January 2007

From the Pastor

Dear Co-laborers with Christ,

Thanks to all of you for all the cards, notes, gifts, kindnesses and best wishes extended to me and my family by so many of you in the spirit of the season. May the gift of the Child of Bethlehem light your way and guide your hearts throughout the coming year. 

At the beginning of a new year, most of us look ahead toward the future that stretches out before us. We take stock of our lives and consider making meaningful changes. Some of us make resolutions for the new year that we actually intend to keep. But whether our lives in fact do take on new direction or lurch back into predictable routine, we do see an opportunity to make an effort at growth and renewal.

Still, our calendar is essentially artificial. This is the start of a new year only because we agree that it is. We measure out our years in a cadence we create, but even when a “new” year arrives, things still look much the same. The residue of years gone by remains with us and our lives do not easily embrace change. For most of us, 2007 will look much like 2006, be that good or bad. As the writer of Ecclesiastes woefully observed: What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecc. 1:9)

Perhaps the best resolution we can make is one of rededication to our faith. As this new year begins, let us renew our commitments to worship, to prayer, and to service in the life of the community of Christ that is Grace Church. It is in worship that we are reminded that God is doing a new thing in the world, constantly renewing our lives through the gift of Jesus Christ. Though changes in our lives are not always easily perceived, God continually draws near to redeem, renew, refresh, and re-create us as his children.

Each day is a new day. Each day is a new opportunity to serve the gospel of  Christ. When we claim these opportunities, our lives are made new. It was for this that Christ came into the world, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). Happy New Year!

 See you in church!

                                                                        Faithfully, your pastor,

B. Penrose Hoover

From the Associate Pastor

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

             A couple of weeks ago I had a conversation with another colleague in ministry that got me thinking about something which I wanted to share with all of you.  We were talking about the general understanding of “volunteerism.”  All of us, of course, are very busy with our lives and can only give so much time to organizations whether we are talking about school or church or some other institution or cause. 

            Our time is valuable and we want to make the most of it.  I read somewhere that the value now attached to one hour of volunteer time is over $18.00.  When we consider, then, the total number of hours we volunteer, there is a significant amount of value attached to the service which we provide as individuals and as a collective group, namely the church.

            Sometimes it is a struggle to volunteer because our time is pulled so thin, and we just can’t give any more.  But I want us to think about our volunteer time in another way.  I want us to think about the service we provide as “discipleship.”  I want us to think about our service as part of our walk with God, and I want us to think about how God gives to us in our service.  

            In other words, volunteer time should not be seen as simply what we are doing for others. In our serving others, God is shaping us into his image.  It is important to engage in service (volunteering) because God is working through us for the sake of others, but God is also showing us what He, God, is like.  Christ was a servant, who served all people.  And would we classify Jesus as simply a great volunteer who gave of His time to any and all social causes—poverty, hunger, oppression, and so forth?  That sounds a bit weird, doesn’t it—Christ, the volunteer?  More likely, we would say that what made Jesus the Son of God is His perfect obedience in servanthood.  He served others out of love for His heavenly Father and for the people of His creation.  To become like God, to truly be His disciple, we serve.  Volunteering time is walking as a disciple, whether we volunteer at church or in another capacity.  Helping out at a school function, supporting a social cause with our time, doing community service can very well be understood as examples of walking as a disciple of Christ. Volunteering time should not just be seen as something we are giving out of the goodness of our hearts, but it should be seen as the way God is caring for us in our faith walk.

            All the more, our discipleship begins at church.  It begins with the service we give in praising God in worship.  Worship is not just what we give to God.  It is what God does for us in creating and nurturing our faith.  In living our faith life in the church, God transforms our understanding about our service, so our egos don’t get too inflated.  Our discipleship begins in learning about being a disciple, because we can lose sight of what our volunteer time really is.  Volunteer time is God’s gift to other people through us.  Volunteer time is God’s gift to us in that God makes us into His faithful disciples.  I really do hope and pray that we would understand our volunteer time in this new way, because I think it can truly renew us in our service to God and to others.

                                                                        God bless you in your service,

                                                                               Pastor Joel Petruschke 

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