From the Pastor’s Desk – August 2023

For the last few weeks, we have been reading the parables of Jesus, telling us about the Kingdom of God.  These parables ask us to move out of our comfort zone, take a risk to share the love of Christ and the Good News of the Gospel.

As a kid, my favorite book was Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.”  I read “Treasure Island” a dozen times.  Of course, I identified with Jim, the kid in the story.  But thinking back, I really loved the adults in “Treasure Island” because I didn’t know any adults like the ones who peopled Treasure Island, grownups who staked all, risked everything, for nothing more than some map scrawled on a piece of paper.

The adults I knew (for the most part) stayed home.  We were farm people.  We had crops to plant, nurture and harvest.  We had animals to tend to.  I loved the farm, but it was no Treasure Island.  In “Treasure Island,” the adults risked everything, they lied if needed, and they had great lives and exciting deaths.

I am haunted at what my pastor said to me at my graduation.  “Cory, remember one thing as you go forth from school into life: Even if you win the rat race, remember, you’re still a rat.”

He was telling the truth.  There is this relentless, virtually irresistible tendency of life to transmute from adventure into tame predictability.  One day you’re an angry, young thing, ready to grab the world by the tail and twist, dying to set the woods on fire.  And the next day you’re some old guy (like me, LOL), slouched in an easy chair, complaining about how the kids today are ruining the world.  One day you’re a kid, excited about the prospect of leaving home, abandoning your parents, and going to college where you can think as you like, and they can’t do anything about it.  And then the next day you’re just a college student, going through the motions, trying to accumulate enough hours to graduate.

Jesus says a kingdom belongs to those with the guts to stake it all on the treasure.  What would that look like for us?  How gutsy are we?  As always, I welcome your comments.

Pastor Cory