Bethlehem Lutheran Church – Aloha, OR

“Growl, growl; we’re on the prowl.”

I thought I was pretty witty coming up with that cheer.  My daughters were playing volleyball for what was then called Lutheran High of the Rockies in Parker, Colorado. They were the Lady Lions—ironic, that a Christian school would choose a lion as their mascot, no? My little cheer rhymed, and it embarrassed my children—a double “Dad” win—since they did not appreciate either my cheer or my cheering it.

I share this memory with you as I think about the Church. With our buildings and our organizations, it’s easy to think of ourselves sitting. Our buildings sit at addresses—they do not go anywhere. Our organization fills pages of bylaws, constitutions and best practices. These pages go into folders and sit in drawers in filing cabinets. They do not go anywhere, either. But the Church does not sit still.

That can be hard to remember. With COVID and the attendant restrictions, our movement has been limited. We moved worship services, Bible classes and, even, our Sunday School and preschool classes online. I remain amazed at how well and how quickly all of this happened—a shout-out especially to Kerry and Eric for figuring it out and teaching the rest of us! So, “being the Church” became “watching church.”  A person could sit on their couch in their pajamas and not move.

You read the Bible and you see that God is always stepping into times that seem impossible and doing something new. Chaos—and He “genesissed.” (Yes, I made that word up.)  Flood—and He “Noahed.”  Egypt—and He “Exodused.”  Something new, each time, as God started again with us. We were dead in sin and swallowed up in the grave of our self-interest and selfishness. Jesus died our death, climbed into our graves, and raised us with Himself to live a new life.

The New Testament is pretty clear that “living” is not sitting still or locating oneself only at an address. The New Testament uses the word, “walk” to describe what we do as followers of Jesus. (You remember that those First Century believers described themselves as following the Way.)  We are on the move. We—as the Holy Spirit just will not let us stay the same—go, where Jesus sends us. Going, we have…

…joy in the journey,

Pastor Jeff Shearier