From the Pastor’s Desk 
November 2007

From The Pastor’s Desk – November 2007

I spoke with someone recently who is about to retire and is thinking about attending divinity school in his retirement years.  “Great,” I said, and then I went on to tell him about how pivotal those years of seminary were in my life and faith formation.  Also, I shared how the repetitive discipline of revisiting the scriptures over and over had affected my heart more dramatically than my head.  Later I asked what had prompted him to make this decision, and he answered, “I am mostly going for intellectual reasons.”   I was shocked but not entirely surprised.  We struggle with this dichotomy of faith at the Federated Church as well.   Basically, we struggle to synthesize what we can see and understand, with belief in the unseen, mysterious nature of God.  As a preacher of the Gospel, I routinely find myself speaking about the nature of God.   I find myself speaking not about what I can explain, but what I hold onto for dear life. I do not speak out of intelligence alone (Can I get a witness!), but rather out of a conviction that comes from my heart.  Belief in God, for me, is more about what I have given my heart to than what I can fully explain or prove in rational, intellectual argument. 

We are fortunate to have intelligence quotient as a resource in how we organize and administer our lives.  However, as people of faith, believing in God, we are challenged with a higher calling than human intelligence.  We are challenged with living faithfully and therefore giving credibility to what is eternal and a mystery to us.  How we arrive at the place in our lives where we are willing to believe in the unseen is directly connected to our worship.  As we enter into worship on a regular schedule, we find that the repetition of God’s Holy word, the stories of faith and mystery, the singing of praise and worship hymns, and the good company of people searching for the truth of God will permeate our lives and leave us hungry – not hungry for more intellect, but rather, hungry for more of the unseen, miraculous power of God. 

We are a church with a high calling – a calling rooted in generations of faith and practice.  We get to carry each other, encourage each other, and challenge one another to a life filled with miraculous expectations.  These expectations can lead us to step out together and embrace far more than we can ever imagine in isolation.  We are a church made up of a community of saints.  The longing of our hearts for the hope in Jesus Christ compels us to share and uplift one another in this journey of faith in the Lord.  I encourage you to embrace the journey.  I encourage you to be one who is willing to carry as well as be carried; one who is willing to encourage as well as be encouraged; and finally one who is willing to step out and reach for the impossible, all to the glory of Holy God. 

 

Jason

 

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