Grace and Peace, Bethesda!
I pray your summer has been safe, relaxing and filled with blessings from God. I love the opportunity to go out of town with Bethesda youth, families and friends. It’s such a gift to break routines in order to fill our ordinary days with renewed purpose. A few days goes a long way in nurturing connections that strengthen the rest of the year.
Our Middle School adventure to Southern Oregon included a visit to Crater Lake. The formation of the lake provided the outline for our devotions:
- Grew
- Blew
- Fell
- Fill
Mount Mazama grew, erupted, collapsed into itself, and holds the perfect conditions for maintaining a lake from only rain and snowfall. The lack of a silty river source allows the lake to keep its incredible blueness and clarity.
Together we considered the life of Peter the disciple. Simon grew into the nickname “Peter/Rocky” given to him by Jesus. Peter grew even as he blew it time after time, culminating in his triple denial of Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed. But, by the mercy of God, the same Peter who fell into the lake while walking to Jesus on the water is the same Peter whom Jesus filled with the commission to “feed my lambs.” Peter’s failures did not move him to the back of the line among the disciples. You might even say it was Peter’s massive failures that shaped him into the rock Jesus needed him to be. Most of us have suffered eruptions in life. Some of us have even blown it big time! But thanks be to God, we have been cratered into Christ! Our sins, fears, and even our honest mistakes have been gathered into He who was crucified and raised for our salvation. God has filled our cratered hearts, minds and bodies with His baptismal water. God sustains our relationship with Him by showering us with grace and mercy, like rain from heaven. We don’t need to contribute anything from our silty rivers. He’s taken care of everything. We can rest in Christ. “Perfect submission, all is at rest. I in my Savior am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in his love.” (ELW 638, “Blessed Assurance”)
Shalom,
Pastor Tom