May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

2 Corinthians 13:14

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Romans 5:1-5

Paul, in the above passages speaks in terms of grace, love and fellowship coming from Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit respectively. Each of those things indicate the closeness we can feel to God in all of the ways he has shown up for us in our lives. Jesus’ once and for all great sacrifice and present resurrection, God’s power displayed once and for all at Creation and now in his continued sustaining of the world and the Holy Spirit’s former miraculous empowerment of the Church and current dwelling within her.

In all these ways, we are reminded that God is with us and we are with God.

Ethan Kirl