What occupies your mind, as you think about the needs of your congregation or school or family this summer? The urgent demands your attention:

• This weekend’s sermon.
• The hospital call prior to a surgery.
• Taking the car in for service.
• Taking your daughter out for her birthday breakfast.

The necessary is weighing on you, too. That would be all of the above, plus:

• The visit to the saints you haven’t seen in worship for five weeks.
• Finding Sunday school teachers for the fall.
• Buying those canning jars.
• Refinancing your home mortgage.

The urgent and the necessary occupy my mind, too. Uppermost on my mind, these days, is planning for the District Convention, with dozens of important tasks weighing on my mind. Some are approaching the urgent, even though the Convention is off in the distant last pages of the Pastoral Desk Diary for 2021 – on December 5-7.

Allow me to add at least one Convention item to your list of necessary needs with which to occupy your mind! (Thanks a lot, Mr. DP, right!?) Here it is: Recently, our “active” pastors received an email from Julie Pike, the District’s administrative assistant, who was passing along some Convention business from Rev. David Otten, the South Dakota District’s Secretary. David informed us that there are precious few nominations, so far, for the election of District President and Vice-President, which will take place at the Convention. The email, dated July 14, informed you that the deadline for submitting DP and VP nominations is October 6, 2021. And the email provided the nominating ballots as attachments. 

Please add District nominations to your list of necessary congregational business to attend to, if your parish hasn’t already submitted a nominating ballot.

Besides that, nine parishes in the District (sole congregations or multi-congregation parishes) still need to add inform the District Office of our Convention delegates to the list of necessary congregational business. We would like 100% parish representation at the Convention. Please contact Julie if you have questions about the submission of delegate name and information (jpike@midco.net; 605/361-1514).

By the way, I know what’s occupying God’s mind. You are! His chesed, the Hebrew word for -- take your pick -- loving-kindness, loyalty, mercy, everlasting love, covenantal love, grace (and more), proves it. Chesed is used in the Psalms 125 times (e.g., in Psalm 100 and Psalm 103), proof that God’s Old Testament people lived in utter and complete dependence on His inexpressible love!

Jesus was the walking, talking, bread-and-fish-multiplying, healing demonstration of chesed. His cross wins chesed for you. His open tomb guarantees it for you. His Word and sacraments deliver it to you. And He’s coming back for you so that you will be in His chesed presence forever.

God bless you as you attend to what’s on your mind and heart. It’s a lot! May the fact that you are on God’s mind, filled with chesed for you, help you to approach the urgent and the necessary with joy and thanksgiving.