Dear Members and Friends of St.
John,
As I write my devotion this week, my heart is full. I am both exhilarated and exhausted. I have experienced amazing love, but also have
real questions about the future. Sunday morning,
August 25 was my last Sunday as full-time senior pastor at St. John. Then, Sunday
evening, St. John held a retirement celebration which I experienced to be both a
festival of love and an adventure of faith.
I am still basking in the glow of that day, but also recovering from the
emotional aspect of the event.
If you worshiped at St. John last Sunday morning, you
know that, based on Luke 13:30, I spoke about “Living by God’s Grace Alone.” There were emotions shown in worship that
morning, and I was not the only one with tears in my eyes. Sunday afternoon’s retirement worship service
and presentations celebrated the love of God in our midst, and celebrated our
Lord’s love shown among His people at St. John.
To be the center, in many ways, of such a celebration is humbling, but amazingly
heart-warming.
Since I am retiring, it is natural that some of the
attention of the day focused on me. However,
and that is a BIG ‘however’, there is a danger when any one person is
celebrated. I shared this danger both
Sunday morning and Sunday evening. This assertion
may surprise you, but please listen to the words of God through St. Paul in his
second letter to the Corinthian church.
Paul wrote to this church about his work as a leader to Christ’s people.
“For
we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your
servants for Jesus' sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:5) Paul did not preach himself, he preached
Jesus! Jesus Christ is our Creator
God. Jesus is the Son of God who gave
His life for the sin of the world. Jesus
is “the way, the truth, and the life.”
HE is the Savior of the world.
Jesus, our risen Savior is ruler of all, sitting at the right hand of
God, and is Lord of the Universe.
Thankfully, God uses people to do His work. But, the one who deserves our heart-felt
worship is first and foremost, our Lord Jesus!
This was even true last Sunday.
Nevertheless, my response to the
events of last Sunday can be best described in Paul’s words in Philippians 1. “3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with
joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on
to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
First of all, what a JOY to gather last Sunday with my family,
with my Christian family – the church, and with so many friends. THANK YOU for celebrating on Sunday the
ministry of Jesus that has happened between us at St. John! My heart is full!
In addition, I honestly believe that the greatest
adventure of this life is doing the work of spreading God’s kingdom, the work
of sharing our Lord’s love. A Christian
life of service to our Lord is a journey full of many challenges and
difficulties. Therefore, I rejoice and I
thank you for what Paul called the “partnership in the gospel” which I have shared
with God’s people! What a joy to work
together with other believers along this journey in this most important calling
of this world, the work of sharing the way to eternal life which is found in Jesus!!
Finally, I wrote above that I have questions about my future. I have also heard questions from others concerning
the future of St. John. However, I can
tell you one truth beyond doubt about the future we face. My future, and the future of St. John, are in
the same hands now that I have retired that they were in before my
retirement. Thankfully, as Paul wrote, I
am “confident
of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion
until the day of Christ Jesus.” It was the Lord Jesus who was present when work
was begun at St. John in 1935. It is the
Lord Jesus who continues the work of salvation in our lives today and into
eternity.
Last Sunday was an
amazing day! I am still basking in the
glow of the celebration while also recovering from the emotions of the
event. In the middle of these
conflicting emotions, I find peace to know that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until
the day of Christ Jesus.” This work
of our Lord is true for me as an individual child of God. God is also continuing to carry on His work
at St. John.
A Child of God, Basking
in the Glow While Recovering from the Emotions of last Sunday,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. Here are some
pictures from the baptism of Henry Koepp Sunday morning, August 25, https://photos.app.goo.gl/DqKAXoKWwUERaxa86
P.P.S. Here are
some pictures from the Sunday afternoon retirement celebration. https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sh4dHJ6ayyUcEbjv8
P.P.P.S. This e-mail
is my last “Thoughts from the Pastor” which I am writing as full-time pastor at
St. John. My retirement is effective as
of August 31.
However,
when I retire I will continue to write these devotions, but I will no longer
send these e-mails as a St. John newsletter, since I won’t be pastor at St.
John. I will post these devotions on my
Facebook page, but not on the St. John Facebook page, for now at least. I
believe the devotional articles will also continue in our local newspaper, The
Frontiersman, each Sunday.
Please respond to let me know if
you want to continue receiving them. If
you respond with a “Yes” then I will include you on the new distribution list. You can respond to me at jonrock53@mtaonline.net
to let me know.
******
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 do not want to receive this e-mail, please let me
know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message.
******
THANK YOU!! THANK YOU to everyone for the words of love
and encouragement as I retired, and for the celebration of August 25!! We are God’s family and that was very evident
again at this celebration!
++++++
No comments:
Post a Comment