Whose Lives Matter?

Your's does.  

So tell me your story.  The details matter; your experiences matter, your life matters.

We in the church need to hear how the structures and attitudes of our world affect your life on a day to day basis.  I will do my best to listen understand and ultimately act in a way that gives a blessing to you and others.  I will be honest and admit that at times I will fail, so I ask God to help and guide me.

Can you pray this with me?


God's Children Divided 

In the Bible, St. Paul explains that as people are renewed in Jesus Christ, they see that the distinctions between people made by a broken world are artificial.  They are creations of human cultures and structures .  This one thing, faith and science agree on; we are all of the same species.   In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! (Colossians 3:11 NRSV)

Just because these classifications, distinctions, and dividing lines are artificial does not mean they are unimportant; they are real.   People have been killed because of them, black men & police officers, Jews and Palestinians, Shia and Sunni Muslims, Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

Even when these problems don't lead to death they affect the lives we live everyday.   How do I know this?   I hear the stories from the people I minister to every day.   As a pastor I have the amazing opportunity to cross boundaries and enter into the many, varied, and different communities that make up our society.  I remember one day last year where I talked with middle and working class kids and their parents on the school yard,  counseled and helped a woman about to loose her apartment,  then had dinner at a country club overlooking the Manhattan Skyline with some really well to do folks.   I have had the privilege to minister to firefighters, police, and EMT's as well as pray with recovering attics and homeless men.  Guess what?  They all had stories, and lives that matter.

I must confess I am angry at world which is trying to tell me that I can not listen to this person's or that person's story.   I need to hear the stories of black men and women,  I need to hear the stories of police and firefighters.  I must hear the story of worker trained for the job that no longer exists and likewise, that of the immigrant come to work to send money home to his or her family. I need to listen to the story of those fleeing the almost apocalyptic destruction in Syria.  I need to take in the grief of those who feel the world is changing too fast.

The truth is, if I can not admit that black lives matter, why should I expect someone to think that my life matters?  If I can not listen to the story of how dangerous and difficult it is to serve in the police department, why should I expect someone to take the time to listen to my fears and worries?  We can only access universal truth through the particular stories of actual people.  If I declare the stories of a group I don't like as invalid, I am negating my own story.  Therefore, I need to hear your story and I pray that I have the courage not to let society's labels get in the way. 
 

Why must I do this? 

Because God heard my story.  Christ answers it everyday by placing people in my life who support, listen, and counsel me (even when I am really behaving like a jerk!).  More important than this, I am Christian and a disciple of Jesus Christ,which means I am to follow his lead and show compassion, hospitality, and concern to my fellow children of God no matter how the world classifies them.

I realize this is hard work, this is truly spiritual warfare.  I will need all the strength that the Spirit can give just to make a halting effort.   I also know that I will fail at times, because, I admit I have failed in the past to truly listen, and I have certainly failed other times in taking action.  

I pray for God's forgiveness and ask for renewal of my life. I will also pray for allies wherever I can get them,  I will not be picky; there is just too much listening and work to be done.

Be blessed and become a blessing,

Pastor Knecht

Discipleship as Reprogramming

How do we make choices?

As part of my summer reading I read Isaac Asimov's four classic robot novels.  They are science fiction police procedurals.  The main characters are a New York detective Elijah Baley and a humaniform robot Daneel Olivaw.  They often engage in discussions about the how the programming of the robots affects the actions and decisions they make.  As in most artificial intelligence stories, the moral dilemmas are highly intriguing .  Asimov's fictional robots adhere to the three laws of robotics 1.  A robot may not harm a human being, or through inaction cause one to come harm.  2. A robot shall obey all orders from humans that do not break the first law 3. A robot shall protect itself as long as it does not conflict with the first or second laws.  The fun of the books is seeing what happens when the robots are put in situations where there are choices that cause a decision that brings a conflict in the programming.   What these in fact are, are ways to discuss how people in the real world come up with the moral choices they make.

Human Programming

While real people may not have something equivalent to the three laws, we are programmed by our biology, environment, experiences, upbringing, culture and education.  A great biblical example of this would be the wilderness temptation story found in Matthew and Luke where Satan tries to manipulate the basic human programming to have need for food (turn these stones to bread),  power (see these kingdoms, they can be yours),  and attention (throw yourself off the cliff and watch daddy come and save you!).  In each case Jesus as God’s son shows he is not programmed as Satan would have liked. He demonstrates how the first commandment to fear and love God overrides the baser human instincts for food (man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God), power (worship the Lord and serve only him), and attention (Do not put the Lord your God to the test).   The first commandment to love God puts things in proper perspective and allows Jesus to continue on with his ministry.  

Discipleship, a life of following Jesus Christ and being in a healthy relationship with Christ is a lot about allowing God to reprogram us or update our programming. Living in a sinful and broken world, our programming is often damaged.  Value judgements of the majority are taken in and accepted without question, because it is easier to do so.   Negative experiences put us on the defensive.  Life conditions may cause us to become self-centered, or others may convince us that we have no self worth or dignity.  The problem of race that America is dealing with at this time is essentially one of bad programming. Americans have been programmed with a set of beliefs and actions that are neither grounded in biology or the Word of God, which both clearly state we are single common humanity.  So overcoming this dilemma will require each of us to examine how the world has programmed us and work to change those lines of code which draw us away from God and cause conflict with our brothers and sisters.

Life 2.0

This can be done; I have seen it.   I have seen addicts use faith to help them deal with their illness and change their lives.   I have seen people whose first marriages broke apart have wonderful life giving and healthy second ones.   I have watched self centered selfish people turn around and start caring for their neighbors because an encounter with God led them there.  I have seen hyper self-conscious people afraid to talk with any one come out of their shell and build a healthy and appropriate self esteem. In short,  in my ministry I have witnessed countless people who have with the help of God altered their programming.   The real joy of ministry is watching lives be changed for the better by the Holy Spirit. Jesus encourages to do exactly this when he says things like this spoken during the Sermon on the Mount “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33 (NRSV).  

My favorite book of Asimov’s robot series was the last one “Robots and Empire”  where two robots, the aforementioned Daneel Olivaw, and another robot  Giskard Reventlov come to the conclusion that the three laws they are programmed with are inadequate.   They begin to see that they actually cause moral outrages when strictly adhered to, like when saving one person will kill thousands.   Their conclusion is that a fourth law is needed. Called the zeroth law, it becomes a preface to the other three, a robot may not do something that harms humanity as a whole.   When the robots incorporate this law they become free and true moral agents.  They are liberated when they show concern for the wider world. If you have not guessed by now I will tell you; Isaac Asimov really did not write about robots, he was writing about people.

When people allow God to help reprogram their lives with a concern for something beyond themselves they are set free. Adhering to the great commandments to love God with all your heart, soul, and might,  and to love your neighbor as yourself,  is not a constriction, it is a liberation.  You become free to override all aspects of your cultural programming. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said “only the one who believes is obedient, and only the one who is obedient believes”.  What I am arguing is that only the one who is obedient is free, and only the one who is free is obedient.   Faithful discipleship is liberation.

So I invite you to come with us at Holy Cross and work on your discipleship along with us. Like Giskard and Daneel we can discuss the shortcomings of our own programming and then delve into God’s Word and learn about how we are to become free by following Jesus the Christ.

Be blessed

Holy Cross is Building Up and Growing Out

Building Up

God is Good!  It is my good pleasure to share how we have seen the Spirit working in our church this Easter season.   After the long cold winter we have been blessed with not only the coming of Spring, but of new life to our church.   There is so much to celebrate that I probably will forget to mention something.  Please see this as a Good thing!  Some of the highlights are:

1. Worship! It was amazing to see so many people in church this Easter!  The growth of our Worship Team was on display as they led us in songs that were passionately and excellently offered up to God.  We are blessed have Jon Torgrimsen lead us and the team and we are seeing the fruit of the good work he is faithfully doing for us day after day.  More people need to worship with us, because they can come to Jesus through the good work of all who work to build up our worship.   Faith can be awakened and strengthened.

2. Mission! Our food ministry to Springfield had totally turned around the reputation in our community.   I had a man stop me on the street last Sunday as I rode my bike with my son and tell me about how he had heard that we in Holy Cross are doing great things.  Now this is not why we serve, we serve because Jesus served, and we are called to be a blessing to our neighbors.  Otherwise we are just another club and not the church.   We can create space in our church and activities for more people to help out serving Springfield.   One of the blessings of serving is it can heal those who do the serving.  Having purpose can help make people more appreciative of the good gifts God has given them.  We can be a bridge between those in the community who want to help and those who need it.

3. Kids!  Notice all the new kids lately.  Holy Cross has always had a heart for children and we are seeing lots of new faces in our Sunday School, we've got 5 high schoolers playing in our worship team or helping out with media and sound upstairs, ten middle schoolers in confirmation.  Our Christian Nursery School is having an amazing year!  With new programs to serve the parents and children of our community (this should be seen as mission too!)  More kids need to come along with us because in a world without purpose,  those who mentor our children can share with them how God in Jesus Christ has a purpose for their lives.

4. Outreach! Our upcoming Rock Cafe, our movie nights, our tables at town events to collect food and share the Good News of our congregation to this community. More ideas will be on the way.   Our hope is that these events can help us find ways to engage our community and make it easier for you to invite people to our church.  Many of these people who come will find God's grace through our congregation!

5. Community! Thanks to the diligence of our community action team people our fellowship/coffee hour after church had taken place Sunday after Sunday.  If you remember how it was a few years back when we would not always have it, this is an amazing blessing.   I have noticed people are staying a long time after worship to savor the relationships the Spirit is building. Our Mardi Gras/ Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner and upcoming picnic will provide more opportunities to build relationships.   We need to expand the circle, because hey! there are a lot of lonely people out there and God says it is not good for anyone to be alone.

6. Spiritual Growth! We had 19 people participate in the first Discipleship Academy course!  14 of them completed it and attended every session!   We will have our second course "Bonhoeffer's Thought"  Wednesdays at 1 & 7:30 PM in May.   We will continue to find ways to grow disciples through our ministries, because it is the outcome that God expects and it leads people to a blessed life in communion with Jesus Christ and their fellow disciples.

7. Prayer! Holy Cross has always been a place of deep prayer and it continues to be so.  Open your eyes on Sunday and witness people praying for each other all over our church!  We are not church who leaves the prayer up to the pastor alone, but engages the entire community.   While we continue to pray deeply for Gianna Torgrimsen and Tom Nolz for their healing, please know that one of the joys of serving Holy Cross is all the stories of answered prayer I hear.  This past month three stories of God providing deep healing have been shared with me.   Prayer gives, healing, hope, peace, direction and inspiration to our lives.   It helps God change things in us.   More people need the gift of prayer,  more people need to learn how to pray, we can do our part to fill this need.

Reaching Out   

As I described these seven signs of how the Holy Spirit is working to build up our congregation, please notice that I tried to make the case in each instance of how these things that God is doing for us can be a blessing not just for us, but for our neighbors as well.  To me the most amazing part of our redevelopment has been Holy Cross's restructuring of things so I can can concentrate more intently on the things that God has called me to: preaching, teaching, equipping, modeling discipleship and providing Spiritual direction.  Each passing month I am able to spend more and more time meeting with people in town, community leaders, families who send their kids to our school, people I meet in Dunkin Donuts, to bring Christ to them in my humble way.   I am grateful for this opportunity,  I need to thank Jim Donaldson, Steve Bertschy especially, for their daily contributions to help get things off my plate so I can do what God called me to do.   Lots of others have helped and we have really had a culture change in our congregation where we are working together more effectively as a church.  I praise God for this.

But now I need to ask for your help and support in these areas.

1.  Talk about Holy Cross and share this message with every person you can.  We have Good News to share!  I am out in the community for our church and I need you with me as well.   I can only do so much, and people will often respond better to your impressions than mine.   I am the pastor I am supposed to think my church is great.  No one thinks that about you.

2. Support our church by carving out some time to show up and help out.   Start with coming to church more often.  Our church life is better when you are here,  and I am betting your life will be better too.   Move up to helping out the ministry and mission of our church by plugging into an area of service.  Pray for me and the mission of Holy Cross every day.

3. Give a financial offering to God through Holy Cross.  Your contributions will help us do God's work.  My thoughts on stewardship are simple, God has blessed you and you can use your blessings to bless others.   We are blessing people with the work we are doing as a church following Christ.   We will be pledging later on this Spring to our annual fund.  If you have never pledged before I ask that you prayerfully commit to trying. We bring Jesus Christ to people in your neighborhood,  we shepherd your neighbor's children,  we pray for and feed your neighbors in their time of need.  We show love to the people you love.  Yu-Mei and I tithe 10 percent of our income and God not only provides, but blesses us through this.  The real upside is that this money we give does God's good work in Springfield and beyond.

Please pray on these points and act on them.  Please also give thanks to God for the incredible work he has done in us and will do in the future.   See you in Worship and at the Rock Cafe next Saturday May you be blessed this day.

In Christ,
Pastor Knecht

The Chaos of Holy Week and Hope of Easter

No,  I am not writing about how busy I am!   I am writing about how chaos plays a role in the story of Holy Week and Easter, with the hope that when your life seems chaotic you just might see God at work.

Kaos vs. Control

Control good?

During my childhood, the spy film parody Get Smart made fun of the cold war with the Soviet Union by describing a spy on spy battle between two international spy agencies KAOS and CONTROL.   The hero Maxwell Smart, agent 86, worked for CONTROL; his enemies such as the recurring character Siegfried, worked for KAOS.   The default assumption that control is good and chaos is bad, underlies how the characters are divided up into good guys and bad guys.  This should make sense, if you asked a person on the street their true feelings, control would be seen positively and chaos negatively by most people (there is always a minority of chaos lovers out there).

Chaos bad? 

One of my underlying assumptions about culture is that often the deepest issues of the human condition are not actually discussed in the places where they are intended to be discussed, but happen in places hidden in plain sight.  A satire like Get Smart can bring to light a deep issue in a way that we can laugh about it, and perhaps think about it in a deeper way later.

The battle between chaos and control happens in every human heart.  Too much chaos- life is stressful and dangerous.  Too much control- life is stifled and growth is impossible.  Our fear for survival may lead us with a preference for control,  but when things become too predictable life is robbed of any sweetness and joy.

Chaos vs. Control on the Road to the Cross 

Sometimes we confuse control with peace with disastrous results.   Too much need for control can lead us down unhealthy paths.  It can hurt those we are called to care for (like our kids).  It can rob all the joy from life.  Most of all, it reveals a complete lack of trust in God.

The gospel accounts show us that the fear of chaos leads Pontius Pilate to condemn Jesus to death unjustly and release a guilty man who actually caused real chaos that led to the death of innocents (Barabbas).  Fear of chaos led Jesus's enemies to conspire to have him betrayed in secret rather using legal means.   Judas' gut reaction to the unknown woman's chaotic act of anointing Jesus seems nudge Judas into betrayal of his master.  Pilate, Judas, and the leaders of the opposition to Jesus all want to do away him because he represents a potential chaos that brings change to the world they wanted to keep.  And they were right.

Jesus as Agent of Chaos 

The order of the world that Jesus came to change, was unjust and oppressive.   The Romans, Sadducees and Pharisees all had issues with being over controlling of others.  Jesus came to bring dignity and respect to those marginalized by the world.   He wanted every person to know they are God's child.  He died to set all free from sin and he created a whole bunch of chaos to get to the cross. I know many will upset by me describing Jesus as one who brought chaos but that is exactly how the Bible describes it.

On the road to Jerusalem Jesus eats and drinks with those he is not supposed to, touches and heals those who were ritually unclean. Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday was certainly a chaotic affair,  then he heads straight to the temple and overturns all the tables of the money changers.  He then confounds Pharisee and Sadducee (liberals and conservatives) alike through his teaching.   He heals and forgives his enemies as they lead him to the cross, refuses to acknowledge the authority of Pilate to judge him, and questions God the Father.  When he dies the temple curtain is torn in two.   Matthew even talks of earthquakes and people coming back from the dead.

Why would the Savior of the world intentionally to cause so much disruption and chaos?

Chaos as the Stuff of New Creation 

My own personal faith story is that God used the chaos I was going through in my early twenties to bring me to a living faith in Jesus Christ.   The Holy Spirit called me from an old way leading to death to a new way leading to life.   I was open to listen because my life was a chaotic mess.   God used chaos to bring about something new and better.

This is how God has worked since the beginning of space and time.

Genesis 1 tells us that the earth was formless and void, which Biblical Scholars of the Hebrew Bible have been telling us for a long time was an idiom meaning a "chaotic mess".   God calls forth light and then uses the stuff of chaos to create the universe.   The meaning is simple,  chaos is a tool that God can use to bring new life.   Jesus used the chaos of holy week to make a new creation, which includes all people in a promise of salvation.   The chaos he created overthrew the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil.



If you are going through a chaotic time now, please know the promise of the resurrection in Jesus Christ.  God can use it to bring you to something new better.   God is not only stronger than chaos, God can use it to bring you to new life.   Please let me be clear,  I am in no way advocating one seek out chaos.  Real chaos happens on its own, and seeking it out doesn't sound healthy or faithful to me. However, if you are going through something really terrible now, please know that God can use even this to bring you life and hope.   God loves you so much he will use every tool at his disposal to bring you new life.    We need not be held in bondage to fear of an unpredictable future or the possibility of an unbearable present, because we have a God who can use all things to love us.

He is Risen!

Be blessed,
Pastor Knecht

The Real Christmas Miracle: Pastor Knecht's Christmas Meditation 2014

Luke 2:1-2 (NRSV) In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

When we read the Christmas story this Christmas Eve, we may skim over these verses listed above. They talk about such mundane things, and we will gather to hear of the miracle of Christmas, yet if you miss the point of this reference you may miss the real Christmas miracle.  Luke wanted to make sure that we had an orderly account of who Jesus was and what he came to do.  So he would like us to know the context of his coming. Why at this particular time and and at this place did Jesus come was a point he wanted the reader to understand.

Luke 2:1-2 set the complex context of Jesus coming beautifully without any superfluous words. The early readers would have understood instantly, modern readers may need a little help.  The Roman Empire had just unified the whole of the known Mediterranean world under Octavian Augustus Ceasar, who ended a period of change and conflict within Rome that had been raging on and off for for about 200 years. A new imperial order had brought stability.  That stability ushered in a period of globalized trade and movement of people and ideas,  Basically silver mined in western Spain could end up in India and spices could end up in the other direction and all points in between.

Like globalization today this beta version came with a steep price. Order was maintained by Roman legions and allied troops raised in the conquered territories.  These troops were paid for in taxes levied on the occupied population.  Those who collected these taxes got their positions by bidding for them.  They made a bid to the state, and would basically get to keep for themselves any funds raised above the bidding price. The collector could raise as much as he liked as long as it did not spark a revolt.   The system is known as tax farming. It went all the way to the top. Quirinius would do the same, his goal was to fill his pockets with as much loot as he could before his term ended.  He could then live the rest of his life in luxury.  For the average person in the ancient Mediterranean world, this system was brutal and degrading.  The Christmas story begins with a family being pushed around because of a corrupt and oppressive system. The head of this system, Augustus, was being hailed as the world's savior.  I often think our manger scenes should include a small desk with tax forms on it to make the point.

This painful and messy point reveals the real Christmas miracle.  God chose to come into this world through a quite ordinary family who had to deal with the problems of living in a complex globalized world.   The idea of the Incarnation is not that we have to keep Christ in some special fantasy land, but that Jesus the Christ comes into our messy, mixed up and broken world, offering salvation, liberation, and life.  Christ enters into the world of Ferguson and Staten Island, Israel and the West Bank, Iraq and Syria, child abuse and divorce,  drug addiction and mental illness, unemployment and cancer, Aids and Ebola.  In Christ's coming, all who endure or fear these manifestations of sin have the hope of the gift of grace and a pathway to a new life.  The way to the Cross and Resurrection leads right through the broken world we actually live in.  God sent Jesus the Son to heal the world by his most merciful coming.  This gift is for us and for all people, and that is indeed a miracle.

Blessed Advent and Merry Christmas,

Pastor Knecht

PS-You are invited to celebrate with us at Holy Cross this Christmas Eve.  Our Living Nativity will start at 3 PM followed with our family worship at 4:30 PM  and conclude our Candlelight Communion at 7 PM.

It's the End of the World as We Know It: And I Feel Fine!

We are a culture that is obsessed with the end times. Being in ministry for almost 20 years now, I have lost count of how many books, articles and emails have come my way dealing the so called end times. Right now, the Left Behind series is coming back to big screen. From the other end of the spectrum, I write this on the day that Christopher Nolan's film Interstellar is to be released in theaters. This film describes a world in danger of ending due to an environmental catastrophe, and a potential attempt to leave earth and settle somewhere else. My daughter has read the Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner and the Selection which all deal with young people dealing with a future broken society on the verge of ending. This brings me back to the days of my own youth, where I watched such films as Soylent Green, Omega Man, Colossus: the Forbin Project, and of course the original Planet of the Apes. Perhaps the appeal of these films is the adrenaline rush of fear one gets as one watches, or thinks about all the bad things that can happen at a potential end of the world. One can then return home to his or her bedroom and be surrounded with the comfort world that is not over quite yet. It was all just a nice thrill ride, or was it?

The Last Days

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, (Hebrews 1:1-2 NRSV) 

These words written by the anonymous author of the New Testament letter of Hebrews almost 2000 years ago, show that the earliest Christians thought that they were living in the last days. They knew that the world that they had known was on the verge of ending. If one looks at this in a simplistic way, one could say they were wrong. We are reading indeed these words 2000 years later. The world did not end, you may say.

Standing at the End of the World 

As someone who reads history voraciously, I can tell you that the simple view is wrong. Countless worlds have come and gone since these words were first penned by an unknown scribe. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70 AD. The Roman Empire ended in 476, The black death devastated Europe from 1346 until 1353. Closer to our time the First World War(1914-18) came along and ended the world known as the Gilded Age or Belle Époque (good time). The dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima (1945) could be cited as another (remember those films with the big bugs). Each one of these were world ending events for countless people. In my daily ministry I meet people whose worlds have ended all the time, most often from a death, but sometimes an accident, illness or loss of employment.

Apocalypse as Revelation 

The word apocalypse comes from a greek word meaning to reveal. It is about one having her or his eyes opened to a new way of seeing. This is what happened to the first Christians. The imperial political propaganda of their day regularly told them they were living in the best of all possible worlds (called the Pax Romana) and it would last forever. For a persecuted minority, this was actually bad news. However, these first followers had their way of viewing things changed. What changed it? They saw the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God's only Son. They now knew that things were different. They saw that their world was more fragile than they had thought and was actually a mortal thing. It could die. This would not be a cause for fear, but grounds for hope, because they also saw that God raised Jesus from the dead. This Jesus promised this same blessing for all who follow him (John 3:16).

This did two things for the daily life of the first Christians, and does the same for us who follow in their footsteps as disciples today. First, by not fearing death we are released from our fears for the future. Secondly by coming to a mature understanding that all worlds are mortal we can actually appreciate what a gift it is to have one at this moment. Every moment of your life is a priceless pearl and you can choose to cherish it or take it for granted. To know that there might be a deadline might just help you appreciate the life you have been given just a bit more. This appreciation will motivate you to use your gifts better, find more joy in daily things and be more at peace. This can actually help you make better and fruitful decisions about the future, lift them up in prayer and leave the results to God.

How can I say all this? Because the witness of disciples who lived each day as if it could be their last one have reported these things. Martin Luther is supposed to have said "If I knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, I would plant an apple tree today!". He could say this because he knew what God has done in Jesus guaranteed that if his world ended there would indeed be another and we get to be part of it.

Be blessed

Pastor Knecht

Prayer Applications 

1. In the morning make a list and write down your fears for the future-ask God to help you trust that they can be taken care of. Read Isaiah 25:6-10, Revelation 21:1-7

2. Take a legal pad and write down every good thing you see during your day. Start your day by asking the Holy Spirit  to help you see the good in your world. Give a prayer of appreciation for each as you go to bed. Read Psalm 100.

A Time to Build for a New Day

We have had a really exciting time these past few months. Since last fall, we have brought on a new music minister, restructured our school, restarted our Kid’s Koinonia, and perhaps most importantly started action teams to rebuild and redevelop our community. All of these steps were spearheaded by the call of Jesus Christ to our congregation to be a more active presence in our area. They have been carried out by our committed disciples who are willing to put their hands to work to show God’s love so that lives can be changed for the better.

When we met in November of 2013 our congregation saw another financial crisis looming and decided that we no longer want live in fear of the future; we decided to embrace it. We committed to step up and break the cycle of financial instability. We began to rebuild by through the help of Pastor John Wimberly of the Alban institute who consulted us and led a process to form a strategic plan. He concluded that Holy Cross is a “ministry worth supporting.” Our mortgage lender the Mission Investment Fund called for a comprehensive ministry review, which came up with a list of affirmations (things we do well) and recommendations (steps to improve) and came up with the conclusion that “God is certainly not done with you yet”. Two groups outside of our community, who visit and know about lots of churches, told us how we are a special church that can be a blessing to our neighborhood and the wider church by living out our calling as God intends.

Can you help us?

We are ready to embrace the future that God has in store for us. We have a ministry plan in place and is it already beginning to be executed. Last week we greatly impressed the Mission Investment Fund with both this and our financial stability plan. Now all we need to do is carry our plans out, and we need your support to do God’s work. I am asking you to prayerfully consider pledging to the work of rebuilding our congregation for a new day. I am encouraging you to do this by signing up for the “Simply Giving” program that allows for automatic withdrawals from a bank account. If you have not done so already I would also encourage you to step up your giving in some way. You may have noticed how hard your friends at church are all working these days to build a congregation that changes lives. You will receive the form in the coming weeks. Please pray about it and respond however the Spirit leads you. On June 15th at our annual meeting we will present the plans to you. You will see all the work your leaders have done so far at our meeting and how they are committed to redeveloping Holy Cross.

Do not Fear

Since we started on this ride last fall, our president Heidi Klebaur has been calling our attention to the book of Ezra, which shows how God helped Israel rebuild their temple for a new day. It was not the old temple that they built, but one that met the needs of the people rebuilding it. The exact same thing is true for us today as we seek to rebuild the Body of Christ in Springfield New Jersey. Ezra’s contemporary the prophet Haggai encouraged their rebuilding with these works from the Lord.

“Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? Yet now take courage....all you people of the land... work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear. Haggai 2:3-5 (NRSV)”

That Christ is present at Holy Cross is abundantly clear to me, I pray you may see him clearly at work too.

Keep the Faith

Pastor Knecht