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Synod Assembly meetings often mean a lot of sitting, and not always real stimulating. But this past synod assembly was different...at least for me. Even if you're not interested in synod assemblies, you might want to keep reading. What made this assembly different was perhaps not necessarily that IT was all that different, but maybe because I saw things a little differently. And because of that, those 3 days in Orlando (Thursday May 2 - Saturday May 4) were surprisingly emotional. More than once I found myself looking for kleenex to wipe my eyes. Why were those tears welling up as they were? I've been to a lot of synod assemblies, but don't ever remember that happening...maybe at all, let alone pretty regularly those few days! I'm a pretty stoic guy most of the time. What the...?? As I've thought about it, I think it pretty much boiled down to a few things. One was seeing new, wonderfully gifted, young leaders surfacing and doing great things. From having Sarah Lanyi as our Youth Voting member, along with 27 other Youth Voting members at the assembly. And these are smart, sharp, kids, who reflect some wonderful gifts of the Spirit as was reflected in Pastor Blaine Johnson's daughter's address to the assembly on behalf of all those Youth Voting members. It was awesome. To having my daughter Katie join us for part of a day. She lives in the Orlando area, is presently a high school teacher, but who has been a camp counselor for Luther Springs and is currently active, and doing some neat things in a healthy congregation, St. Stephen's in Longwood...a congregation who has a great young pastor, who will soon be joined with an even younger associate pastor. To seeing Pastor Shelly and Ryan involved in so much of the worship of the assembly, and seeing what great gifts they bring to the church. All of that together had me tearing up on and off for all three days...as I saw God at work in some wonderful ways in these young people. It was all just so heart warming and encouraging. It really touched me and made me so glad to be a part of this church. In addition to, and in contrast to all of that I also saw many colleagues and contemporaries approaching retirement. As Bishop Ed Benoway's term ended, he will be retiring, as will Pastor Paul Lutze and Ken Aicher, also from the synod office, not to mention a number of other colleagues who have retired or who would be retiring soon, or who asked me, "Are you retired yet?" or "When are you retiring?" Yikes! Doesn't seem all that long ago that we were the young bucks, in the middle of all of what was happening. I'm happy to say most of those colleagues were at least a little older than I am and as long as my health stays as good as it is, retirement is not on my mind. But it still was a reminder, that the time will come eventually to pass the baton. I'm sure some of that contributed to the welling up occasionally. Finally, along with, and in the middle of seeing all those young people on the one hand and those reminders of the passing of time on the other, was the realization of the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in the middle of it all, and that we are a part of something wonderfully timeless in the time God gives us. That wonderfully timeless gift being the grace of God which shapes our lives, gives us hope, keeps us going, and is the source of that peace of God that passes all understanding. To see that grace of God at work in the young and old and everyone in between, was really moving...to the point of those surprising tears. That's what made this past assembly a bit different from all the others for me this time, and I was so glad to be a part of it once again. For other information about the assembly, the elections and more, you can visit our synod website at: www.fbsynod.com. For us here at Our Savior, this past weekend was the closing celebration of the Sunday School year. That means there will only be 2 more weekends with 3 services. On Memorial Day weekend we go to our summer schedule, as we continue our 6pm Saturday service, but go to just one service at 9:30am on Sunday. On that weekend we will also have our annual Spring congregational meeting following that 9:30 service. Looking ahead to next Sunday, May 12, we have the opportunity to meet with the Coptic church, which meets in our Fellowship Hall every Sunday evening. Our gathering with them will be from 7 - 8:30pm. Plan on coming to meet and get acquainted with these brothers and sisters in Christ from a different tradition. For more information about life at Our Savior, please visit our website at: www.oursaviorelca.com. See you in church! Pastor Jack Diehl + ____________________________________________________________ Our Savior is now collecting Old Cell Phones and Used Ink Jet Cartridges. The funds raised will be used to benefit the Fine Arts and Music programs. Please drop your items off in the office! ______________________________________________________ |
