Something Going Around

So I'm not sure what it is, or whether it's always this way but we're only aware of it a times, but it seems like a number of pastors and church leaders have some challenges right now. Maybe it's because everyone is still a bit tired from the Christmas to Easter dash we had this year. Maybe the general tension that seems to pervade out nation these days between campaign accusations and economic fears. People just seem grumpier. And, yeah, it just seems like it's going around. I was talking to a pastor serving right now on a leadership role outside of a local church, and she sais she's hearing lots of pastors with some problem or other that just seems frustrating. Maybe it all just goes in cycles.

Meanwhile, it's exciting to see all the amazing things that are happening in our church and conference...we get really good at obsessing when things aren't going perfectly and we sometimes forget to celebrate the successes, like people growing as a result of Bible studies, or people being drawn into the congregation through authentic relationships and programs that reach them where they are.

In our conference, new initiatives related to ministries with young adults, the Hispanic population of Frederick, and our continued relationship with United Methodists in places like South Korea (from where our congregation hosted a pastor and his wife last year) and the support our apportionments give to work in Liberia all remind us of our role in a much larger mission.

So it's cool to see that, to be reminded that growth--which is always a mark of life, and the absence of which is a mark of death--may include some "growing pains," but always draws us into exciting opportunities and new places to serve Jesus Christ.

Where have you seen God this day? I saw God while taking a brief lunch-time walk with my fiance Chris, near Harpers Ferry, WV. On the Maryland side of the Potomac River, we saw rocks which are normally dry and which form an otherwise rather dangerous-looking ravine down the side of Maryland Heights. Today, after recent rains, and with the sun shining warmly upon us, there was water flowing down the rocks in a series of waterfalls. Chris said, "Well, I guess God did alright with this." Indeed. Of course we talk about God's creation all the time, but sometimes we need to be reminded of it more explicitly. Yep, God did alright for sure.

:-) Sarah