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From the Pastors |
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March ‘10
Your word is a lamp to my feet - Psalm 119:105
Dear Friends in Christ,
Do you have a GPS? Recently, as a group of members gathered for a time of fellowship, I was asked that question. Everyone was surprised to learn that neither Pastor Bob nor I are owners of a Global Positioning System. In many ways, it would make a lot of sense for anyone in our line of work to own one, since we so often travel to hospitals, homes, other churches and more. It would be helpful to have a gadget that would map out the way to go, and make sure we don’t veer from the selected course. Yet we do not have such a device, nor do we have plans to get one.
Now for Pastor Bob the reasons against owning a GPS are pretty clear: he was a geography major in college, and would much rather just use a good old map to get him from one place to the next. He’s the type who just gets in his truck and starts driving, knowing basically where things are and how to get around. He’s perfectly happy to try a new route, or head down an unknown road, just to see where it will lead. He rarely gets lost, and when he does, it is not for long. In fact, Pastor Bob likes to get lost, because it usually shows him new places. Not me. I am more of a lemming. I learn one way to get from one place to the next and always take the same route. Once I have a tried and true way to get from point A to point B, I stick to it, no matter what.
I’m also just a bit skeptical about the GPS. When my uncle came to visit us for Thanksgiving last fall his GPS led him all over the place. It should not have taken him 45 minutes to find his way from the Concord Mall to our house in North Graylyn Crest, but thanks to the GPS, he got to see a lot more of Brandywine Hundred than he intended. This and other stories of the GPS gone wrong make me a bit leery of putting all my trust in an electronic gizmo.
However, there is one GPS that I will trust. It’s not a Global Positioning System, it’s a God Positioning System. What is this? It’s using the word of God as a compass, a guide for our lives. No, this GPS won’t tell you how to get from the Giant on Rt. 202 to A.I. DuPont Hospital, but it will give you some pretty good directions for life. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. Pray for your enemies. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Turn the other cheek. These are all really good directions for us as we navigate the bumpy, twisting roads of life.
With this kind of GPS, you never need doubt if it’s giving you the right information. It’s always right on track. We can trust that the word of God is true, and will steer us in the right direction. Even more, we can know that if we happen to make a wrong turn, God’s loving word of forgiveness is right there, welcoming us back to familiar surroundings, to a place we know and love, in the presence of God.
As we journey through this season of Lent, may you use this GPS. May you trust that the word of God is true, and will guide you along right paths. If you make a wrong turn, don’t worry. You can always turn around. Thanks be to God.
Grace and peace, Pastor Kathy
February ‘10
When I was an undergraduate at Texas A&M University, I was part of a campus ministry called Aggie Lutherans. We would gather every Tuesday evening at a church near campus for fellowship, a meal and devotions. The campus pastor, Pastor Deb Grant, began our devotional time every week with the same question: where have you seen Jesus this week? When she first began asking that question, none of us really had an answer. Over the successive weeks, we began to have some relatively obvious answers (“in a beautiful sunset the other day”) and even some rather humorous ones (“in my Chemistry final; I know I didn’t pass it on my own, so it must have been him”). In time, as we grew into the habit of expecting to see Jesus, we began to see him more and more in our daily lives as students, and we became much more comfortable talking with one another about where we had seen Jesus in each other and in the world. One of the things I will always remember about those conversations was that when we truly saw Jesus in the world, whether it was in a profound event or a mundane one, the encounter with Jesus was a life-changing experience.
This year during the season of Lent, our midweek services will center on people who saw Jesus. We’ll listen to their stories of their life-changing encounters with the Messiah, and reflect on how their stories intersect with our stories as people of faith. We will hear from a man who couldn’t see and then could, and from a man who could see and then couldn’t. We’ll hear from a woman who saw Jesus as under-equipped, and from two women who saw Jesus in ways that surprised them. We will even hear from some people who got very creative in their efforts to see Jesus.
Our observance of Lent will begin on Ash Wednesday, February 17th, with worship at 7:30 p.m., including imposition of ashes and celebration of the Eucharist. Midweek observances will continue through the season of Lent, with soup suppers at 6 p.m. and worship at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays, February 24th through March 24th.
During this season of Lenten renewal, I invite you to spend some time in daily reflection on that question: where have you seen Jesus? I believe that the more you ask yourself that question, the more readily the answers will come. May you see Jesus present in your life in new and surprising ways this Lent.
Grace and peace, Pastor Bob
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