January 25, 2019
A risk of writing about current affairs is that things change quickly, and as I was about to hit "send" on this week's e-news, I learned that, thank God, it appears a way has been found to end the government shutdown, about which I've been writing the past several weeks.
Because the shutdown, serious as it is, is/was "only symptomatic" of larger problems we face as a nation and because bad theology is, I believe, part of those larger problems, I'll resume writing about it later.
Kelly and I are very much aware of the pain -- financial, morale, and otherwise -- this shutdown caused and will continue to cause. The ripple effects from the President's unnecessary, irresponsible, immature, demoralizing and even dangerous shutdown are only now beginning to be felt, and those ripple effects will be felt for a long time.
But for now, for today, perhaps it's better to take a deep breath together and be glad a temporary fix has been found -- or more accurately, forced. For now, for today, in light of this Sunday's Annual Meeting, let us focus on our life together as a local congregation. (Local, but with wider impact: see article and photos below (scroll down!) about our Haiti medical mission trip). Here is a link to our brand new and very encouraging Annual Report. Here is a separate link to my cover letter of our Annual Report, where I share again a "driver's ed" analogy: that a common 3-5 year visionis the "road ahead" for us together, and our challenge is not to stare at or be distracted by those driving toward us with with their brights on. (Hard copies of the Annual Report will also be available on Sunday). See you Sunday,