a message from the pastor
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the day we have all come to know as September 11, or 9/11. Ten years ago, we all sensed that what happened on that day would change us. Curiously, I doubt any of us could have imagined that we would look like the people we are now. If I remember correctly, we all hoped that the tragedy and confusion of that day would work to call forth the very best of ourselves for great national purposes. For some, the day had that effect while for some the legacy of that day is a bit more dubious.
The word we heard a lot back then was “change.” We were hopeful, even, of change. One of the things I’ve learned in twenty-two years of ministry is that change, real change that touches our lives and lasts, is a particularly hard thing for most of us humans to achieve. It’s not that we don’t want to change, it’s that it is particularly hard for us to change, at least to affect change that is positive (change that is negative is, strangely, terribly easy and seems to stick to us with great tenacity). Strangely, it seems that something deep inside of us is afraid of what change can do to us. We’re afraid when we know we need to change. We’re afraid when change is heaped on top of us. We can even be afraid after we’ve changed, prompting us to slide back into old habits and patterns.
Recently, I’ve read a book entitled Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle (many thanks to Lisa Kimball who recommended the book to me on the flight to Rome this summer). Father Boyle, a Jesuit priest, works with gang members in East Los Angeles, some of the least desirable people in one of the least desirable places in our country. One of the many things the book points out in its stories is how frightening change is for everyone. Yet, there is power in the Gospel that not only gives strength and the ability to change, but demands we change, becoming new people in the image of Jesus.
Over the past ten years, I’ve seen our parish change a lot. Some of this has been natural, time-dictated change. Some of that change has been dictated by circumstances in our national life together, particularly as we have lived in this unique place in the United States. Some of this change has been the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a power that has demanded that we look at our lives and the lives of others in new and unexpected ways. But for as long as there has been the Gospel, the people who have heard its message and have come to know its author know that at its heart, the Gospel is a call to a life that is different than the one we know in this moment in time. It is a call to change.
What change has the last ten years brought to your life? What change in the past ten years has helped you live differently in this world? How much of that change has come from Jesus?
Peace,
Pastor Gary Erdos
Please feel free to email me or call the church office [(757) 898-4395], if you have any questions