June 2026

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.

And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9: 9-13 – NRSV)

The beginning of June ushers us into the time of the liturgical year known as “Ordinary Time.”  The excitement of Christmas, solemnity of Lent, celebration of Easter and awe of Pentecost are now behind us, and we move into a time when not a lot of “exciting stuff” happens from Sunday to Sunday.  Don’t let the term “ordinary” fool you though, there is nothing “ordinary” about our faith and there is certainly nothing “ordinary” about leaning into the life of ministry of the church.  The liturgical color for this season is green, and I don’t think that was chosen by happenstance or accident; green is the color of growing things, after all.  Take this time to grow in your faith, to grow in your dedication to loving and serving God, to grow in your passion for walking the path of Christ and grow in your compassion for ALL of God’s creation. 

Throughout this season of growing, we will be reading from the Gospel of Matthew, whose author was very focused on the teachings of Jesus.  While most scholars agree that the author is unknown, the writings are attributed to Matthew, the tax collector mentioned in the passage above.  The Gospel was written sometime between 85-90 CE (common era), was written in Greek and was composed in a large city around the Mediterranean Sea, possibly in Palestine or Syria.  Its author was Jewish, speaking to a Christian Jewish audience and was trying to both affirm his audience in their Christian-Jewish identity and encourage them to evangelize to the non-Jewish communities his “followers” lived in.  As we read through Matthews Gospel over the next several months and grow together in our understanding of the scriptures we encounter, I want you to pay attention to see if you can pick up on these themes.

I am hopeful that our time together this season will be anything but “ordinary”.

Blessings,

Pastor Lesley