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Other Boats - 

Dear friends,

Yesterday during our midweek meal and study, we discussed the story of Jesus calming the storm (Mark 4:35-41). It’s a popular Bible story, but something many of us have missed when reading this story is the fact that there were other boats in the water (verse 36). My guess is, when you picture the story of Jesus calming the storm on the sea, you picture one solo boat, and not a sea full of boats.

I wonder if the disciples, too, forgot that there were other boats. If they got so focused on the storm that they failed to recognize that there were others around them. It makes me wonder how often we become so insulary in our thinking or in our view of life. We forget that there are others around, because we get so consumed with ourselves.

This week is the church’s most holy of weeks. From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday we will walk the journey with Jesus from Jerusalem to calvary to the resurrection. It is an important season for us as Christians, but it’s good to remember that it’s not just a holy season for us but for others too. For our Muslim siblings, this is the season of Ramadan, which is one of the five pillars of Islam. It’s a season of fasting and spiritual growth.

This year, we have the unique opportunity on Palm Sunday to also celebrate Ramadan. Thanks to our friends at the Dialogue Institute, we will host a joint meal and conversation at 7pm in Vickrey Hall with many of our Muslim neighbors. I encourage you to participate and believe that gatherings such as this will not only help us to recognize the other boats in the water but to build bridges between them too.

God’s grace and peace to you all,
Pastor Victoria