I’d like to thank you for making me feel so special on my birthday.  There were plenty of noodles, my favorite dish!  I turned 67, which means it’s now time for me to begin transitioning out and to pass on the baton to a younger servant of God.  The board of deacons has formed a pastoral search committee to start looking for another servant of the Lord to serve in our church.  It is for that reason we are thinking about securing a place to live for the person God will bring.  So, please give your votes; we want to hear your voices.

For my birthday, one of my grandchildren gave me a comic book. He wrote the story and drew the characters himself, page after page. I do not understand the story line because I do not follow the comic books that children read today but it doesn’t matter.  What matters is that he loved me so much that he took the time to write a book for my birthday.  I am thus reminded of what C. S. Lewis writes, “All our offering, whether of music or martyrdom, are like intrinsically worthless present of a child, which a father values indeed, but values only for the intention.” That’s how God values our offering. 

Another thing worth mentioning is that I’m quite sure that when my grandson prepared the comic book, he truly thought that I’d enjoy reading it because I’d understand the story he’s telling me.  Well, I don’t but it doesn’t matter because what matters is that he’s telling me his own story.  God is so much greater than we, but He reveals Himself to us so we can know Him and tell our own stories about Him.  To conclude, let me quote from the rendering of John 1:14 by Eugene Peterson in the Message, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”  God became a man; He lived among us, so He could be with us, and in the end, die for our sins. Thank God that it’s not the end of the story; His death is only the beginning.  His resurrection is the final part of the story. 

Pastor Paul