To Love and To Serve

It will soon be 2025; that is hard to believe. It seems as if 2024 has just flown by, even though I know that it hasn’t. For me it was a hard year; I lost both of my remaining grandparents and others whom I loved and cared for. I would say that we should hope for a great 2025, and I do hope it is great, but I know there will be some difficulties as well. There are challenges every year, no matter how wonderful it is. This is life as we know it, at least. That said, there were also many joys for me in 2024, for instance— I’m no longer pre-diabetic, yippee! There were some wonderful experiences including getting to go to Hawaii for the first time. I was blessed this year, and I know and pray that 2025 will have joyful experiences as well. This combination of Joys and Concerns, like our prayers on Sunday, represent the duality of life we live every day.

One could look at this and feel disappointment that sorrows are sure to happen, but you could also look at it and feel hope that even though there are challenges, you know there will be celebrations at some point as well. Maybe one could describe this as a glass have empty or half full type of scenario, but with our faith in Christ, this changes in an important way. The disciples had to witness the death of Christ on the cross. For them this was the most difficult thing they would see in their lives. What they did not realize, however, is that it would lead to the resurrection of Christ, and the most amazing moments of their lives. If this act was just the death and resurrection of Christ, then it might just be an extreme example of the seesaw of life that we live, but it was more. Christ defeated death and sin, not just for himself, but for all of us. The life and salvation of Christ is one we share through him. This means that even though we will experience both joy and sorrow in life, the seesaw will eventually stop for eternity on the joy side of things, with a joy so grand we can’t even imagine it. This is the good news.

I don’t know what will happen in 2025, or 2026, or each year after that. I do know that when it is our final year on this earth, we will be with Christ. When the world itself ends, we will still be in God’s glory, and nothing, no event in this coming year or the next, can take that away from us. I pray that all of us have more joys that sorrows in 2025, and that we remember what is truly important and see the blessings God has placed in our lives. In this way may it be a Happy New Year for all of us as we walk this road of life together.


Peace, Blessings, & Happy New Year!
Pastor Brian

Many of you know that the church is still taking care of the giant and beautiful oak tree that fell down by the gazebo. We have given the go ahead to let anyone who wants to, take any amount of it that they want for fire wood or anything else. I think it would be good to point out that I can’t think of a better Valentine’s Day present that a good hefty piece of oak. Perhaps not, unless you valentine is a wood worker, but it was worth a try. Interestingly enough as I write this, someone is already taking part of the tree, thankfully. There is probably enough wood there to heat a home or two for the entire winter. I hope others will take advantage and take some wood for themselves as well, because I like the idea of little-by-little people coming to help in a large project. It shows what can be done when many people come together to work on something.

The church in all of its forms has always been about people coming together. From John baptizing people at the river, to the Sermon on the Mount, people have gathered to experience Christ and the Holy Spirit. Yes, God does talk to us as individuals, but when Jesus started his ministry, the first thing he did was to gather a group of Disciples together. Even the existence of God is in a multitude in the form of the Trinity. We learn in Genesis that it is not good for man to be alone and we know that wherever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, the Spirit is there also. From this I think it is clear that we are meant to be with others in our life and in our faith.

There are often problems we encounter that seem too big to possibly handle or overcome, kind of like the giant oak tree in the back of the church. Perhaps, however, we were never meant to overcome these things alone. We of course have God with us always, but God has also placed people in our lives to help us and care for us. Big difficulties are not usually taken on all at once, but slowly piece by piece, with others helping us in the process. Every little way in which we help others might not seem very significant at the time, but together it all adds up to the love of God working in the world, which can accomplish great things. Never doubt the calling we have to do God’s work in the world, whether it is simply giving a hug, or taking a few pieces of an oak tree, it all comes together, as we do every Sunday, into something larger than ourselves.

Peace and Blessings,
Pastor Brian

My wife and I just got back from a trip to New Orleans. We were there for Mardi Gras, which is actually a season and not a day. Mardi Gras runs from Epiphany in January until the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Most of us are probably more familiar with Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras day, the final day of the season, but there are festivities and parades during this entire time. We also might tend to think of Mardi Gras as something that involves a lot of drinking and partying, and yes, I’m sure there is much of that on Fat Tuesday, but for the rest of the season many of the parades are very family oriented and community centered events. Many of the “Krews”, or groups in charge of the various parades, are also charity organizations that raise money for different causes in the community. So, far from the images of reckless abandon that are probably mostly tourists, the season actually represents celebration and support of the local communities involved.

One of the best parts of the larger parade we saw were all the kids that were involved. There were of course the kids that were on the side of the parade route hoping to get thrown beads and kids toys from the floats, but more impressively were all the kids involved in the parade. There were probably a dozen high schools and middle schools represented with everything from dance troops, to color guards, to marching bands etc. There were certainly some terrific horn players and drummers in those bands, and you could tell that these kids had been practicing quite a lot for this event. Not only were their performances great, but the truly wonderful thing were the smiles on their faces and the clear joy in the hearts as they got to perform. What a wonderful tradition this is every year, and it is clear to me that the actual meaning of Mardi Gras is not partying, but instead celebration of community.

It might seem a bit odd that one of my favorite things about this trip was seeing joy in others, but we all know that can be a wonderful thing in life. Ask a grandparent what one of their favorite things is, and they will probably tell you that they love seeing a smile on their grandchild’s face. So often in our hyper consumer culture we see joy as something that is achieved by acquiring something or some experience for ourselves. We might find joy, from a gift we receive, or a nice meal, or a new car. Although those things can bring joy, maybe helping others and seeing happiness in others is better than any joy that can be bought in a store. We see in the ministry of Jesus his emphasis on helping others. Not only did he do this, but he instructed others to do the same. In these actions there are of course the blessings received by those cared for by Christ and the disciples, but the act of caring for others and seeing the difference it makes, can in itself be a joy and blessing. I hope all of us can experience this in our life, and in doing so experience a community of God, a community of joy, just like the joy I witnessed during the Mardi Gras parade.

Peace and Blessings,
Pastor Brian

It has been quite a week, to say the least. As many of you know the building that my wife’s store is in partially collapsed on Monday. It is a little bit ironic that the scripture from the Sunday before dealt with God not giving more that we can handle, and this coming Sunday’s scripture is from the book of Joshua, the very book where the walls of Jericho come tumbling down. If my life is indeed mirroring scripture, then we better have some fire extinguishers ready for Pentecost. As difficult as the building situation is, it wasn’t the most difficult thing of my week. The most difficult events were saying goodbye to Conner during the funeral I had performed the day before, and then learning of Roger Saddler’s death only a few days later. Walls can be fixed, but people whom we lose can’t be brought back for any price, not in this life at least.

Contemplating all of these events has made me think about several topics. Of course, there is the fact that I had better realize what is truly important in life, and it is not a building or any “thing” of this earth, but rather the people and relationships we have. Yet, do we realize how precious they are, and how precious all people are in God’s eyes? How often do we get mad at people and say hurtful things? It probably happens more than we would like to admit both with strangers and people we love. How often do we sit and stare at our phones when we are in the presence of others? When people are gone, we would give anything to talk to them again, and yet there are so many times we ignored the opportunity for conversation. How often do we hug our loved ones and tell them that we love them? I’m going to go with— not enough.

I’m not saying any of these things to pass judgment or make anyone feel guilty, as I’m just as likely as anyone else to not fully appreciate the gifts God has given me in the form of others. These are just the things I think about in the midst of a stressful week, and in the midst of loss of those I cared for. In this season of Lent, we are called to become closer to God. Perhaps part of that can be done by becoming closer to each other, as we are all created in God’s image. Let thoughts of anger, jealousy, annoyance, or any other emotion we might have towards someone flow away from us, washed away by God’s grace. Let us instead focus on love, compassion, forgiveness, and all other things that bring us closer together. In this way all of our lives will mirror the gospel and ministry of Christ. That said, you might want to still keep the fire extinguisher ready.

Peace and Blessings,
Pastor Brian