Category: Neighbor

2/4/2021 0 Comments

There is so much you can learn by listening...

Beloved of God,

I cannot remember a time when a month went by as quickly as January of 2021.
In just a few weeks’ time we will be beginning our Lenten study of N.T. Wright’s Lent for Everyone. There will be daily readings mainly from the gospel of Mark. We’ll check in together once a week to see what new things we have learned and where we are hearing God’s voice. If you’d like to sign up for that study a link is available here.

I also want you to be thinking about ways that you might use your gifts to lead our congregation in worship. One thing we have learned as this pandemic has dragged on is that coordinating a worship service with fewer people able to serve conforming to the prescribed restrictions can prove very difficult. We began to wonder if there might be space for folks to offer testimony, to tell a story, to write a responsive reading, or to record worship music played and sung at home. If you are reading this and feel like you’re hearing your name called, I hope you’ll email me so we can talk further about it.

One of our alternate readings for this week is from 1 Corinthians 9 where Paul talks about being “all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” I have to admit that I spend a good bit of time thinking about this as it pertains to our community. Many of you will have a deeper sense of the secularity in our little community than I have, but it is significant. I often wonder what obstacles exist in coming to faith for these folks. Is it their own past experience? Is it a Christian co-worker who they just can’t manage to get along with? Is it politics? Is it a deep sense of shame, or unbelonging, real or imagined?

I have to tell you that I have always found talking about faith with non-religious folks to be something deeply challenging, and interesting. There is so much you can learn by listening. Someday this pandemic will be over, and we will have an opportunity to hash it out as a broader community. I wonder if some of those folks will have questions where we have answers. I wonder if they will have learned things about themselves that lead them to you, their Christian friends. I hope that when that moment arrives we’ll be ready to speak kindly, and truthfully, but above all that we’ll be ready to listen. I’m certain that if we can, it will be worth it, and we might just save some.

Please join me this week in praying for:

An end to this pandemic.
Doctors, nurses, paramedics, PA’s and other healthcare professionals working to keep us all well.
Wisdom for those in positions of public trust at the federal, state and local level.
Those seeking various kinds of medical treatment in these difficult days.
Families, that moments of joy will be present even amidst and among moments of stress and strain.
Students, teachers, administrators and others trying to do the good work of education .
Those who are grieving, or lonely, or hurting at a time when it’s difficult to as “together” as we would wish.
Open eyes and ears to see and hear those around us who need our care, comfort and help.
Each other ( please email [email protected] if you’d like to be added to our prayer ministry).

You are the salt of the Earth; you are the light of the world,

Marshall

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11/12/2020 0 Comments

November 12th, 2020

Beloved of God,

As we head more deliberately into the final few weeks of the year, there are several things on the calendar of which I hope you will be mindful.

First, and almost immediately, we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper together this Sunday. Elements will be available at the church for you to pick up this Saturday from 10am to 1pm. If it would be helpful to have elements delivered to your home, please email the deacons here. If you decide to stick around and chat for a minute, it will be a joy for me.

Second, we are trying to devise a safe and creative way to care for and celebrate with one another this Thanksgiving. Please be take a moment to give us some feedback here.

Third, if you would like to be involved with this year’s Christmas Eve service, we are going to try to keep as much of its traditional shape as we can while still being safe. We will need some help in doing so, and if you would like to be a part of that, I hope you’ll email me and let me know.

I’m thankful for the ways this congregation continues to be church with and for one another, even when it takes a new shape. Thank you for being creative, willing, and loving.

Please join me in praying this week for:

An end to, and defense from this pandemic.
Our leaders, and leaders-elect at the federal, state and local levels.
Healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses, paramedics and support staff, that God give them courage and shield them from harm.
In gratitude for those who have served in defense of this nation and its people.
Those who are grieving, or lonely, or afraid; that God’s presence and care would be apparent.
That we would be signs of love and voices of hope for those living through these moments.
Students, teachers, and administrators in our schools, and schools throughout the country.
Each other (please contact [email protected] if you’d like to be added to our prayer list).

You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world,

Marshall

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10/22/2020 0 Comments

love your neighbor as yourself

Beloved of God,

Many of you will have noticed that we have been spending a good bit of time in Matthew’s Gospel on Sundays. One reason I like using the Lectionary as a tool to plan out which texts to preach on is because you are encouraged to spend time moving deliberately through one book of the Bible, but you are also spending time in other books alongside it, and can reflect on them as the Spirit leads.

But this week, choosing to preach an Old Testament text forces me to miss one of the great passages in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 22:34-40), in which Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment. Jesus’ answer isn’t in any way controversial. Deut 6:5 has always been considered one of the foundational commands within Judaism. Where this gets interesting is when Jesus offers a second commandment, because nobody asked for that. Furthermore, Jesus suggests that these two commandments are of a like kind. He tells the Pharisees and us that to “love your neighbor as yourself” somehow bears the shape of the command to Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. I would suggest you could even frame it this way: you cannot truly love your neighbor if you will not love God. You cannot truly love God if you will not love your neighbor.

Knowing how to do both of these things well takes a lifetime of work, and an abundance of grace. And doing them both creates a tension between them that we never finally resolve outside of Christ. Christ who was always God before the worlds were forged became for us also a neighbor, a human being. And He alone has lived a life marked by perfect love of both God and neighbor. May we be conformed more and more into his image and learn to practice both loves like Him.

Please join me this week in praying for:

Protection from, and an end to this pandemic
Educators in our community during a particularly hectic season
Those in positions of public trust at the federal, state, and local level
The two men standing for election to the office of President of the United States
Doctors, nurses, and other health professionals working for our well-being
Those who are lonely or afraid
Those feeling a strain on their mental health
Our oldest neighbors
Our youngest neighbors
Each other (please email [email protected] if you’d like to be added to our prayer list)

You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world,

Marshall

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