Greetings to you all in the name of Jesus Christ. It has been another great week in Brookings for me. I am still mostly in the office but am helping Pastor make shut in calls and visits. I absolutely love making visits. It is so good for the people who you are calling on, but it is by far even better for myself. These little old ladies who are in their houses by their lonesome most of the time are so excited to have company and some one to talk to. However, talking with them, hearing their stories, seeing their smiles, enjoying their humor and spirit, it all brightens my day and makes me so happy to be a Christian who has these wonderful people in my acquaintance. There are some sad and tough times when they talk about their pain, suffering, or loneliness, but there is always a comfort in the Gospel message to be shared.
I am still enjoying meals with members from the congregation and loving the chance to get to know so many of them. I have also been super busy lately working on the parsonage. Last week we tore out a few walls, ripped up the floor, pulled out cabinets, and did some other demolition. Now we are hanging drywall, mudding, putting new floor down, and other steps of the remodeling process. I love doing carpentry work like that so even though it has eaten up much of my free time I still thoroughly enjoy it.
I got to go to the races twice this last weekend. I went with a member and two of his kids on Saturday night to Huron. Then Sunday night Pastor Wurm and I went to Brandon to the races there. I have missed good old dirt track races. It was especially fun because Pastor Wurm used to be pit crew chief for a guy who races Sprint cars. He was able to teach me A LOT I did not know about Sprint cars.
I feel bad because Erin works all day and then in the evenings I have been busy working on the house, attending meetings, and other things so our schedules haven't been the best for making time for each other. It's the biggest downfall with long distance. However, we still are calling once in awhile and trying to Skype when we get the chance. Once I am in the vicarage house, not going to meals with members or working on the parsonage, I will have a lot more free evenings to talk to her. I miss her so much but know it is worth it to be with her.
My thought for the day comes from a talk I had with a member last week. I will not share details because I do not want to break any lines of confidential conversation, but he said he does not come to church much when his son is not with him because he sees all these happy families and wants one so bad he's jealous. I didn't say this to him but I wish I had and plan to try to share it with him as I continue to talk with him, but I wanted to tell him the church IS his family. Yes, we all have our own families with moms and dads and grandparents and kids and grandkids, but the cool thing about a Christian community that truly lives as a Christian community is that we are all one big happy family. I know I just posted not too long ago about being the one body of Christ, but we are also the one family of God. This point came up again in a discussion I had with Pastor Wurm. We had covered Matthew 22 in Bible class and we talked about the passage of verses 23 through 33. We talked about the Sadducees and their errors of not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God. However, we skipped over the part that in the resurrection we will not be married or given into marriage. This is a verse that has always made me wonder. I have spent so much of my life dreaming about having a wife and kids, and that dream has only gotten more real and more exciting with Erin in my life, but to think that if we get married and spend 50 or more years on this earth as husband and wife, then in the new creation we wont be... this troubled me a little. So I didn't ask in Bible Study but waited until it was just Pastor and I in his office and then I asked him. He again brought up this idea of the family of God. Since we are all adopted as the children of God through the work of Christ, we will all be brothers and sisters in the new creation. Marriage was instituted for the purpose of procreation and since we will most likely will not be having more kids in the new creation we do not need to be married. So it makes sense that we will all be brothers and sisters in Christ and will not be given into marriage. This also makes sense because a man marries a woman who is his wife, but then she dies. He waits awhile but falls in love again and marries a second time. This is not a sin, but in the new creation will he have both wives? Well not according to the Gospel of Matthew, and it is because he will be a brother to both women. It is a hard concept to wrap our minds around and it has led my mind down several trails that all come up with the answer "I don't know". There is so much of our faith that is a mystery to us and we must simply trust God, and all those deeper questions are included in that category. However, this is good news. The fact that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and will be one family in the new creation is a powerful image. Next time you see that person from church who you just cannot stand because they gossiped or hurt you, next time you see a nasty divorce between two Christians who now resent each other, next time you see a single person who just so badly wants a family of his or her own; you can remind them or yourself that we all are one family. That person you resent will be your brother or sister in Christ in the new creation so maybe you should forgive them and make amends. That uncivil couple who never wants to see each other again are not going to be ex-husband and ex-wife in the new creation, but brother and sister in Christ, so maybe they should forgive each other and be civil Christians to each other. The thought of being alone with no family should not exist, because we will not only all be brothers and sisters in Christ, one big family in the new creation, but already are. We have all been adopted and made children of God already and should live as one community of believers who look out for each other, bear each other's burdens, and include everyone with loving open arms. We are the family of God. This does not mean you have to think of your spouse as your brother or sister, but know that in a spiritual way they really are, and so is each and every one of your neighbors. Let us strive to live as that one family who lives, works, celebrates, and worships together out of our common love that God has shown us through His Son, our Savior. All Praise be to our Father who has adopted each one of us through the Gospel, making us children of His and making us heirs of His eternal life and forgiveness of sins.
Dear Heavenly Father,
While we do not understand the entire complexity of Your plans and works of salvation, we pray that You may give us Your Spirit to open our minds to the truth of Your Gospel message, open our hearts to the comfort of Your love, and give us the strength to live as loving obedient children of Yours who live and worship together as one faithful family. We ask all this in Christ's name. Amen.
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