GRACE NOTES, by Pastor Pat
MARCH, 2010
As you think back over your
life, you can no doubt think of many things that you learned by watching and
then imitating. This is how we learn
to ride a bike, drive a car, cook a meal, balance our checkbooks. It is also how we learn to share in
kindergarten, to 'act cool' in high school, to figure out work dynamics in the
prime of our lives and age gracefully in older years. In short, we learn about life in community.
It is so with the Christian
life as well. There is no example
in the Bible of a lone disciple.
Even Paul, after his dramatic conversion and long stay in the desert,
went to Jerusalem and associated himself with the apostles and later with the
church at Antioch. When he planted
churches, he always travelled in the company of others. He had a team-relationship at different
times with Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy.
This relational, community-based model of disciple making had been
demonstrated by Jesus and the disciples, and it provided the necessary support
for Paul and the early church in the turbulent period after Pentecost.
This time of transition that
we are in is precious and has the potential to form a firm foundation for the
new congregation that will emerge.
It is a time of forming relationships and building community. Peter Boehlke and I are a team. We are different in every possible way,
and yet we respect each other and honor each other's gifts. We find energy in working together, in
using our differing gifts in partnership to lead more effectively. We pray and laugh and ponder and
question - - - and then more often than not, there comes an 'aha' and the way
becomes clear.
In the last month, I have
attended multiple meetings that included folks from each congregation as they
begin to ponder the many decisions that are before us. I have seen relationships begin to
form, and community begin to build.
These two churches have, in some cases, quite different ways of doing
things, and yet there is one thing that we share: We are disciples of the same Jesus Christ. It takes a community of fellow
disciples who can help each other learn to live a life transformed by the Holy
Spirit. Without a community in
which we can learn, practice, fail and eventually move out from as agents of
change, we are left without a secure foundation. Without a foundation of community, the church will
ultimately, fail. We can do
together what no one of us could do alone.
Robert Barclay, in his
writing, 'An Apology for the True Christian Divinity', first published in 1678
observed:
"Many lighted candles, when gathered together in a single place,
greatly augment
each other's light and make it shine more brilliantly. In the same way, when many
are gathered together into the same life, there is more of the glory of
God."
MAY OUR COLLECTIVE
LIGHT SHINE!
*
* * * * * *
MARCH SERMONS AND SCRIPTURES
Rev. Peter Boehlke,
preaching
March
7th THE
GIVING TREE Isaiah
55:1-9
Luke
13:1-9
March
14 AN
EXTREME MAKEOVER Joshua
5:9-12
II
Corinthians 5: 16-21
March
21 A
NEW THING Isaiah 43:
16-21 Philippians
3: 4b-14
March
28 A
HOLY WEEK
Luke 19: 28-38
Palm/Passion
Sunday Luke
19:45-48
Luke
20:20-26
Mark
4:3-9
Luke
22: 14-18,
24-27.35-46
Luke
22:66-23:1-47
reformatted for hamlinechurch.org
from monthly newsletter THE LIVE WIRE