Pastor's Letter - August
Pastor’s Letter
August, 2020
Grace and Peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Blessings in this summertime, and hopefully you are able to get some sort of refreshment and relaxation in this time as we still are in this unprecedented time.
I know that right now many parents have their minds focused on the fall. What will school look like? If I have options, which one do you choose? How do you balance between your children’s safety and letting them have interaction and what people call “normalcy”?
I wish I had the answers. Some have suggested that God has brought us to this point to teach us a lesson. Others point towards fulfillment of prophecy. Some have said that this is truly the beginning of Armageddon. Those of you who have had those conversations know where your pastor stands- the most pointed comment Jesus makes about The Day of the Lord in scripture is, “about that day or hour, no one knows.” Because in Jesus’ time, people were worried about that as well. And the earliest Christians, like Paul? They all believed that Christ would return in their time.
As for me, I am skeptical about end time predictions as a default. I personally have always seen them as humanity’s attempt to somehow predict what Jesus said was unpredictable. The scriptures tell us that if anything, we should be always prepared for it, and in the New Testament, that isn’t about pointing out signs as much as it is about living the life of compassion, radical generosity, and giving hope that Jesus directs us to do. In other words, we prepare for the end by living out our faith to the best of our ability.
This means that we press on with things like filling that box on the rear of the sanctuary with financial gifts so that people in Haiti can receive another reservoir to collect water for their everyday use. This means that we will continue to work with BHA to furnish apartments. It also means that we keep an ear to the ground to listen for the needs of our immediate neighbors as well.
And yes, we can do these things safely. We guide our children as they enter school, whatever form we choose to have that take, and we guide them to live lives filled with compassion and the love of Christ as well.
I also promise that eventually you will have a Pastor’s Letter that is not touched by the shadow of the Coronavirus. I try to make these contextual, and the reality is that this is currently our context. The hope is that we live through this time to see a new day, and that this new day is filled with continuing opportunities to be the church!
See you along the Way,
Pastor Brian