Life is always in transition. At Grace Lutheran Church we are in the midst of a big one as we prepare to call a new senior pastor.
Scripture is about transitions as well, beginning with the first moment when everything transitioned from chaos to life in Genesis.
This year our theme for Lent will be "Crossing Over" as we spend time with some of these transitions.
As we begin this theme, I kick it off with a meditation from Archbishop Oscar Romero, Romero was the prelate of the Catholic Church in El Salvador before he was assassinated for speaking out against the military government's treatment of the poor in El Salvador. His assassin was never caught, but a UN commission believed after investigation that it was called for by a death squad leader of the government.
I hope that you find Romero's meditation as meaningful as I do.
It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, It is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete,Which is another way of saying that The Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that should be said.
No prayer fully expressed our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produced effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything,
And there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,
A step along the way.
An opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,Ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future that is not our own.- Archbishop Oscar Romero