Recently as we were traveling, the song Turn! Turn! Turn! by The Byrds was playing. For those who are not into classic 60’s rock, the song is based on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. The song made me think about how much we have experienced at Lord of Life over the last two years and where I hope we will be in the next two years. The Advent message that Pastors Lowell and Alec are sharing under the theme of light and darkness being part of our lives in Christ also speaks to the branched theme in Ecclesiastes. Each verse in Ecclesiastes calls to mind our Lord of Life experiences. Here are my impressions:
Verse 2: A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot
We have been part of both these within our church family. We have celebrated new life through baptism and celebrated the life of friends and family that we have lost over the past two years. Also, in a sense, we have experienced this as we have made changes to the ways that we worship going from our well-established services within the confines of a 25+ year old sanctuary to completely online to a sanctuary reimagined for today’s world – the former is gone and the new begins.
Here at Lord of Life, we have welcomed new members into our family as we also said goodbye to others. The former members leave us with a hole in the community that we look to our new family members to begin to fill as they plant their roots here to help us carry out our mission.
Verse 3: A time to tear down and a time to build
What an appropriate theme for us here at Lord of Life! Through our Share the Light campaign we have experienced exciting changes in our sanctuary and gathering space. We look forward to the next two years and our continued growth through Share the Light. We will continue to practice patience as we build out our physical structure.
Verse 4: A time to weep and a time to laugh, time to mourn, and a time to dance
We have wept at losses we have experienced over the last two years and at the many tragedies that have overwhelmed us in our community, in our state, in our nation, and across the world. But just as we have wept, we remember that Jesus is always present and supports us, and we are renewed with laughter and dance as we celebrated events such as birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, births, and weddings. We are moved to laughter as we watch our youngest listen and respond to the messages from Pastor Lowell and Pastor Alec and their antics (along with John Johns).
Verse 5: A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing
Isn’t this so appropriate in today’s environment? We have started to move from the days of no visits with our friends, children, grandchildren; no handshakes or hugs as we shared the peace with our church family to the hugs with our loved ones to a friendly handshake.
Verse 7: A time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak
Now we look to the next two years here at Lord of Life. We need to begin to mend the tears that the last two years of the pandemic have brought us to where we are now. How do we do that? We need to listen to God - as in the words in the Old Testament – 1 Samuel:3 and Isaiah:6 where God calls the prophets to act according to His will. We need to speak to our mission - To Live, Share and Celebrate God’s love through Jesus Christ. Here at Lord of Life, there are many ways that we can participate in God’s work – in worship, outreach, and faith formation. When you are called to serve as part of our mission, listen to God – he has a plan for you.
In Christ,
Denise Krallman, council president