Pastor Note for
April / May 2022

Recently an article was shared with me regarding fostering an attitude of gratitude. Written by clergy for clergy, the focus mainly surrounded successful stewardship. It sought to show how the right change in approach, perception, and ultimately attitude in regard to giving led to a change in stewardship as a year-long and life-long discipline. 

Some of the core practices used, while helpful with stewardship, just kept making me think about resurrection because the result was transformation. I know that many of us take on disciplines through the season of Lent which we are all too happy to abandon with Easter, and so asking us all to take on another discipline following Easter may seem seasonally out of step. But this is a different sort of discipline with what, I believe, will be transformational results for all. My hope is that we may attempt this through these next two months. Here’s the challenge: a gratitude journal naming at least one thing we are thankful for each day through the month. Maybe use post-its to put them up on a wall to watch them grow! These don’t have to be monumental things, but can be as small and insignificant as the feeling of carpet on bare feet or the taste of ice cream on a warm day. So that’s at least 1 thing we are thankful for each day through two months. 

This will give each of us at least 61 things each by the end of these months and may begin to change our perception of the world around us. It is a way to unlock the sealed tomb of our former approaches and outlooks finding new life bursting forth all around us. It is a way to see the hand of God through so many small and seemingly insignificant things in life which can fill us with joy. It is answering the invitation by God to see the world in a fresh way, in a joyful way, in a risen way … in the light of Resurrection. 

Yours in Christ, 

Rev. Daven Oskvig