October 2006

From the Pastor

Dear Co-laborers with Christ,

On behalf of myself and my family I want to thank all members of Grace Lutheran Church for all of the prayers, support, sympathy, cards, notes, food, personal presence, memorial contributions, and so much more that we received from you at the time of the death of my wife, Elisabeth, and since. I thank God for all of you and for our life together here at Grace Church.  

Back in 1998, when we were confronting a serious recurrence of my wife’s metastatic breast cancer, Elisabeth wrote a short, personal essay that she called Confronting Serious Illness and Thinking about Death. It has been shared within our family for several years. I share it with you now:

 “When I was diagnosed with breast cancer the first time I was 42 years old; my children were 7, 8, 11 and 14 years old. Tests showed that 7 of 12 lymph nodes contained traces of cancer. The doctor told me that, if I agreed to chemotherapy treatments, my chances of surviving five years were 60%. That was sixteen years ago. At the time I did not think I would make it, but I had a strong feeling that my family still needed me, and during the first bout with chemotherapy I tried to live as normal a life as possible.

 “When I was at Lancaster General Hospital there was a nurse who was called ‘the mastectomy nurse.’ She wanted me to cry about the loss of my breast. But I remember thinking, ‘What does it matter whether you have one breast or two if you are going to die within a year?’

“I went for some counseling sessions with Dr. Wallace Fisher, who was our senior pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster at the time. He told me that it is normal to suffer depression after a major invasion of your body. He gave three major pieces of advice: (1) Follow your doctor’s orders (it is important that you trust your physician and respect his/her judgment); (2) Live your life one day at a time, and (3) Put your trust in God. God does not do anything that causes eternal damage.

“Doctor Fisher had mentioned in sermons several times that people usually ask ‘Why me?’,  but they should more often ask, “Why not me?’ I had no problem with that because I had a sister who died at age seventeen of leukemia, and I remember at the time thinking, why did she have to die and not I?

“What I find difficult to answer is the question, why do some people go through serious illness, recover or go into remission and do well, while others do not do well and die. Why does a young mother with pre-school children die of cancer? Why do children die of the same disease? I don’t think that I deserve to survive any more than they do. How can it be explained that some people, whose faith is just as strong as other people’s, don’t make it while others do?

“I believe that God does not want anybody to suffer and die. Illness, disasters, accidents, death, happen because God gave us freedom, and we have abused that freedom. The only comfort we can find when we confront these things is that God has already gone through it and is with us in our suffering and death.

“One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 139. It reads, in part:

"O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me!
    Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up;
    Thou discernest my thoughts from afar.
    Thou searchest out my path and my lying down,
    And art acquainted with all my ways…
    Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?
    Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
    If I ascend to heaven, thou art there!
    If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!
    If I take wing with the dawn and come to rest on the western horizon,
    Even there thy hand shall lead me,
    And thy right hand shall hold me fast.
    If I say, ‘Let only darkness cover me, and the light about be be night,’
    Even the darkness is not dark to thee,
    The night is bright as the day;
    For darkness is as light with thee.

“The psalm goes on to say how everything we are and have is made by God. I think, in difficult times of illness and suffering, the thought that can help us is that we cannot experience anything that God has not gone through already, and we cannot go through anything that God is not experiencing and suffering with us.

“The other aspect of going through a serious illness is the fact that there are so many people that help and support us. I think that one large part of how God shows himself in the world is through other people. It amazes me how many people showed empathy, kindness, and help to me and my family during the last year. Another great source of strength during my illness was the knowledge that I was on the prayer list of many people. I do believe in the power of prayer.

“At the same time there is the question of why God does not always answer prayer in the way we would like. I don’t think I am any more special in God’s eyes than the person that is diagnosed with cancer and dies a few months later. What I do know is that I have to live my life with a purpose, to demonstrate commitment to people and to God, and to trust that, in the end, God fulfills his purpose for all of us.”

Elisabeth lived another eight years after writing these words. She died on August 25, 2006. I think we can find strength and truth in her words that were as true then as they are now, “in sickness and in health…”

See you in church!

Faithfully, your pastor,

B. Penrose Hoover

From the Associate Pastor

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

    As I write this article for the October newsletter, I am in the midst of preparing for the 2006 Alive Alive event on September 15-17.  Alive Alive is a synodical youth event that takes place each year at Camp Nawakwa.  Three hundred youth and adult leaders will attend the event.  This year I was asked if I would preach at the closing worship.  The theme is mission and service.  So what do you say to 300 young people about service?  What do you say to assist young people in their faith journey?  Believe me, I am asking God to provide me the right words.

    I do have some initial thoughts.  First and foremost, I believe that every Christian, young and not so young alike, is called to worship and praise God.  The word “liturgy,” that which is our order for worship, is a word that literally means “work of the people.”  Worshipping God is our work, our service.  It is our most holy work to praise God, and it takes every last Christian to contribute to the effort.

    Second, we go out into the world to serve.  I once knew a pastor who concluded worship by saying, “The liturgy is ended, let the service begin.”  In other words, worship is our work, but through it God strengthens us for service in the world.  As Christian people who serve in the world, we are called to follow God’s greatest command to love our neighbor.  In truth, serving God and serving neighbor are inseparable.  If you serve God, you are serving your neighbor.  If you serve your neighbor, you are serving God.

    What I would suggest to young people and to all people who are interested in service is to make service a family event.  One of the “Four Keys” (four things parents can do to ground their children in faith) is to serve together as a family.  There are many ways families might serve together.  I would encourage families to seek ways they might serve at church.  At Grace, we have cleanup days at church and Kentland.  There are events like the Nut Fry, the Thanksgiving Food Box distribution, the Souper Bowl event, and others.  There are also ways to serve locally, such as the CROP Walk, Bethesda Mission, and the work days at our Lutheran Camps.  

    One of the best ways to serve is to do a mission/service trip.  In the spring, our congregation makes a trip to D.C. to work in a soup kitchen.  Or, imagine the possibility of your family serving together in the relief effort along the gulf coast.  When my wife was in her early teens, she and her family traveled to Haiti to do mission work.  They built homes and churches and ministered to people in various ways.  She still remarks how those experiences changed her perspective on so many things, and how it shaped her life of faith.

    Finally, loving service is the result of unpacking the great gift of faith.  Jesus said, “They (the world) will know you are Christians by your love” (John 13:35).  The world will know the hope that is in us not by the church we attend, the people we hang out with, nor the theology we teach.  They will know about the hope of Christ in us by our love, love that is expressed in sincere care and compassion for the neighbor, love that is expressed in service.  As I understand it, the way to tells others about Christ is to love and to serve all people; and who knows, someone may just ask why we are doing what we do.  And behold, God will grant the moment for us to share our faith that it may be a gift for others.

                                                                        Love and serve your neighbor in Christ,

                                                                                                Pastor Joel

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