Dear Members and Friends of St. John,
This year our St. John men’s group, we call ourselves
Promise Keepers, decided to sign up for the state moose road kill list. We thought that by signing up we could get
some meat and help others in the process.
I delivered the application at the wildlife troopers’ office at the very
end of February and asked about the program.
They thanked me for our application. But, I was also informed that, because of the
many applicants, we could not expect to be called for about a year.
Therefore, it was a surprise when I arrived home from
Lenten worship and choir practice this past Wednesday, March 8, to receive a
call from Joel Larson. The troopers had
called him with an opportunity to harvest a moose on Trunk Road. This opportunity became quite an experience! First
Joel waited for 5 other men from our group to arrive. Then we experienced the
help of the Alaska Moose Federation.
Perhaps what we will remember most, however, is the brutal winter wind
whipping down the Matanuska River Valley.
Of course, the wind has been blowing for over a week, so maybe we should
not have been surprised. And maybe,
because of the wind, it isn’t a surprise that others said “no” to this
opportunity and we got called so soon, after being told we could expect to wait
a year.
The moose was delivered to the home of one of our members
where we skinned and quartered and hung the meat. We planned to finish the butchering a couple
of days later. All this skinning, and
gutting, and standing in the wind, and working as a team began around 9 or 9:30
p.m. I arrived home between 12:30 and
1:00 a.m. But, as Joel and I were driving
home he said something to me that could seem like just a normal statement of
fact. Yet what Joel said was actually
quite profound. As we were riding home
in Joel’s truck he pointed out, “You know there was some pretty good
camaraderie tonight.” Yes, we may have
gotten dirty, and bloody, and cold, and stayed up late. But 6 Christian men worked together for a
good purpose. There was team building, a
common purpose, and effort given to serve our Lord and others. There was good “camaraderie.”
However, this building of Christian relationships does
not only happen when 6 men harvest a moose.
Whenever people of God work together to serve the Lord and others,
people grow in their relationship with our Lord, and they grow in their
relationships with one another.
For example, the women of St. John have sewn quilts for
decades. Every year they send between
100 and 150 of those quilts around Alaska and around the world to do God’s
work. When the women of St. John sew
together to serve the Lord, Christian relationships are built. When Stephen Ministers meet, and encourage,
and pray together so they can support and encourage God’s children in time of
trial, Christian relationships are built.
When musicians combine their voices and their instrumental talents in
order to lead others in praising our Lord, Christian relationships are
built. When Christian people work
together to help homeless families, when God’s children combine their efforts
to provide Christian education to our children, when church members work and
serve on boards to provide programs and ministry for the people of St. John, Christian
relationships are built! (The only danger
in providing this list is that there are so many other ways that people serve
God and others that I don’t want to offend anyone by not mentioning them.)
In
Ephesians 4 Paul talks about God’s plan for His church. “11 It was he [Jesus] who gave some
to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be
pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that
the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and
in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole
measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed
back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching
and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who
is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held
together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as
each part does its work.”
(Ephesians 4:11-16)
According to verses 11 and 12, God’s plan is that
leaders “prepare God’s people for works of service.” (The New King James version translates this verse
to say, “for the equipping of the saints
for the work of ministry,”) According
to verse 16, God’s plan is that His people grow in their relationship with
Christ “as each part does its work.” When God’s people work together, in
response to the saving love of Jesus, relationships with Jesus and with other Christians
grow and are built up!
Actually, we all need this kind of growth and
building up! In this self-serving world each
of us needs to look outside ourselves and think of something and someone other
than ourselves. We need to serve God and
others in order that we might grow. In
this world, where people are so captured by electronic gadgets, we need personal
relationships and interaction with other people. In this world, where we struggle with sin and
failure and corruption, we need to grow in the one who died and rose to restore
us in our relationship with God. God’s
plan is that, when His people work together, this work doesn’t just build
camaraderie, but we grow closer to God and we grow closer to one other
Christians. That is why, as a pastor, I
have often suggested that each member of a congregation should take part in at
least one extra growth opportunity, and one extra service opportunity. It is part of God’s plan that we might grow
as His children.
How are you working with other Christians to serve
our Lord and to grow in “camaraderie,” in your relationship with God and with
other children of God?
A Child of God, Thankful
for the Camaraderie of a cold, windy, Alaskan winter night,
Pastor Rockey
P.S. We had quite
a number of activities at St. John this past week.
- Here are some pictures
from the St. John Marriage Retreat March 3-5. https://goo.gl/photos/b8NYgcqQXUwbKsVx7
- Here is one of our
youth enjoying a ‘little’ Confirmation
snack on Wednesday, March 8.
https://goo.gl/photos/xRsrnaE923qhhPSE7 Snacks are a favorite with our students.
- Here are pictures from
the Lenten Meal on Wednesday
night, March 8.
- Here are pictures from
a surprise moose harvest by our men’s group
P.P.S. And, here
are some pictures of ice fishing with Pastor Tony Schultz and Lutheran Indian
Ministries Vicar Rick McCafferty on March 6.
It was windy and cold on that day too.
****
ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE
PASTOR’ - I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to
all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have. (I am regularly
adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail
for the first time.) However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail,
please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this
message.
****
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