A Message from Our Pastor: June 2013

Dear Church Family:
Pentecost Sunday brought such joy to our congregation as we celebrated the baptism of little Braeden Richard Anderson, an received seven new members into the membership of our church family: Jonathan & Allison Cox, John & Christy Krant, Chad & Kristina McPherson, and Elizabeth Hook. On Trinity/Memorial Sunday, James Bennett will also “formally” join our church family. For several months, these wonderful new sisters and brothers have graced us with their presence as well as their gifts and graces which have enriched our congregational life!

During this same worship service, I spoke from the heart about the wellsprings of gratitude that Anona and I shared because of the gift of healing my wife experienced during her hospitalization the previous week. We feel this healing was a gift from God, and that it was brought about through the prayers, best wishes, cards, and so many acts of kindness from both our families and, of course, our beloved church family. We will never forget your outpouring of love, and will cherish our memories of your support during difficult times.

Love, joy, and renewed faith for the many challenges of living out the gospel through these troublesome times seemed to be the “order of the day” on Pentecost. We seemed to be, in short, gifted with a new Pentecost!

The original Day of Pentecost which occurred two thousand years ago was an amazing event which revealed the “gifting” power of God. On that day, the people of God experienced the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit which gave birth to the church. In that moment, the church was gifted with power from On High, so that it could become God’s gift of redemptive love and hope in a despairing world.

Some people tend to emphasize the gift of “speaking in tongues” as the most important blessing bestowed on that day. But that wasn’t exactly God’s intention. As a matter of fact, the mere phenomenon of “multiple tongues” seemed to be God’s punitive reaction to those who attempted to build the Tower of Babel “so they could become like God.” God’s reaction – Let us go down and confound their tongues (read “confuse their languages”) so that they will no longer understand one another. (Genesis 11: 7) No – the miracle of Pentecost was the reversal of the “curse” of Babel. The miracle of Pentecost was the gift of understanding divergent and competing cultures (read “culture wars”) miraculously brought together because people understood the redemptive purposes of God. This understanding brought about harmony, unity, and an almost uncontainable joy which filled the hearts of those who experienced Pentecost.

Through the course of history, the church has experienced many pentecostal moments, most notable among them, the Protestant Reformation which brought about a new understanding of “the priesthood of all believers,” and the Wesleyan revival movement, when so many hearts, like John Wesley’s, felt strangely warmed. When troubles brew, the Holy Spirit of God stirs. The stirring happened most recently in our church last Sunday, when we celebrated not simply the first Pentecost, but our own – Pentecost 2013. This church can count on an ongoing Pentecost future, and both rest and labor with the assurance that, when we most need and seek it, there will be a new outpouring of miraculous gifts upon this congregation, so that we can be, united together, God’s ongoing gift to the world.

Wishing all of you the Spirit’s fires of peace, love, and joy!
Pastor Chuck