Pastor's pen April 2006

Dear Friends in Christ,

"Christ is risen. He is risen indeed."

These words will once again echo throughout Christendom as the great Festival of Easter and its season of celebration quickly approach. The message of these words is that things are not the same in this world since that first Easter. Each year’s celebration is a recognition of the daily gift of eternal life offered to the whole world in the redemptive life and death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. This eternal life is not just one of length but also and even more importantly one of quality and relationship. It is a life lived in the presence of God and serving as a tool of God’s grace for the sake of the world.

The question for us is how do we keep this Easter joy alive in our daily lives? How do we share with the world the good news of God’s love in grace in such a way that through the work of the Spirit people can not keep themselves from being claimed as children of God’s dominion? First and foremost would be to remember that we are in fact Easter people. No one and nothing can take away what God has given us. We have the assurance of victory in the Risen Lord. We have the opportunity then to model a different way of life and experience for the sake of the whole world. We no longer are to be shaped by the status quo but rather we are called to be one’s who help to shape a new world at God’s command. This world is to be formed around Christ’s command to love one another even as he has loved us. As Jesus was a servant for the sake of the world so Jesus’ followers are called to serve.

Knowing that the war has been won in Christ does not mean that God settles for things as they are in the world. The battles against sin and evil in the world continue. Oppression and injustice continue to raise their heads even when we have the best of intentions. God’s Spirit continues to be at work calling us to the life that has been declared for us in Christ. The Spirt strengthens and nourishes us to faithfulness in Christ. The Spirt picks us up and dusts us off when we fall and sends us out again with good news for the whole world.

When we announce that Christ is risen may we do so with big voices filled with confidence and joy. By the work and power of the Spirit in us may our lives shout those words of the good news to the world each and every day.

"Christ is risen. He is risen indeed."

Across the Pastor's Desk - March 24, 2006

Institutions have been much in the news lately. Certainly a great deal has been spoken of the institution of marriage, but that discussion raises issues about other institutions and their roles as well, such as the institution of the church and the institution of the government. These discussions might lead an uninformed person to believe that institutions are somehow sacred and set in stone. It is as if the invocation of any of these institutions should be enough to silence any critic and to secure the safety of the general populace forever.

Institutions get their start by being created for the convenience of the people who make use of them. However, it can be said that it does not take long for the institution to take on a life of its own. At that point it looses some of its purpose of serving people and takes on the purpose of self-preservation. When one considers many of the institutions of today, it can be noted that often the institutional response to any given situation is not what is right or best but rather how will it look, what will people think and say. Institutions and their inhabitants become fearful of new ways of looking at things because the comfort and security of the past are too inviting. Politicians worry that they may loose votes. Churches fear that they might loose members. Fear begins to rule the day rather than truth and justice for the sake of all of God’s children.

Last Sunday, many Christians heard the story of Jesus cleansing the temple as recorded in the Gospel of St. John. This event indicates that Jesus had some suspicions when it came to institutions, particularly institutions that had lost sight of what their purpose was in the world. Jesus’ concern was not first and foremost what will people say and think and how will the institution look. Rather Jesus’ concern was for the relationship that God desired with God’s people and Jesus took issue with anything that began to be held in higher regard than that relationship. Jesus called people to new and renewed relationships with God and with God’s people not to relationships with institutions. He did not figure in the popularity index when he was willing to give himself for the sake of the whole world. Jesus clearly knew that institutions are not sacred but that people are and called people to live a life shaped by that reality.

Institutions that serve their purpose are always living, growing, and changing. As a result sometimes doing the right thing is not the popular thing to do at all. Sometimes it will mean that politicians will loose votes. Sometimes it means that churches will loose members. For Jesus it meant the cleansing of the temple and his death on a cross. However, because of that his followers have life to share with the whole world. Hopefully, that will never be lost for the sake of an institution.