Pastor's Letter
October 2003
Dear Friends,
We are living a heritage of dreams. As we celebrate our 150th year of ministry as Elma Church we are living out, to one degree or another the hopes and dreams of that group of people who began this ministry 150 plus years ago. And even more we are living the hopes and dreams of all the disciples who have gone before us throughout the long history of Christianity, indeed of all the people of the covenant. On September 28th we march up the hill in the paths of our forbears who met and organized a class meeting there in a one-room schoolhouse. As we march down the hill we are walking in the paths of progress as they moved to build their own church building. These movements are symbols of the way we are marching in the way of all disciples who follow in the way of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We continue a tradition, a heritage of faith, however we not only walk in the pathways they have trod, we also make new ways in living and sharing the faith into which we have been baptized. It is a living heritage that we celebrate and just as we are the legacy of their hopes and dreams, so too, we need to reach for the hopes and dreams are Lord is leading us to.
Our forebears here at Elma Church and all the followers of Jesus who have gone before us have given us a gift, a sacred trust. The gift, is the love of God that has been shared with us and the opportunity is to be able to share that love in Jesus' name. It is a precious gift that has been given too us, one that we must care for, and nurture. It is a precious gift that loses its vitality if we only hold on to it and do not pass it on to others. Along with the gift of God's love have come the talents, abilities and the resources to be in effective ministry in Jesus' name. The resources God has given us are to be used in ministry, and in dreaming the dreams God opens to us and the visions of ministry that Christ's Spirit is leading us to.
How wondrous are the gift and the opportunities. But dreams can be forgotten and visions fail if we do continually pursue them, share them with each other and prayerfully open ourselves both to God's leading and the God's empowerment. As I have said before, our celebration of 150 years of ministry as Christ's church will lack vitality if the celebration is not done in the acknowledgement of the ways their ministry continues through us today and the pursuit of news visions, hopes and dreams of what God will do in and through us.
I appreciate very much the image of ministry Len Sweet shared with a group of us at a workshop he led. He said that his life is like a swing, swinging back to be in touch with the rich heritage we have, be energized by it and then swing forward to new heights of ministry and service in Christ's name.
We have a wonderful heritage of dreams lived and visions pursued. Let us celebrate this wonderful heritage by both remembering it and by continuing to dream dreams and see visions of all that God has done and all that God will do in us and through us.
Shalom,
Rev. Dr. Peter W. LeValley
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