Hi everyone! Richard here on our deck with our beloved dog Maddie. She has been such a comfort to us during these days but she is not quite sure what to do with us being home all day….personally I think she misses running the house by herself!

Dori and I have just come back from a 4 week sabbatical. Read tons of books… One of the books that I loved reading was Jesus is the Question by Martin Copenhaver.

Have you ever noticed that Jesus is always asking questions? Most people think of Jesus as a great teacher…and that He was. But his favorite form of teaching was actually asking questions. In fact he asked a total of 307 of them!

The last question he asked while alive was “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” And Pastor Jon spoke powerfully to that question at our Good Friday service last week.

What about after the Resurrection? Jesus continued to ask questions….

· Why are you crying?

· Who are you looking for?

· Why are you startled?

· “What are you talking about?”

· “Have you caught anything?”

· “Do you have anything to eat?”

These questions seem rather ordinary….I believe Jesus asked these to demonstrate that he was a real human being back from the dead…not some ghost or figment of their imagination.

But the very last question Jesus asks is to Peter. “Do you love me?” And he repeats it 3 times.

Peter is annoyed that Jesus needed to ask this 3 times.

I bet Jesus had Peter’s 3 denials in mind as he asked….not that he needed to punish Peter for denying him….but to remind him of his forgiveness and his deep desire to be in relationship with someone like Peter who had broken that relationship.

Yes Peter….and people like you and me.

If there is anything that I have learned on my sabbatical is that when you boil down faith, it is actually quite simple.

Jesus is asking me… To love and follow Him…… by loving the person in front of me.

And how do we do that during a pandemic? We look for ways to care for people around us each moment of each day….small ways and big ways…. Neighbor, a coworker, a person who is alone. And we love those people the way He loved them. By seeing them, valuing them, speaking to them, praying for them and listening to them. He blessed them! May we BLESS 1 person today!