Dear Caldwell,
As the sun rises on another scorcher, I reflect on a week of being your pastor. One of the privileges of my role is to walk with you through ups and downs. When Friday rolls around, I usually have experienced both the highs and lows of the lives of this congregation. That is what it means to be a community.
Today, I’m keenly aware that a number of our Caldwell family members are suffering. Scripture calls it affliction – not a temporary cold or flu or a strained muscle but quiet, often unseen endurance amid difficult circumstances or faltering health and the frequent search for answers that comes with it. It’s a disservice to slap some scripture or religious cliche on the wound, like a bandaid where stitches are really needed. Still, as the apostle Paul emphasizes so often, faith gives us endurance and, more important hope. My devotion resource this morning offered these lines:
“For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. (Gen. 41:52)
A poet sings:
It isn’t raining rain for me, it’s raining daffodils;
In every dimpling drop I see wild flowers upon the hills.
A cloud of gray engulfs the day, and overwhelms the town;
It isn’t raining rain for me; it’s raining roses down.
… It’s raining blessing. For you, if you will but believe your Creator’s Word, under that beating rain are springing up spiritual flowers of fragrance and beauty as never before grew….”
If there is rain for you, may it bear blessing, even when we can’t immediately see it.
As for God’s blessings on this church, they are abundant, particularly in relation to the Salvation Army at Caldwell. Not that many days ago, it seemed the “rain” was beating down on us as the June 1 date approached for funding to run out. Instead, blessings have rained down, even more today with the news that the United Way has found a way to fund the shelter, along with other critical needs in our community.
News has been coming out about other funders and I want to sum it up for you, because it is indeed a torrent of blessings. In addition to the United Way’s commitment of $52,000, Forrest Hill Church has committed $80,000, St. Gabriel and St. Matthew’s Catholic churches committed a combined $50,000, an anonymous donor another $25,000, the Levine Foundation $70,000 and Mecklenburg County $78,000.
This “gullywasher” of funding will extend the shelter well into the future and enable us to add social work support and other services, through paid and volunteer opportunities, that can shift the shelter from being just an overflow site to a more intentional set of programs that help our guests move on in life. Stay tuned for chances to participate.
On Sunday, Veronica Rogers will preach and Elizabeth Hyland will lead liturgy. This is Trinity Sunday and Veronica will help us deepen our understanding of “God in three persons.”
A quick congratulations to Andy Baxter, who has now completed the requirements for his PhD! No small feat, Andy. We’re proud of you.
In Christ,
John