What a gift it is to share this fellowship with you, and to know that - together - we are but a part of God's work going on here in Greencastle. There are weeks, like this one, where I often marvel at how lucky I am to be surrounded by individuals and families who are doing such good and loving work for our community. I've just emerged from a chat with Carol about her role as a CASA volunteer. I often bump into Patti Harmless as well and think of this valuable work in our community, a work begun in many ways by Diana LaViolette.
Carolyn McKee stopped in yesterday to both say hi to Trisha and check in with me about some ideas for a daycare fundraiser. She went on to share about how the members of her Tri Kappa group had just taken up a spontaneous collection for the Non-Food Pantry, an incredibly valuable ministry that provides immeasurable help to many in our community faced with limited financial means and ever-present life needs.
Kara Jedele and others will donate food to Beyond Homeless tonight, a welcome gift I imagine on this chilly, wintry day. I know that the women at the shelter were deeply grateful for the chili our youth made on Sunday and for the fleece pajama bottoms that Sammi Jo and Mary Jane donated as well.
And just this morning, I had the chance to gather with John Tischer and Maureen Langdoc as we gave some loving encouragement to Anna Sherrill, a young woman who is pouring out her love and energy to DePauw students who gather weekly for Coffee and Christ in a space just north of Old National Bank on the square. Maureen was kind enough to give me a book about taking a longer, loving look at our opportunity to truly embrace Black History Month.
We have many young people doing some amazing things. For the last month, Michael Lorimer has been pursuing a passion for motocross with a lot of help and support from his parents. Tonight we'll have two coaches on deck at Avon's aquatic centers, along with several high-schoolers who have been hard at work for many months now, practicing and training and adopting the posture of discipline that will take them far in life. A few of those swimmers have already broken school records. A few more may fall tonight. Meanwhile, Curt Lawrence just finished up a season of assisting with the North Putnam girl's basketball team.
Tomorrow, I imagine Heidi Menzel will once again be there after the students start to leave on Curry Friday - cleaning and washing dishes. On Sunday, some of you will make an extra trip to make sure one of our friends is able to join us for worship.
Like I said, it floors me sometimes to realize how much so many do in this community. It's one of the deep privileges of pastoral ministry. So often I get to watch and perceive a whole host of ministers and servants doing God's work throughout our community.
There's something very important in all of this. There's a reminder that the Spirit is always and ever at work in our community.
I've been reading a fair amount about St. John of the Cross, and I found myself especially grateful for this passage yesterday: "Evangelization here is not merely our task, entrusted to us by a now retired or exhausted Saviour. It continues to be his task; and his followers, sometimes, help ... Mission ... rests on trust; trust that while at times we may not see a way, the Holy Spirit has a way, and will not 'fail in his care.'"
The Holy Spirit, John wants us to remember, is always moving to do something good and beautiful in the world.
The question becomes whether we have the humility and trust to lay aside our own projects long enough in order to move in concert with God.
Many times, John would say, we can't. We get locked into ourselves. We become too fixated on things needing to be this way or happen according to this plan. When we get like this, we all too quickly become that "exhausted Saviour," trying to push this thing forward or address this hurt in our family right now.
For John, though, it's more about waiting for the wind of the Spirit to blow. We can't make it happen. But, when it does ... if we are open to the Spirit's leading, the Spirit will take us into new areas of discovery, of joy, of seeing God at work in the world, of participating in the healing. This can be hard because it requires us being willing to let go of our cherished homelands and trusting that God has new and better things still on the horizon.
The old quote goes that "one does not discover new lands without first losing sight of the shore for a very long time."
I'm curious this week what shores Jesus is inviting me/us to lose sight of for awhile, as I.we begin to discover the deeper ways God is at work in our community for its healing. I'm beginning to see that part of that "losing sight" means letting go of my own "visions" for what was supposed to happen and to boldly move forward in love to embrace new and different territories of his grace. This means learning new ways of interacting with the world around us too, and my sense is that this is a big opportunity for all of us. I hope most of all to fall in love with this community again with you and to see that the Spirit is doing amazing things here in Greencastle.
As we labor and love the world around us, we have the chance to do the same for each other. This is where it so often begins, right? With the actual brother and sister right in front of us, the one who has a need or an upcoming surgery.
So, with that, I invite us to keep Barbara Bates in our prayers. She is home now, which is good news. She was in the hospital for a few days. Her heart was beating a bit erratically, but they are monitoring her now. And she was as sweet as always when I just visited her.
Please pray too for Catharine Simmerman. Catharine is going in for out-patient surgery tomorrow up at St. Vincent's. She's going to have a portion of her thyroid removed, but the hope/belief is that the surgery won't require her to take any medications to compensate for the lack of thyroid production. I'm certainly praying for God's hand to make the surgery successful and her recovery quick. I know there are still more prayer requests, and let us continue to keep each other in prayer.
This Sunday we will have the privilege of ordaining and installing new members into our servant-leadership positions. It's a great gift to know that we do this work truly as the body of Christ, and that Christ is always working through each of us in unique and valuable ways. It's that beautiful mystery of Christian mystery. None of us is essential for whatever God is doing because it is the Spirit that does the work. And, yet, each of us are constantly being invited by God to follow the Spirit's leading to ... "sometimes, help" ... and to heal ... and to build up ... and to partner with.
Blessings on you as you continue to pursue Christ above all else,
~Pastor Wes
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