Day: January 31, 2017

February 2017

 

He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:12)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,            

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

Traditionally, God has met His leaders on mountains. Abraham would travel up the mountain to make sacrifices. Moses met with God on mountaintops. Elijah communed with God on the mountain and left this world in a whirlwind from atop a mountain while Elisha watched. Micah and Isaiah called the Israelites to go up the mountain to worship the Lord. There is a strong compulsion in the Old Testament to climb up mountains to be closer to God. God is distant and the path to meet Him requires a lengthy and arduous journey.

Jesus came off the mountain and entered our valley. He was born homeless and out of wedlock. He resided in Egypt as an alien. He socialized and even ate with “sinners and tax collectors.” He touched and healed the ill and the unclean. He was killed as a criminal. John wrote, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” (John 1:14a) Jesus did become human and He lived among the least of us. Christ embarked on a lengthy, arduous, and painful journey to come to us. He left the mountain to live in the valley.

At the end of February, we celebrate the Transfiguration of Our Lord. This was a mountaintop experience for the disciples who were with Him. They were so filled with such awe that they suggested setting up camp up there. They were overwhelmed by witnessing the glory of God in such a profound way and wanted to cling to that experience.

Yet Jesus sent them back down into the valley, literally and figuratively. They came down from the mountain and Christ led them into the ultimate valley. We move into Lent toward the deepest valley of Christ’s life and the lives of His disciples – the journey to Jerusalem – the journey to His cross.

Life has mountains and valleys. God alone gives the power to thrive in both the valleys and the mountains. He even strengthens us when we are climbing. He protects us when we are falling.  He is present in our lives throughout all the many and various trials and tribulations. He travels with us and holds onto us when we lose our grip. It is His presence and power that smooths out our lives and sustains us through this earthly existence

The grace and peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; (Luke 3:5)

Annual Letter for 2016

 

And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:14-15)

 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

 

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

 

God created the earth to have a system “for signs and for seasons and for days and years.” Despite being described by Genesis as being ‘good,’ humans can find seasons in both weather and life to be trying. Most of us are not huge fans of change, yet we live in a climate of constant flux and change. God even created signs to help us navigate that flux and change.

 

To the best of my knowledge, no one has successfully initiated time travel. This means we are stuck in a chronological existence for as long as we inhabit this earth. Time moves forward, not backward. Despite the yearning for summer come January, we know that we cannot go back in time. We will have to wait for another summer, one perhaps similar but still different, from the last.

 

Human beings can have difficulty accepting this fact. For some inexplicable reason, we struggle to grasp that things are not going to return to some idyll of the past. Recently, our dog learned (the hard way) that while playing in the snowdrifts was still a lot of fun, his subsequent stiffness and soreness was absent from his memory. Most of us have had similar experiences. The activities we used to do no longer seem the same. Even if the activities themselves have not changed, we have – despite our best efforts. That is inevitable in life along this time continuum. The future is constantly becoming the present. Days, weeks, years, and seasons continue to come and go while we observe the signs of time’s onward march.

 

The same is true for congregations. As communities, we continue to evolve.  We continue to experience change. We move forward in time. Those same exact activities that reached people 50 years ago, will not have the same exact effect today. Even those who participated 50 years ago are no longer the same as they were then. The community is not the same. Just as none of us can go back in time, neither can the community.

 

Yet, communities often have even more difficulty than their individuals with this concept. There is a powerful communal memory that tells people that if we could just go back, things would be the same. We can get trapped into a mindset of only looking back, never forward – only remembering, never dreaming. We ensnare ourselves with our own attitudes.

 

Attempts to recreate the past are futile. Time does not work that way. God did not create time to work that way. The underlying message that we give when we get stuck in the past, is that the present is somehow inferior. God did not create time to be superior or inferior. “And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:18b)

 

Unfortunately, the message of the past being better than the present can easily be interpreted as the people now are inferior. That is definitely not a message we want to deliver. Evangelism becomes nearly impossible if we inadvertently give the impression that the people or the congregation will never be as good as they used to be.

 

It is imperative to be mindful of this danger and recognize that different does not mean worse. Change is part of life. We experience it in all aspects of our life. None of us stay the same through the years, neither does our community. We are all different now.

 

There is a difference between remembering the past and being stuck in it. We can honor our past without diminishing the value of the present or the future. We can remember and dream, while living in the present. We can march with the signs God has given us.

 

Take time to weep and mourn, but also take time to laugh and dance. Move forward with the seasons of your own life and the life of the congregation. Observe the signs and pace yourselves alongside them instead of fighting them. Celebrate all the seasons of your life and the life of the community. They are all gifts from God.

 

The grace and peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

 

In Christ,

 

Pastor Carla

 

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance; (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4) 

 

January 2017

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” (Matthew 2:1-2)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

The shepherds were local. They found the Holy Family via vague directions from the angels. The magi were foreigners. They followed the star for months as well as stop for directions from Herod when they got close. Yet they all managed to find the Savior and worship Him. They were led toward the light of Christ.

Who has led you toward Christ over the years? Who shined His light into your darkness? Perhaps it was a Sunday School teacher, a grandparent, a neighbor. It is highly likely you weren’t even aware of their guiding until years later. Yet, those people were there. God has given you people throughout your life to shine His light into your life. God blesses us with believers who offer God’s love in word and deed and shine into our lives.

Ministry very rarely manifest in immediate results. And unfortunately, at those rare times we seem to have had a visible, immediate effect, it often is short-lived. In Matthew 13 and Mark 4, the evangelists recount Jesus describing faith as seed planted in various types of soil. Seed does not sprout overnight into strong, vibrant plants. Faith also takes time and nurturing to grow strong and vibrant.

As strong as it is, there is also a fragility to faith that demands care and attention. Constantly under attack, faith is a lot like the wind. We can’t see it, yet we know it is there. At times, the evidence of its power is profound; other times, barely discernible. The energy of faith, while both resilient and fragile, thrives on recharging.

We are called to ‘recharge’ those around us. The closing remarks in the Baptismal service are directly from Matthew 5:16. Immediately after being claimed by God, we are given the command to shine His light in the world. Our words and deeds are meant to shine as light to the world. We function as stars pointing toward the Christ. We may not get to witness their arrival, but God uses our lives to light their way nevertheless.

The grace and peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Let your light shine. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)