Skip to main content

A Mighty Wind

 I was in the office on Thursday and saw a retired couple walking into our church. I went out to greet them and they said that last year they met Kileen and I down at Java Moose and we recommended they go to Ottawa and they just went there and had a wonderful time. We exchanged some small talk and they made the comment that they were Catholic but really liked our church because it was very welcoming. 

I went to the HUB last month for the pancake feed, and a woman, when she found out I pastored this church, thanked us for the having the raised garden beds. 

I made popcorn for the Explorer's Club a few times and one of the dad's said to me as he was picking up his kid, "Oh, you are the popcorn guy, my kid has been talking about nothing else the last two weeks." I have received lots of gratitude from the community that we have opened our church building to have a daycare. 

When I share about our Workers on Wheels program, people light up, or having Ben Nichols with his piano lessons and now summer group sessions, or the AA and Al-Anon, or the Food Shelf, or our commitment and presence for the Pride March, they know it is a part of our mission and ministry and they are grateful. 

In the Gospel story today, we have two small stories about compassion. In between we have the story of the feeding of the 5,000 and the story of Jesus stilling the wind and the waves while they are out on a boat.  However, on each side of the lake, on each side of the story, are stories about compassion. Jesus having compassion on the crowd so he began to teach them about God's kingdom. Jesus having compassion on those who are sick and healing them. 

The church building, this church is our boat. It does not transport us across Lake Superior or even down to the Harbor or up the Trail. However, when we are gathering here on Sunday morning, it does transport our hearts, minds, and souls to the kindom. It does take us back in time to walk the shores with Jesus and into the future to a time when justice for the poor, the foreigner, and the stranger has prevailed and all are healthy and whole. This building, this ship does provide safety for the young ones, food for the hungry, and a place of healing for those who struggle with addictions. 

This church, this ship of faith, this building is powered and empowered by the Spirit, the breath of life and of God. For all the worship, funerals, baptisms, meetings, feedings, teachings, learnings, joys, and heartbreak that it has seen over the past 50 years, it is still a welcoming place, a healing place, and a place where people can grow as humans and as Christians. Our body of faith has been present in this community for almost 120 years, the Spirit, the mighty wind of love and compassion, has empowered us to share the gospel of joy, of healing, and of love. May we continue to be transported to a better world for all in and through this church as the wind/spirit/breath of the Almighty pushes us forward. Amen.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Tale of Two Females

 In a book called, "The Year of Living Biblically" by A.J. Jacobs, he tried to follow all 435 commands found in the Torah or Pentateuch. One of those commands was that you couldn't touch a woman while she was having her period so he wouldn't hug, kiss, or hold the hand of his wife during her cycle. She learned that he couldn't sit where she sat, so when she became frustrated with him she would sit on every piece of furniture in the house so he would have to stand or sit on the floor the whole day. We don't know what kind of hemorrhaging this woman in the crowd was suffering, but for her to be so afraid of Jesus and the crowd that she didn't ask for healing, but just touched his cloak and had faith that she would be made well, we have to assume that she has spent twelve long years not being able to hug, kiss, or hold hands with her family and friends. This physical and social isolation seems to be more damaging as she persisted with this illness for twelve
Post a Comment
Read more

Do not be Afraid!

 There is a plan for the future of this country that is posed to be a '2nd American Revolution.' It is called, "Project 2025." The authors of this 91 page plan are mostly former staffers of the last President and the Heritage Foundation. It is so bad that as the word is getting out about it  the actions that are set to be taken, even the current Republican Presidential candidate is trying to put some distance from it, because he knows he can't sell it. The highlights are taking away abortions and contraceptives for all our nation, getting rid of marriage equality, allowing the President to fire any government employee and put in their place someone whose only qualification is loyalty to the President, and getting rid of the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency. Basically to turn our Democracy into an authoritarian regime ruled by the oligarchy.  We, as a church, are not supposed to be dipping our toes into politics for the most part. We
Post a Comment
Read more

Selling Out

 Last Fall, I read a book called, "A History of Burning." It is a multi-generational story about a family that migrates from India to Uganda for hopes for a better future to help the British build a railroad, whose children through education secures a government job, but then Uganda throws off their colonial oppressors and gains independence and turns against the Indians who live there, and they have to migrate again and start all over in Toronto, Canada. It is a sad story of colonial power of the British Empire bringing in foreign cheap labor to build their infrastructure that leaves out the local population. And once Uganda gets independence, the corporations still control much of the economy and fosters division between the Ugandans and Indian to keep the country unstable. It is a triumphant story of human determination in the face of adversity, but only a few make it.  One of the first paragraphs in a Wikipedia search about Africa told me that Africa is politically unstab
Post a Comment
Read more