From the Pastors Desk - September 05, 2020
These seismic shifts make us feel like we are on shaky ground. Our familiar church lives have been disrupted. Many of us don’t know when we will be able to participate in face-to-face worship again. Camps and conferences have been canceled. Sunday school and youth groups are meeting online, if at all. The routine elements of pastoral ministry such as meeting with parishioners in homes, hospitals, and the church office are different or nonexistent. Face-to-face board and committee meetings are not happening or are cautionary tales. How do we prepare a way forward when we don’t know exactly what to prepare for?
God will go with us into the unknown. From God’s promise to Abram to “go to a land I will show you” to Jesus’ words that “I will be with you to the end of the age”, we know that whatever the landscape of the church looks like in the near or distant future, God will be there. Like Abram, we as a church . . . the body of Christ on earth . . . the ELCA . . . Good Shepherd . . . we a travel towards an unknown destination. I don’t know about you, but for me “unknown destination” is not something that brings comfort to me. What is it going to be like to be part of a faith community of the future? How can I be hopeful? However, the church is changing and whatever it will look like in the future, it remains important to understand what we believe, why we believe it, and how to practice that belief. The need to communicate our faith will always persist in us so that we not only can have hope, but so that we can bear witness to the hope that is in us.
We journey toward a destination we cannot imagine and to places we are yet to know, but of this we are sure: There will be a church, because Jesus said so, and that church will have work to do.
Now more than ever, we need to be deliberate about how we act in response to a fractured and hurting world: faithfully, hopefully, and lovingly.
This September/October we will be having an online/in the mail stewardship program. We hope that you will join your Good Shepherd family in looking forward in hope, rather than fear and/or sorrow. It is a challenging time to be the church. We are called to be a beacon of hope for others. Yes, I am going to miss not hearing some of the faith stories of my brothers and sisters in the form of Sunday morning Temple Talks, but I know that they are there. So, I invite you, if interested, to share with me a faith story about your journey. Email or mail. Long or short. Profound or simple. I know that your words of hope will also be words of encouragement.
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Thanks Plus More
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Notes from the Choir Loft - 06/30/22
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From the Pastors Desk - 11/01/20
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From the Pastors Desk - 10/01/20
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Notes from the Choir Loft - 09/05/20
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Introducing Junior Church