Pastor's Pen - May 2008

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Ascension of Our Lord, the Festival of Pentecost, the celebration of the Holy Trinity, the end of the Sunday School year, the recognition of graduates, and the beginning of our summer schedule of worship are but a taste of what the month of May will have to offer. Following a relatively quiet April, May will be filled with celebrations and activities from beginning to end. It is true that some of the events indicated are more familiar and immediate to us than others. At the same time it is important that none of the events and what they mean are lost to us. Perhaps one thing that all of these occasions have in common is the change that they bring.

Jesus' ascension marked a turning point in the lives of his followers. No longer with them as he had been and yet still promising to be with them always, Jesus said that in the midst of change would come the gift of God's Spirit. As advocate and comforter, the Spirit would point Jesus' followers to him in the midst of an alien and hostile world. As the believers reflected upon their experience with God, the doctrine of the Trinity was developed over centuries of time as a way of trying to use human words to describe the divine reality. In a world that worshipped God in many different ways, the language of one God in three persons was a change that both threatened and excited.

The end of the Sunday School year and the recognition of graduates is a ready reminder of the changes that the passage of time brings to the live of all of God's children. It is good to be reminded that time is a fleeting thing and had a finite quality to it as well. Time is not limitless. Time is a valuable gift that has been given to us to be used wisely and generously as the children of God. The changes that come with time encourage us to consider the commitments in our lives. They provide us with the incentive to reconsider the ways in which we choose to use the time that is ours. With the proper choices and focus the changes that are marked by time become occasions for rejoicing in the cycles of human life and experience as opposed to occasions for regrets because of opportunities that were missed.

In the midst of what appears to be the busy-ness of May, May we not lose sight of the one who is changeless in love and grace and promises to be with us always.

Across the Pastor's Desk - April, 18, 2008

As this is being written is the tax deadline for the majority of people. With taxes in mind, one is reminded of the question that was put to Jesus about whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar. Though this was a test by Jesus' opponents, his response serves as a model for followers yet today. Jesus said that people were to give to Caesar what belonged to Caesar and to give to God what belonged to God. In that day the bust of the emperor appeared on the face of the coin. Today we have placed the busts of presidents on the common currency. The response of Jesus suggests that today we pay taxes as a part of belonging to a nation of this world. There are fundamentally things that can be better done together than individually and taxes help to make that possible. I believe it was Oliver Wendell Holmes who said that paying taxes was the cost of living in a civilized nation. It is a sign of this world that we live in community, when left to ourselves selfishness and anarchy would rule. But what belongs to God?

The stories of creation found in the book of Genesis would tell us that human beings are created in the image of God. Being blessed with image of God, human beings then belong to God and not to this world. Unfortunately, human beings become much more concerned about what belongs to this world and the desire to keep as much of it as possible for oneself than they are concerned about the fact that they in all of their beings belong to God. Created in the image of God, human beings have the opportunity to share the love and grace of God with the world in which they live. Knowing that their allegiance belongs first and foremost to God, humans do not get distracted by the things of this world when it comes to living out the mission and ministries that God so freely entrusts to us.

Taxes indicate that the powers of this world are interested in a portion of our resources, though it may seem to be an ever-growing portion. God on the other hand is interested in our whole being. Everything we are and do and have is a part of what God has so graciously given to us who bare God's image in a fallen and broken world. Perhaps it is time for all of God' children to be as concerned about what belongs to God as they are concerned about saving on their tax liability to the nation.