Testament fulfillment of Pentecost in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. And we look forward to (are currently experiencing?!) the fulfillment of Tabernacles in the end-time in-gathering, or harvest, of souls.
So, in inviting Rabbi Librach, I know I was stretching the envelope a bit for some of you. To have a non-Messianic rabbi take a Christian pulpit is a bit of a stretch. But this was done with intention and with the elders' approval and blessing. I was confident that the rabbi, who is an excellent Bible teacher, would give us some solid understanding of the feast, and honor our faith in the process.
I have given him a rain check. We will let you know when this works out. I look forward to that--I hope you will as well.
In the meantime, may you all have a blessed and meaningful Holy Week.
Pastor Rick
P.S. By the way, the rabbi invited any and all of us to the United Jewish Center on Wednesday evening, April 18 at 7:30 for observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day. I am planning to go myself. Maybe some of us can carpool down to Danbury.