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From the pastor's desk. . .
Then Mordecai told them to return answer to Esther, "Think not that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father's house will perish. Esther 4:13-15 (RSV)
It is truly an honor to greet you as the new pastor of Grace Church. Great is the faithfulness of our God who has gently led us down intersecting roads to become "pastor and people." I trust in God's faithfulness for our journey ahead. Dene, Kenan and I are slowly getting acclimated to our new life in the South Bay and in the Grace Baptist Community. We are thankful for the support of the Search Committee and the Grace membership for assisting in this transition. God has been preparing, us for this day. The Grace Church was been, prepared at the same time that our family was being readied for this partnership. I am grateful to the leadership of Grace for "holding" the community during this period of transition. Particularly, I wish to express my appreciation to Rev. Anthony "Tony" Fieni. His service as Grace's Interim Pastor birthed a relationship that I am proud to inherit. The ministry and fellowship we have with the Pate House Recovery Program is one that, I believe, will prove to be life changing for our church and community. As I write this, my first piece for the Chimes, I am reminded of the message preached the day Grace extended the call to me to serve as pastor. I remember the story of Esther's journey to a sense of agency, and to a sense of readiness for the call on her life. I want to remind Grace and its extended family that we are ready for the journey ahead. As with Esther, there are many obstacles that stand in the way of us believing that God has called us for such a time as this. Some of us believe that our time has come and gone or that it is yet to come. We may feel as though the challenges and risks are too great for the kind of ministry that is needed for today's church and today's generation. But God has called us, just as we are, "for such a time as this." The Grace Church has the blessing of a rich diversity. We are multiracial, multicultural, cross-generational community with varied life experiences and various ministry calls. Perhaps we look like the first church did in Acts 2. Passers-by may look in wonder and ask, "What does this mean?" Like Peter, we get to proclaim' the Good News of Jesus and be a unique ministry to our community. We look forward to this great adventure, this faith journey to live out the grand dream of the Kingdom of God "for such a time as this". |
