Jared called last night.
Our 19 year old son lives in Greenville now, the chief cook & bottle washer/waiter/bartender in a golf course restaurant. He needs for one last summer or two to be near the friends he grew up with, and I think he needs a little distance from mom and dad. I understand those feelings. But I still miss having him around, just as I miss his older brother Ben, who's now driving from Homer, Alaska to Fairbanks, in a truck he bought for $750, looking for a better job.
I wonder sometimes how we raised those boys, that their lives are so filled with adventure and so different than ours. I want them both to be happy and yet there's a part of me that wonders why they can't settle down and stay put and get regular jobs like everybody else. I want them home and nearby, though I know with absolute certainty that to love anyone is to somehow hold on while you let go. "It's like holding a bar of wet soap with wet hands" a friend once told me. "You have to grip it gently -- firmly enough that it doesn't slip out of your hands, but not so tightly that you squeeze it away."
When Jared called my first reaction was to wonder what's wrong -- till it dawned on me that he'd called just to talk and to ask about Ben. And in the course of our conversation I was reminded again that by the grace of God we do indeed hold on to each other, with an abiding connection deep and unbroken despite the time and distance and chance that's come between us.
What's true for our children and our families is true for our church and our God. There are times when God seems far away, and it's hard to remember that he holds on to us like soap, giving us permission to make our own decisions, hoping that we'll choose at least to stay in touch. In a world that takes us on strange journeys he gives us his son to continue our conversation -- conversations that pull us aside now and then, to remind us of an abiding connection deep and unbroken, despite the time and distance and chance that sometimes comes between us.
That's what we share at Good Shepherd, my friends: a running conversation with our God and our Christ, in word and sacrament, song and prayer, friendship and service. You can join in that conversation any time, and it will always draw you back to the God who loves you without strings attached, beyond the bounds of time and space and chance, connecting you ever more deeply to the people you hold dear.
Pastor Jim
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E-mail your comments and questions to Pastor Jim in care of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church at gslc@sirus.com.