Pastors Message

Pastors Message – March, 2015

“Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he
walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he
blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
Teresa of AvilaWe often think of Lent as a time to focus on Christ’s journey to the cross and the salvation and forgiveness it provides. And that is good. Yet we see in the Gospel of Mark a Jesus who call us to not just observe but to pick up our crosses and follow. To take up a cross, a sacrifice, a presence, a selflessness, a forgiving for others is what we are called to do. How often do we empty ourselves of our egos and our needs to focus on this?

“Then Jesus called the crowd and his disciples to him. “If any of you want to come with me,” he told them, “you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me. For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35 Good News Translation)

Peace in Christ,

Pastors Message – February, 2015

The Perfect Church (Author Unknown)

If you should find the perfect church without one fault or smear, for goodness sake, don’t join that church! You’d spoil the atmosphere. * If you should find the perfect church where all anxieties cease, then pass it by, lest joining it, you’d mar the masterpiece. * If you should find the perfect church, then don’t you ever dare to tread upon such holy ground, you’d be a misfit there. * But since no perfect church exists made of imperfect men, then let’s cease looking for that church and love the church we’re in. * Of course it’s not a perfect church. That’s simple to discern. But you and I and all of us could cause the tide to turn. * What fools we are to flee our post in that unfruitful search, to find at last where problems loom, God proudly builds His church. * So let’s keep working in our church until the resurrection. And then we each will join that church without an imperfection.

Dear Friends,

From the time of Jesus to the present the community of faith has been defined by brokenness. There are those who would define the church as perfect – if the church would only do this or do that, we would be better, happier, more perfect. If we are not aware of the ‘cracks’ in our own lives then we become judgmental of the ‘cracks’ in others. No one is a perfect ‘offering’. The cracks allow the light and spirit to enter in. The apostle Paul boasted of his weakness because it made him stronger. Our brokenness, whether in our relationships, health issues, loss of friends, family, jobs, finances, is an opportunity for God’s love, our love and care of each other, to enter in. When Jesus says, "This is my body broken for you", he expresses a truth we must embrace. As we welcome the New Year as followers of Christ my prayer is that our brokenness, that defines us as a ‘cracked-pot organization’, enables us to be a stronger church.

God Bless,