OUR PASTOR

Some people define providence as God’s prior knowledge of and provision for the world. Some people think that providence is the protective care of God. My heart has always been with the idea that explains providence as God’s guidance in our journey of faith through life. One Sunday morning, on my long drive through the woods, fields, nurseries, orchards, lakes, horse and goat farms to the church in a town not too far from the Delaware Bay, I had two “revelations” about the meaning of the word “providence.” First, I remembered the metaphor that the sixteenth-century Reformer John Calvin used to describe God’s providence. As Calvin explained, providence is not only God’s ability to provide, but also it is God’s ability to bring all perplexed and dubious matters to a happy ending. For God does not sit idly in heaven, looking at what is taking place in the world. Like a good captain in command of a ship, God holds the helm and overrules all. Second, when I was on a little country road about five minutes away from the church, I was so startled by a creature slowly crossing the road, that I had to slam on my breaks to avoid running it over. It was a gigantic old turtle! While I was sitting in my car, I began to think should I get out and somehow pick up this creature and bring her to the other side of the road? Or would this turtle with her belligerent look and her beak-like jaws snap off my finger? Or would I be even able to pick her up because she looked so heavy? Or even worse, if I lifted her up by her shell, would I dislocate the shell and detach it from her body? While I was mulling over the pros and cons, another car approached from the opposite direction and a young woman, obviously a local, picked up this creature and easily moved her to safety on the other side of the road.  I thought this is what God does: God brings all perplexed and dubious matters to a happy ending. God picks us up and brings us to safety on the other side of the road, when we do not know how to cross it. To make us see this truth, God sent us his only Son to include us in the loving relationship between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. To include us into the divine relationship that has such a perfect understanding of and respect to our human freedom and dignity. A relationship that celebrates God’s care under which everyone and everything is fit for God’s love and grace. God’s providence led me on the long and winding road of my life to the door of your church at the crossroads of your community. I am here now, with you; and you are part of my life now, too. And God will not sit idly by in heaven, looking at what will take place in our communal life. God will inspire us, and we will inspire one another. For we are part of the Church that for millennia has borne witness to the Kingdom of God and will continue to do so in communal worship and service until Christ returns.