From the Pastor's Desk
Reverend David Kaul
“ And he laid hands on them and went on his way. ”
- Matthew 19:15
Where life is all one gentle slope, a vast, uninterrupted drift with nothing that needs doing and one's full-time project is to please oneself- no milestones, nothing to punctuate- can this be it... Can this be hell?
Dear friends in Christ,
Today I buried a man who passed Saturday night in a motorcycle accident. I prayed for the success of his varsity football team when he was a junior at Sandwich High. (I should have offered a different prayer as the team won but one game all year!) I ministered to his mother as she died of cancer in 1985. I performed his wedding, his adult baptism and that of his beautiful infant daughter. An accident at work left him injured and in need of pain management drugs. Years later he and his wife were now seeking divorce. The one bright spot in life was his daughter. He attended her softball games and watched her practice.
There are times when I try to imagine a life without. No phone calls that raise concern, no leaking gutters or exterior walls in need of paint, all bills paid in full, no worries about grand babies to be born the second week of June, no child seeking a job, the church's ministry fully funded, no one in need of prayer for good health or daily bread or healing, where "summer time livin" would be easy.
The temporary escape may sound attractive. But Jesus said real living isn't about me. Real living is about picking up the cross and investing in service. To live is to create, to get involved, to begin the project- paint the bathroom, plant the garden, walk/jog two miles each day, walk for cancer, run the marathon, coach the soccer, T-ball or little league team, say the prayer, give the gift, invest the money, volunteer to serve at church, commit to attend every weekend of summer worship!- to press myself fully for the purpose to exist for something/
Someone greater than self, to love a child.
When reflections were shared at the funeral, his daughter came forward and spoke of happy times with dad in the swimming pool. When he teased her about the neighbors baby pooping in the water and she thought it was mud. Every time she had to go to the bathroom on a long journey, he would ask her to go just a little bit further. But when he had to go to the bathroom they always stopped. How she loved to ride on the back of his snowmobile and motorcycle and the time they spent together.
Men, where are you placing your hands, your time, your labor? Where are you investing yourself? Jesus blessed the children.
Bring all to Him! For to touch Jesus is to come to the life source. He is present at the communion table as we take the bread and drink the cup, in the word spoken, in the fervent prayer, as we roll up our sleeves and invest in the world and the people around us, in God's children. Did he not tell us that "wherever two are three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of you." Invest in the child!
Blessed Father's Day! P. Dave