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This Week at Caldwell
Tonight – Yoga, 6:30 p.m., Upper Price (enter by courtyard)
Theology on Tap, 7 p.m., Living the Questions, Leroy Fox Restaurant
Thursday – 7:30 a.m. Help provide breakfast for Freedom School
5:30-8:30 p.m. Summer Nights at Caldwell – Front Porch Night:
Fellowship, Music, Bible story and Ice Cream for ALL
ages.
Dear Caldwell,
However familiar – or not – people are with scripture, many recognize the title of this blog from the 23rd Psalm.
The ACE Sunday School class is reading a wonderful book I discovered a few years ago, titled “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23,” by W. Phillip Keller. Keller is an actual shepherd, who knows sheep and shepherding intimately. In the book, he uses his experience to draw insights from the 23rd Psalm that give it entirely new dimension and depth. (We will be studying the book all summer – come join in!)
On Sunday, the ACE Class reviewed a chapter with the same title as this blog entry. It included this paragraph:
Green pastures did not just happen by chance. Green pastures were the product of tremendous labor, time, and skill in land use. Green pastures were the result of clearing rough, rocky land; of tearing out brush and roots and stumps; of deep plowing and careful soil preparation; of seeding and planting special grains and legumes; of irrigating with water and husbanding with care the crops of forage that would feed the flocks.
Moving from Sunday to Sunday this week, I see Caldwell in that paragraph. I see all those who have given “tremendous labor” to try to create a green pasture here that welcomes others of all perspectives, experiences and ideas, a place of refuge, peace and nurture. Eight years ago, we started with our own rocky field. With humility and grace, so many of you have cleared and cultivated the land, seeding and planting a spirit of love, hospitality and mutual respect. God has watered your work with growth that has brought many new people, each with their own ideas, experiences and gifts.
Green pastures don’t stay green and clear without work. Roots pop up. Patches of grass die and need to be brought back to life. The work never ends. But, at the end of each day, we hope we have done a little more to provide a place where God’s sheep can rest under the comfort and care of our shepherd, Christ Jesus.
There is always work to be done for the world is broken and we are imperfect. So, as the hands and feet of Christ, let us be about this work – as those who do not flinch from it or its challenges, but who tend the pasture with the tools of kindness, gentleness, patience, grace and humility.
As peacemakers, we are also called to think globally. To that end, for your consideration, here is a link to an Action Alert from our denomination’s Washington office about supporting the U.S.-Iran Nuclear talks.
Some of you have asked me to do a better job of putting sermons on the website. Mea culpa. Last Sunday’s sermon is on the website here and the prior week’s is here.
Hope to see you at one of the events mentioned in the box above!
Yours In Christ,
John