As I write this there are snow drifts nearly seven feet high around the church, with a temperature of about 7 degrees. I offer no judgement on this situation; it’s just the way it is this year in our part of Iowa, and we know how to cope with it. We complain, of course, because that’s one of the ways we cope, but deep down we know that before long the snows will melt, and Spring will come. We live with that hope, and we live because of that hope.
As I write this, our United Methodist Church is just a few days from a special General Conference to decide our way forward on the issues of human sexuality. By the time you are reading, that event will be done and decisions have been made that will affect the life of our Church. That’s just the situation we are in. And in this, too, we live with hope, because whatever decisions have been made, and whatever changes may come, God continues to be at work in and through the Church.
Spring planting will begin before we know it, and God will provide the growth that the farmers prepare for. New possibilities will emerge in our church as we continue to find ways to be effective and faithful in caring for each other, in caring for our environment, in caring for our neighbors.
My prayer is that we continue to be open to God’s leading, the direction of God’s Holy Spirit, as we explore new ways to organize our ministry, to care for the hungry families in our community, to lead our children and youth and adults into a stronger faith, and, in all the ways we can, to boldly share the love of Christ without exception to a world that desperately needs hope and healing.
