Pastor Note for October/November 2022

As the weather begins to breathe its cool breath upon us, convincing the trees to dance with color before shedding their summer clothes for the barren winter display, we all settle into the pace of the fall. School and football have restarted, and many activities suspended for the summer are back up to full speed. But do we make room for our faith? Do we create space for growth within our faith that plays out in who we are, the choices we make, and the life we live?

The word ‘contest’ is based on a Latin root which means ‘to witness or testify.’ Interesting is the connection between these things . . . that when we witness or testify to something, it is a battle/contest against others. So, life is a contest played out in ways of being, opinions, choices, behaviors. What overriding truth do our lives testify to? What is the witness they make? How is that visible in the contest of daily living? Success, at least in relation to a person of faith, is discovering our authentic self as a child of God, the person we truly are in the eyes of God, and becoming that person, tapping all that untapped potential. In this way, we are the victors in the contest, testifying and witnessing in life to a truth concerning God’s grace and love. Likewise, sin is the failure to reach this potential. It is letting ourselves and lives be defined in ways other than those of God, whether by occupation, material goods/wealth, or habits and hobbies. Guilt, then, is the unlived life.

Let us make sure that as we take part in the miraculous display of color again this fall, that we explore deeply our true colors, the authentic person each of us is in the eyes of God. And as we chip away all those things which have stood in the way of that, let us commit ourselves to the contest that’s before us, to witness and testify to the truth of God in our lives and with our lives, through ‘Making Connections and Offering Opportunities for Faith, Love, and Service!’

Yours in Christ, 

Rev. Daven Oskvig