From the Bridge Pastor
A new month has started. I remember a time (many years ago) when I thought that time moved SO slowly…especially if I was planning to do something special. Now, it seems as if time flies all too quickly. We are in the eighth month of the year…already!
What makes time seem to pass slowly or rapidly? For me, it depends on how much I have to do and how long each item takes. Some things are accomplished more quickly than others, especially things that you know how to do without much thought. Other projects, which require more thought, can take longer than expected.
There will come a day when each one of us is no longer living on earth. We all have faith and hope that we will spend eternity with our Triune God. Eternity has neither a beginning nor an end.
The twenty-first chapter of Revelation begins in this way: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had disappeared, and so had the sea. Then I saw New Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down from God in heaven. It was like a bride dressed in her wedding gown and ready to meet her husband.
“I heard a loud voice shout from the throne: God’s home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home among his people. God will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past are gone forever.
“Then the one sitting on the throne said: I am making everything new. Write down what I have said. My words are true and can be trusted. Everything is finished! I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” (Contemporary English Version)
None of us knows when this will take place, but our calling in the meantime is live a Christian life, showing love to our neighbors, caring for those who need our help, and worshiping our Triune God.
The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is observed on August 9 each year to raise awareness and protect the rights of the world's indigenous population. This event also recognizes the achievements and contributions that indigenous people make to improve world issues such as environmental protection. The first city to officially recognize the day as a holiday was Berkeley, CA in 1992 to replace the annual commemoration of Columbus Day. (Columbus Day is still an official national holiday with the post office and most banks being closed. This holiday commemorates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas on October 12, 1492.
I found an interesting article entitled “Why We Shouldn’t Celebrate Columbus Day.” The author, Cilicia Anderson wrote this on October 9, 2017:
“I’m sure a lot of people are familiar with the line, ‘In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue,’ because for some reason when teaching history in school, somebody decided to credit Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer, Christopher Columbus, for discovering America. However, this is far from the truth.
“According to History.com, a band of Vikings were searching for the new world, and found America nearly 500 years before Columbus was even born. Before I get into the ‘why we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus day,’ I’m going to explain why we do.
“The first Columbus Day was celebrated in 1792 in order to remember the historical landing’s 300th anniversary. Then in 1892, Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation encouraging Americans to celebrate the voyage of Columbus. Why did he want us to show recognition to the man who didn’t even really discover America first? I have no idea.
“I am convinced that America glorifies men for the ‘good’ they have done for the country with total disregard for the bad that was implemented in order to make these things happen. Students are brainwashed everyday into recognizing the ‘great men’ in American history without any knowledge of the murders and tyrannies of these individuals. Although I can list many examples of this, I’ll stick to the one in question: Christopher Columbus.
“Let’s look at the facts. The most obvious one being he was not the first person to discover America. Besides the Vikings, people also forget that there were already people inhabiting America at the time he decided to step foot in this country. The Native Americans were doing well before Columbus. They were organized into clans with their own spoken languages and had established leaders and means of trade. Some tribes even had specialized products. When Columbus came, he felt as though he could do whatever he liked with the natives, and he did. Immediately, he captured some of them whom he thought would make good servants and sent them to Spain to be sold. Some of them died on the way there. The rest were forced to work, mining for gold. About 60 years after Columbus landed in America, only a couple hundred of the native population was left of about an estimated 250,000.
“They died from numerous things; mining, disease brought by the settlers, the brutal violence they underwent, and some even took their own lives to avoid being under Spanish rule. Death of the Natives also meant death of their languages, religions, and culture. Those who didn’t die watched their homes be destroyed by the European settlers.
“We should not celebrate a man who stole and destroyed people and their homes. We should not celebrate a man who saw nothing wrong with his wrongdoings. We should not celebrate a man who represents everything that is wrong with our country today. We should, however, celebrate the lives of the Natives. Everything they ever knew and loved was stripped away because one man was too ignorant to see the beauty of their culture and way of life.
“It’s sickening to think we overlook the mass genocide that took place in a home that wasn’t even rightfully ours to begin with. So, instead of celebrating murder, we should celebrate the innocent people that died and learn from the past in order to make a better, more promising future.”
Mary, Mother of our Lord, is a minor festival in many denominational calendars. In the Lutheran calendar, the principal festival of Mary is “Mary, Mother of Our Lord” on Aug. 15. The “of Our Lord” speaks to Mary’s role as the mother of Jesus in the Gospel narrative and as the mother of God in eternity. In 431 the Council of Ephesus proclaimed Mary as the theotokos, the Greek word for the God-bearer.
We do not worship Mary, but it is good for us to take a look at the important role that God gave Mary as the human woman who would give birth to God’s Son. How a virgin could become pregnant without a male partner is impossible to explain. However, it is something that we accept by faith. With permission of the Worship Committee, we will transfer that minor festival in the Church calendar to Sunday, August 14.
The Open and Affirming Committee met yesterday. We are moving closer to being ready to take a congregational vote on whether or not to official become an Open and Affirming congregation. A concern has been raised about our visibility within the community. Our electronic sign on the corner of 46th and Hamilton currently has three screens letting people know who is welcome here. Michael has them timed well so that people driving by are able to read the message.
We will also have a Sleep in Heavenly Peace build here in September. The committee will be getting T-shirts with our church name on the front and Open and Affirming on the back.
We also realize that we need to be doing more community events as a way of introducing more people to our church and potentially getting more visitors and members. Watch for more details.
As always, if you are someone you know would benefit from a pastoral visit, please call the office, and let Michael or me know.
In Christ,
Pastor Del
