Pastor's Message
 
                                                                                          

May 2011 Spirit Steps 

The week after Easter most always finds me in Cozumel Mexico.  It has become my second home, in fact when I get to the dive center in San Miguel I am hugged and greeted by all the dive masters with “Welcome home senior Bob”.  When fifteen minutes after unpacking, I finally get into the water, I find many of the familiar sea creatures.  One of the interesting creatures that inhabit the tidal pools and the ocean floor is the hermit crab.  They are interesting because they will find a shell that fits, put it on, and live in it.  As they grow, the shell will become too small, so they will abandon it and scurry along the ocean floor and find a larger shell that fits and put it on and live in it until it becomes too small, and the process will repeated over again.  This will occur many times throughout the life of the hermit crab.

As I thought about this, it seemed to me that we in the church could learn a lesson from the hermit crab.  It strikes me that often we attempt to live in understandings, and theologies, and liturgies that we have outgrown.  We seem to be afraid to shed the outgrown shell and search for one that fits us better.  At Zion we have shed the shell of the Lutheran Book of Worship and the shell of With One Voice and through the projection system have been able to retain the best of the hymns and liturgies while not being confined to either.  We still have room to grow here and during this past Lenten season we were able to use film clips that presented the Gospel lessons in a way that just reading them could never accomplish.  What we need to keep in mind is that this also will one day become too confining; therefore, we need to continue to be open to new and creative ways to share the Good News of God’s love for all creation.   

Paul said, “When I was a child, my speech, thinking, and feelings were all those of a child, but now that I am a man I have no more use for childish ways.” (1 Corinthians 13: 11).  As we grow in our understanding of Scripture and our understanding of God we may need to leave the comfortable old shells of our theology and seek a larger shell that will accommodate our larger understanding.  This new home may use new metaphors to talk about the mystery that is God and that is life.  This is often a scary time because we feel so vulnerable both in the transition time and in the early days or months in our new and unfamiliar setting.  It is especially at these times that we need to remember that the God that we worship is a living God, a God who moves with us as we grow.

As we celebrate the newness of life that is Easter, may we also live in that newness, loving and growing each day so that we have to search for new shells often; and may we experience the living God who remains a constant in the midst of our change and growth.

Have a blessed Easter season!

 

Pastor Bob