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Our winter wonderland continues! Now if I could just find a place to put all that snow in the driveway… Perhaps your appreciation for the white blanket over our community has continued to blossom. Maybe you’ve found yourself feeling a bit grumpy about a forecast of yet another 5” coming tomorrow; but personally, I have to recognize and give thanks for the ability to work largely from home in this season, such that on mornings like this, I can pick away at that fresh dumping on my driveway as I have opportunity. In other words, I didn’t have to be among those neighbors out working after midnight last night nor counted among the “blower community” that was actively working at 5:30 a.m.
This week’s sermon text reminds me that plenty of others don’t have that luxury. We’re exploring the brief story of Jesus healing the mother-in-law of Simon Peter, a woman who quickly rebounds from her illness to serve them without so much as missing a beat. While I won’t go into the potential offense one might feel when reading this, I do want once again to commend the many “service workers” upon whom you and I depend. They often don’t have the choice of whether or not they will wander out into the 40 mph winds to do the essential work that keeps our community humming. It’s not just the snow plow drivers, of course, but every grocery employee, food deliverer, nurse, store manager, and technician whose wage depends on the hours they spend outside of their abode. Let’s each make a point to thank them for their work as they have been doing so amid a COVID environment for a year now!
I hope that you will also pause to give thanks for Kim Behr and Bryce Henson who are stepping away from their respective roles on our Visioning Council. They have each been gifts to our community during this challenging year in ways you likely can’t begin to appreciate! I hope that you will be praying for those who have answered the call to serve in coming months – Ben Meyer, who will assume the president’s role, Marcy Duncan, serving at-large, and those who have been re-elected, including Jack Fratzke, Steve Roe, and Gretchen Warkentin. Their willingness to step up at this time inspires me. I hope that it encourages you to ask where you are being called to serve.
I am humbled by the bold step to approve our $358,000 proposed budget this year, which will greatly help us to sustain ministries and further them in ways that we have yet to discover and imagine! Many, many thanks for your generosity and willingness to invest anew in the causes of Christ.
Hope that you can be present with us this weekend and to give thanks in whatever way you can!
Pastor Tim