Pastor’s Page
Volume 10 Week 48
Pastor’s Thanksgiving
The Calling Of Pastor Is Far
From A Thankless Task; Thank You
I was reminded quite abruptly last Sunday that after serving ten months as your associate pastor, it was ten years ago that I received and accepted the call to be the fourth pastor of the congregation, following my esteemed colleagues, Pastor Klinkerman, Pastor Schroeder and Pastor Spree. Ten years seems like a long time, but it has sure flown by quickly. I think I know a little how Floyd Spree felt after the 28 years he said seemed like just moments in time.
Thank you for the very kind and generous gift in honor of our service here. It was totally unexpected (and unnecessary) but greatly appreciated! And in this week of Thanksgiving, it has caused me to reflect on the many treasures from the hand of God for which I am thankful.
This Pastor’s Page is probably more for my benefit than yours, but you’re welcome to read it if you wish.
The Best!
Of course the best and most treasured gift for which I am thankful this week is the gift of faith, to know and trust a Savior who knows me and loves me in spite of me. I’m thankful to God for the forgiveness of sins I receive each day in Christ’s love.
My own life has been a journey of exploration and discovery of the goodness of God, how high and wide and long and deep is his love, as Paul wrote the Ephesians. God was good to me to place me in a Christian home where the love of Jesus was shared and life in the Church was a weekly and daily matter. God was good to surround me with extraordinary servants who shared his love in meaningful ways in my youth, and the movement of the Spirit to grasp to significance of that love.
The best gift of all is knowing God through faith in Jesus. For that I’m most thankful, and will be on the day I meet him face to face and for eternity in his presence.
The Call!
And I’m thankful for the call issued me by this congregation in late 1993 to come and serve alongside Pastor Spree and among you all as associate pastor, and then as pastor. The call to a congregation is a holy and awesome thing. To receive a letter from a gathered group of Christians that states, “By the leading of the Holy Spirit, we believe that it is God’s will for you to shepherd this flock and to minister to us by God’s word and sacraments.” That’s heavenly. Literally. It’s from heaven. That’s a very humbling thing, and I am thankful for it.
The Bible teaches that there are no pastors without congregations. It is to the assembly of the saints that God gives the authority to raise up pastors. Pastors are just people like the rest of us who are lifted up from the pews and given responsibility for leadership. The giving comes from the people. It is a trust and a privilege I hope never to abuse. Thank you for your confidence and for the opportunity to use my gifts, inadequate as they are for the task, in service to you and in service with you in the Lord’s kingdom work. I’m thankful for the call.
And while I recognize that at any time the Lord may have other designs and another place for me to serve, I am committed to ongoing ministry with you. One of my favorite bumper stickers reads, “Please Be Patient; God Is Not Finished With Me Yet.” As the Lord continues his transforming work in me, I expect I will be a better pastor in ’05 than in ’04. Not perfect, but better. Thanks for your patience.
The Calling!
Besides the call from you to serve as your pastor, I’m thankful for the calling I have received from the Lord to serve as a pastor in the Church. Just as there would be no pastors without calls from congregations, there would be no pastors if God did not issue the inner call to serve.
I won’t bore you with the whole story, but you should know that it was not a calling I took lightly. It was halfway through college when certain people, peers and pastors, first suggested to me that I consider pastoral ministry. I fought and wrestled with God (and peers and pastors!) for about four more years before enrolling at seminary. I even took a year out from school and worked part-time in a church to explore the possibilities.
It hasn’t been a particularly easy road since then, but it hasn’t been that hard either. God has given me so many affirmations along the way that I remain greatly encouraged. Your kindness is part of that. If you want to know what humility feels like, have someone look at you and call you, “Pastor” sometime. Wow!
When I’m home for a high school class reunion, the old gang doesn’t call me “Pastor.” The give me some pretty quizzical looks, however, when I tell them what I’m up to these days. I nod and say, “Yeah, weird, isn’t it?” This calling is an unbelievable privilege.
Spirit!
Churches
are living organisms. They have a
physical side, buildings and orders of service and committees, and they have a
spiritual side also. I’m thankful for
the spirit at
Far too many long established congregations are fractured by a bad spirit, a spirit of dissension and jealousy, or a spirit of power grabbing and control. I’m thankful that God has blessed us instead with a spirit of unity and a spirit of commitment.
The spirit of unity is due in great part to your grace toward me as your pastor. When I err, you forgive. Thank you. That’s the gospel. You know how to share the saving love of Christ with your pastor. That doesn’t happen everywhere.
And there is a growing spirit of unity among the widely diverse membership of the church. We’re changing. There is a good portion of our congregation that has been here for many decades, but there is a large, younger, newer crowd that has not been here so long. Our new members are assuming more and more responsibility for the future of the congregation, as they should, and that means change, as is necessary. This transition has been very slow, but it is accelerating. For long time members to be gracious with newcomers is a sign of God’s gift of unity. Some congregations don’t survive that kind of transition. I’m thankful.
And there’s a spirit of commitment among our members, a commitment to serve. I see it in our Directors, in our Board Chairs, in our committee members, and school families and in our staff and in every extraordinary servant who day by day goes the extra mile in thousands of acts of kindness and love all across our neighborhoods and beyond. God is raising an army, a church, in this place.
Family!
And I’m thankful to my family for the sacrifices they make night after night and year after year for my calling into ministry. I’m thankful for what wonderful servants of the Lord my children have turned out to be in spite of the awkward role of growing up in a pastor’s family.
And my thankfulness for Carol would take a whole special edition of this newsletter. Carol, I’ll just say it again. Thank you. You are a treasure and a gift from God to me and to this congregation.
I’ll be home as soon as I can.