We find this God who is big and mysterious enough to have set creation in motion as we read in the Psalm for today, yet available to us in the midst of our lives to touch us, to heal us as we read in Luke's gospel this morning. This is the God we know as revealed in the life and work of Jesus Christ. It is with this assurance that we face our living, and particularly as we lift up into God's love during the month of June the beginnings and endings that we experience. The month of June is full of such times both planned and unplanned. We celebrate today new members who join our church family, later this month we will say good bye to others who will be moving away. We mark graduations, new jobs, changes in rhythms of our days as we go into summer schedule. It is the love of God that gives us the confidence to face these changes and gives us the courage to go forward.

Many times in our lives it is not so clear how God is working in the mess of things. Life gets very heavy, doesn't it? There are hectic schedules, complications, times of grief and loneliness. There are catastrophes beyond comprehension. I was talking to one of our conference pastor's who is from Haiti recently, asking him about what is currently happening there – he shared that the needs are still the immediate ones of food and shelter and basic health care … that there is a very, very long way to go. The news this week showed video of the animals covered by the reddish brown oil, only their eyes visible through it … gasping for breath, of pelicans trying desperately to lift their wings. Where is God?

And then we come upon the lovely story from Luke's gospel … a funeral procession filled with grief – a widow's only son. For that time this is a cultural disaster for the woman – no husband, no son … no life to go on. Jesus stops the funeral procession and looks the woman in the eyes and says: "Do not weep." And to the young man: "Rise!" There is God! There is God in Jesus Christ present in the beginnings and endings of life.

These are the stories that shape our beginnings and endings. They give us the promise that God is always at work in our lives, whether we are aware of it or not. I need, we need these reminders that God does work in our lives all of the time … and sometimes we glimpse, such as in this story, just how that is happening. I have been particularly aware of how God is weaving our lives together, walking with us in all times and in all places in the past few weeks. In United Methodism, because of our connectional system, you never know who you know. A few weeks ago an old friend of mine now living in New Hampshire, dropped by unexpectedly. Turns out she was in town for her daughter's wedding which was being held at Christ United Methodist Church in Piscataway … as it also turned out, our minister of visitation Jinny Hubbard was going to be attending the wedding because she knows the groom from her time as minister of that congregation. Small world. As we were giving my friend a tour of our church, we rounded the corner of the education building to find a fairly substantial flood from an overflowing toilet across from room 114. A flood that would not otherwise have been discovered for hours. Then, last Sunday as I was walking through the sanctuary before worship I stopped to talk to joke with the people who had filled the first pew. When one of them asked what the prize for doing that was, I told them they could pick a hymn for today. I was surprised at the hymn that was picked … this morning's first hymn. (I was expecting one of the older, more traditional hymns.) As I was sharing this with Linda Babler at conference this week, she told me that Mary Poyner loved this hymn as well. Something I wouldn't have known had not we had this seemingly chance encounter last Sunday.

Yes, these are small examples … but they are reminders that God shapes our comings and goings, our beginnings and endings. God is always at work in our lives, always involved. Sometimes we look at such incidents, sometimes we look at the stories such as the raising of the widow's son and say this is all well and good … but where is God when we look at the oil drenched wildlife, where is God in the tragedies of our world, the grief of our losses. Why didn't God act in those times? I choose to see it this way – that in these stories, in the moments of clarity that we sometimes get to glimpse we know the assurance that God is always working in our lives, weaving things together … even when it's not so clear this is happening.

God is always involved … weaving our lives together in a rich tapestry of love and beauty … at work in all times and in all places. Often we see only the underside of that tapestry – the knots, the loose threads … only the barest glimpse of the real picture. But every once in a while we get to see what God sees … the beauty of the tapestry that God is weaving. We know those moments in the promise of our Psalm – that our God is the God who executes justice for the oppressed, feeds the hungry, frees us from our prison and who reigns for ever. We glimpse the rich, beautiful tapestry in the healing touch of Jesus who calls us back to life, just as he called that widow's son back to life. We know God's involvement in those mysterious moments of life, of those seemingly chance random moments that end up bigger than we could know. Cherish those moments … for in them we have the promise and assurance that God is always … ALWAYS at work. Our God is involved … a promise given to us in the life and death and new life of Jesus the Christ.