Dear Church,
We’ll, we’re back at it. I felt as if it took a good day and a half after last week’s time spent with family and friends to dust the cobwebs off my brain. And it is good to be back home. Last week I had a chance to reconnect with Seminary colleagues, great friends from High School that I see only a handful of times a year and attend a beautiful wedding on New Year’s Eve. But before we start putting dates on the calendar for 2012 and already planning and preparing for future events and vacations, let’s just take one more deep breath of 2011. One of the things that I’m working on is to take time to look back to look forward. Which, I realize at first doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Here’s what I mean. So often I’m guilty of pressing, pushing and moving forward in life and ministry that I fail to look in the rearview mirror and take in just how many miles we’ve covered. I think what makes this all the more staggering is the presence of a son in my life. I get excited about him starting to reach out for me and working on crawling. It seems like an eternity ago that I brought him home from the hospital and introduced him to what I call “his brother with fur.”
We’ve come a long way in 2011. As a Church, we’ve grown numerically, Biblically and missionally. It is my hope and prayer that you as an individual have come a long way in 2011. Maybe it was a habit you kicked, a relationship you mended, or a prayer you saw answered. 2011 was yet another year of God’s faithfulness. As your pastor, I have so much to be thankful for this past year. I’m grateful for an addition to my family and the gracious Church baby shower thrown by so many of you. I’m grateful for a dynamic and creative staff that works so well together and brings out the best in one another. I’m grateful for a wife whose categories of grace and patience I’ll never comprehend. And I’m grateful for the trust you have in me to serve alongside of you in this wonderful adventure of ministry. For these and so many more, I give thanks.
On Sunday, we’re going to have one more opportunity to look back to look forward. We’re going to celebrate the tradition that I brought toFirstChurchcalled “The Tolling of the Bells” service. On Sunday morning, the bell will toll for the 15 friends who were taken home to glory. We’ll remember their face. We’ll be reminded of where they sat in Church. And we’ll remember their importance in the body of Christ. We’ll also light 10 candles for the 10 times we gathered around the waters of Baptism. Ten times we were reminded of God’s covenant of grace with us. We’ll remember what their names meant. We’ll be reminded of the promises we made to them. And we’ll remember their importance in the body of Christ as well. I love this service. You can’t do this service at what some call a “mega-church” where funerals aren’t announced and Baptisms are like assembly lines. But we do it here atFirstChurch. We believe it is important to celebrate the lives of those who have paved the way for us and we believe it is equally as important to celebrate the times when we promised to raise children in the faith.
We don’t mark the passage of time with calendars or day planners. We mark the passage of time with memories and experiences. We remember 2011 for the times we had dinner with friends, the times we blew out another set of birthday candles and the times we laughed together as the body of Christ. So go ahead and do me a favor. Before worship on Sunday, just take a few minutes to yourself and think back on 2011. Think about some of the great times of 2011, and go ahead and think about some of the struggles of 2011. Think about the people who were important to you in 2011. Think about your prayer life in 2011. Think about what you came from in 2011. And as you do, go ahead and look back to look forward.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Matt
