People of Galilee, why do you stand looking to the sky?
Jesus) has been raised from death and now goes ahead of you…
Dear Friends in Christ,
The words above are a combination from Acts 1 and Matthew 28. But the point is the same: God’s Word is always moving ahead of us, to familiar places and to new places. Jesus would say blunt things about the past like “let the dead bury the dead,” or we read the unpleasant story about Lot’s spouse ossifying when looking back, because our faith serves the future. And if God is a verb, then moving the the future is our constant call. Yet, to make it exciting, also at the end of Matthew Jesus also says “remember.” Remembrance fuels movement.
So Fred Craddock affirmed that Christians value both. He said “Memory is the soil in which hope grows.” Remember. But don’t go back. Move forth to new places. But don’t forget why you are moving.
We seek to accomplish both in the month of June. At our Annual Meeting we review and plan. At our Circle of Blessings we give things, and bless our quest for what comes next.
It has been a wonderful, precious, strange, unusual, purposeful, joyful year. Many classic, traditional, doctrinal Christian values have been in retrograde in our culture. Prominent people have said things and prayed for things that don’t sound Biblical or faithful to people who know the Bible and practice the faith. And, memory has been challenged, as dimensions of our faith values have been removed from museums, websites, and small classrooms and large universities. It can be hard to remember when you can’t find confirmation for your recollection.
Meanwhile here at NHCC (thinking back), we have walked to raise funds for the unhoused, united to support health care in Haiti, sent blankets and sandwiches and food pantry meals to Waltham and Newton, and we’ve prayed together week after week after week, as we should. And none of this is forgotten and all of this is the heart of our call.
Now, what will we do in the seasons ahead, in our complicated culture? When we look away from the sky to see how Jesus goes ahead of us, where will we go? Well, some of the same places such as the Allston Brighton Food Pantry and the Community Day Center of Waltham. The same places such as our sanctuary when we Re-Covenant in September and sit in candlelight to sing of the nativity. Back to Confirmation Class. But ideally to new places, too. I can’t find this online, and maybe it has changed, but there used to be a church in Providence, Rhode Island, with the motto, “Find something that needs doing and do it in the name of God.” It’s a paraphrase of Colossians 3:17. And it’s a pretty good polestar. And Christians like stars. They help to move ahead.
So here’s the request: If there is something that you see that needs doing, and it seems like something logical for the name of God, let us know. Our mission passion here is significant. Some efforts are one-time, some last for decades, some take a year or two, a committee, or a group of teens. What do you see that needs doing this summer, this fall, this generation? Really. And share what you see. Which is the way to remember, as Jesus invites, and to go ahead to the next place, where — apparently — Jesus is waiting for us, at least metaphorically. Maybe we’ll see him.
See you at the Meeting and the Circle and more, I pray.
Peace to you,
