The steamy days of summer are upon us. The roads in Vero are pretty empty. The pace of life has changed. But as Pastor Shelly and I were talking the other day, while things change, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot going on…just different things.
Tomorrow evening, Tuesday June 5, our newly elected council members meet with our ongoing members to talk about our life and ministry together. Good stuff!
On Saturday, June 9, we are invited to take part in a major meal packing program at the Gifford Youth Center (corner of 43rd Ave. and 49th Street). There will be 2 shifts, one from about 9-11am and one from about 1-3pm, packaging 100,000 meals for Haiti! This is a major community event and I invite you to join us in doing something really important and helpful for so many. My biggest reason for being a part of this is a quote from a 2nd grade student in Haiti who has been on the receiving end of these meals:
“I love ‘Stop Hunger Now’ rice a lot… I can’t have enough of this rice. When my parents send me to school without anything to eat, they don’t worry because they know I will eat at school. I pray every day for the people who send the rice.” I want to be in this little one’s prayers! Hope to see you Saturday. I’ll be for the early shift, but you can come any time.
Finally, a reflection on this past weekend. In Bonnie’s sermon she mentioned something that a student at Luther Seminary said to some incoming seminarians: “Welcome to Luther Seminary; where all of your answers are questioned.” J Bonnie then went on to talk about Nicodemus, a religious leader who thought he had all the answers, who knew the Bible better than most, but who wasn’t open to the Truth of what Jesus had to say and to the work of the Holy Spirit.
That really brought me back to some of my formative years. As a young person I honestly didn’t think “I want to be a pastor some day.” Rather, my thoughts were more along the lines of: What is Life about, and who is God, and what is God like, and what makes people tick, and what about good and evil? etc. It seemed like seminary would offer the answers to these questions. But I found much more. For the most part there are no simple, easy answers to those big questions. But God meets us on the journey, challenges us, questions us, and “grows us”. Oh yes, there are some things that are certain and solid…the grace of God, God’s faithfulness and promises, his living Word which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our eyes. But no simplistic, easy answers. There are a number of “churches” out there that try to offer those kind of easy, simplistic answers to hard questions and invite people to not think. That doesn’t seem to give the Holy Spirit much room to work however, and seems often based more on fear than faith.
What God gives us, instead of easy answers, is himself, the Living Word, in the person of Jesus; the sacraments we were are claimed by God and renewed on a daily basis; his written and spoken Word, which speaks to us especially in community and in conversation with others; his promise to be with us and the Holy Spirit to guide us. Equipped with those things, God then says, (thinking back to my sermon of a few weeks ago) “Now, you just have to figure it out!” Now, THAT’S a journey worth going on. And I’m eternally grateful to be able to travel it with the likes of our staff at Our Savior, our council members, new and old, and all of you.
Have a blessed week. See you in church. Pastor Jack Diehl + www.oursaviorelca.com
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