Letter to the Congregations: 13th June 2026

Our Dear Brethren,

“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:11-15).

This section of Scripture from the book of Hebrews has quite a lot to say about the New Covenant and elements of the Old Covenant that have been replaced by the blood of our Savior. Jesus Christ, rather than the temporary blood of sacrificial animals, has made us clean from our dead works. And now we are ready to enter into the presence of our Father. What do we do with that information? Will we acknowledge these facts and just carry on with our lives as usual? Or will we acknowledge the leadership of our High Priest in our lives and follow Him as He leads us into our eternal inheritance?
 

What does this look like? This is a constant question that God’s people ask themselves. The answers are in the word of God. The pages of the Bible show us who God is (both Father and Son), what Their purpose is, and how we fit into that purpose. We can also learn how our lives are supposed to be directed.
 

The apostle Paul wrote: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). We look at our behavior and our words, are we worth imitating? Have we imitated Christ and given others a good example to imitate? Have we, in our walk — regardless of how far along we are — pointed people to our collective High Priest so they might share in the eternal inheritance promised to them as well?
 

Our love is with you,
 

Lewis VanAusdle

Pastor, United Church of God

NYC, NJ, CT, Malawi, Zimbabwe