Pastor's Blog

This last week we talked about prayer in worship. It got me thinking about my prayer time. I’m good at praying at mealtimes, with my family, and at night before my kids go to bed. But other than that, I don’t have regular, defined prayer time. I have tried. Several years ago, I thought I would set up a regular sit down with just God and myself, nothing to distract me. I work at the church, so I decided to visit the sanctuary and just pray. This sounds like a peaceful time apart to focus all my attention… It didn’t work. There’re always things to do or someone to see and talk with when I’m at church. It was so hard to focus on God and not my to-do list. Then, I thought I would get up early and go on my back porch and read a devotion and pray. This didn’t work either because I like to sleep too much. But I do pray a lot without designated time.

When I slow down and start to pay attention, it’s not hard to see God all around me. I don’t always understand why certain things happen when and as they do, but God’s hand shows up in the details when I need a reminder. Today was Pastor Matt’s last day at South and the sermon topic, picked weeks ago, was Get Found in Belonging. There is not a single better way to describe what Christ South means to me.

Yesterday my son Zach was given a set of Bible tabs. You attach the tabs on the first page of each book of the Bible so that you can find them easily. As he methodically put on the tabs—all 66 of them—I was silently praying for him. Praying that the Bible would be more than just another book on his shelf. 

Each weekday, I have the privilege of walking into a “holy-chaos” full of glue, crayons, toys, bubbles and a lively group preschoolers. To some, this may not seem like a privilege, but to me it is a blessing. Every wide-eyed, cookie crumbed face is proof that God is faithful, and every crayon-masterpiece is a reminder that it has been God’s hand behind it all.

As I’ve been having several conversations with people about Pastor Matt’s resignation in terms of the stability of Christ South and the building of a worship center, after people get through the surprise and disappointment, they quickly move onto, “What are the next steps?” For that, I want to give you as many of those steps as I can see right now.

We have said several times during Covid that long-term planning is something like three weeks out. Guidelines change, variant strains emerge, and people’s comfort levels fluctuate. How can you plan now for something even two months away?

We have been searching, and we have finally found the right fit!! Several months ago, our full time Youth Director, Caroline Targonski, moved to Texas because of her husband Blake’s new job. Then, our part time Youth Director at Christ South moved on as well. So, we had two positions open. It was hard to cover the responsibilities of youth ministry, but with the help of wonderful parents, youth ministry still happened at Christ Lutheran.

I preached recently on Spiritual Sidetracks (Mark 5:21-43 NRSV) and this blog is a reflection on that particular message. If you’d like to hear the complete message, look at www.facebook.com/ChristSouth and look for the videos section. You should be able to access it by Tuesday at 5pm.

Sitting in your car at the corner of two busy roads, a person walks slowly towards you down the median, sign in hand, “Homeless. Anything helps. God bless you.” 

362 days without hugging our family and friends, without continuous in-person school, without our church community. The number our family tracked. Just shy of one year. A year that at times seemed to drag on and yet go by so fast. A year that was only supposed to be ‘two weeks.’ I remember in those first few weeks, trying to balance work, schooling from home and just the unknown. Boy was my patience and faith running on empty. Every time I was about to snap, I looked at my elementary-aged boys and saw hope, I saw faith. They had faith that we’d figure it out, that we’d be safe, that we’d be ok, that we would thrive. They had faith in me, even though I didn’t have faith in myself.

(OK. Maybe not the blood and tears part. Just the sweaty part.) “Tenny, you’re sweating. Are you OK?” “Just fine. It’s a gift.” Understand, this is just what I do, anytime the humidity gets higher than, say…2%! In my high school gym class (back then, we called it Phys. Ed—some of you remember), when Coach would tell us to warm up by taking a lap, I’d finish the lap looking like I took a detour through Niagra Falls. Every time. No one else. Just me.

On May 23, this congregation made the bold and faithful decision to move forward with the proposed building project on our Christ South land. Though we reviewed the design, sifted through the numbers, and walked through the timeline, this was a vote about the mission of Christ Lutheran to reach beyond our walls and further the work of the Kingdom of God. And for that, we were all in unison.

A couple weeks ago a crazy thing happened. A cyberattack targeted the pipeline that ran from the Gulf Coast to New Jersey. This happened on May 7. Thankfully with a full tank of gas, I was driving on May 11 and came to a standstill on Providence Road.

I love the Easter season. It’s the very center of the good news. And you all know that Matthew 28 is my favorite of all the chapters of the Bible, I bet. I preach on it… well… a TON. The chapter is full of such great stories and moments. They are really the bulk of the DNA of a mission developer pastor, which, by the way, is ALL pastors post-COVID – and maybe pre-COVID as well.

Around the time Jesus was born, Jewish believers held several different views on what happens to a person when you die. The Pharisees were known for believing in a resurrection, but another group called the Sadducees disagreed. They were “Sad You See,” because they held that once a person died there was no hope beyond the grave.