So it's always interesting to try to figure out exactly what to write for your first newsletter article (an ancient United Methodist tradition). That was today's excitement...what to write for my first (and front page) article for Calvary--for the July newsletter. Chris thinks they probably expected more personal information...I don't know. I tried to talk a bit about me, but it's just hard to think of writing a whole page about myself...I mean, I'm coming as a pastor...shouldn't I quote scripture and theology and history...? At any rate, here's what I came up with:
In the fall of 2004, the first semester of my junior year is college, I had one of those moments we are each fortunate to have—if only a handful of times in our lives. I was about halfway through my semester abroad in Greece, and my program (all 100+ American students and out teachers) were in the midst of a trip to the island of Crete. One morning, I woke up early, and sat on the patio of our hotel. As I watched the sunrise and wrote postcards home, I was overcome by a sense of what I supposed can best be described as contentment. I knew at that moment I was just where I was supposed to be. As the sun rose over the water, and I reflected on both the joys and challenges of being so far away from home, suddenly all the anguished nights, language barriers and cultural adjustments faded away. I knew God was with me. Right then. Right there.
As I come to Calvary to join you in ministry, I am excited to live into more of those “God with us” moments. I am not interested in what we can do nearly as much as I am in what God can do in and among us. This is a core belief of all of God’s people—that our God is with us. Not distant. Not off on a lunch break. Not sitting back and waiting to see how we handle things. With us!
I always get a kick out of the prophet Elijah’s taunts of the priests of Baal in 1 Kings 18:21-40. As he is engaged in a challenge with these 150 priests (think the theological and miracle version of American Idol), Elijah mocks the priests suggesting, “Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” (1 Kings 18:27, NRSV)
We worship a God who is with us always. In fact, for all the wonderful theology, ecclesiology and piety of John Wesley, do you know what his last words are said to have been? “The best of all is God is with us.” This Emmanuel, God-with-us motivated life is pretty incredible, if you ask me.
A couple years after that Cretan sunrise, I sat in another place God had led me—meeting with the supervisory committee at a church I would serve for a summer while in seminary at Duke. One of the men, either in an attempt to stump me or an earnest attempt to get to know me, asked me to summarize my understanding of the Gospel message in one sentence. Perhaps you are also wondering about this pastor coming to serve alongside you. We will have lots of time to share together about the finer points of theology and practice, of scripture, tradition, reason and experience. In one sentence, though, here it is: God is with us.
I look forward to joining you in ministry as we continue to discover where God is in and around us, that we might find ourselves just where God has called us to be, for “such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14, NRSV)
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