Thank you, thank you, thank you! It’s clergy appreciation month and you all deserve to be thanked, to be shown love and support. We are still struggling day to day and yet I am finding much hope in our congregations as we get deeper into Charge Conference season. Please know I am grateful to each of you for your perseverance and persistence during this time.
Hear these words from the psalmist of Psalm 104 (better yet, take a few minutes and go outside, sit down, breathe deeply, and read these parts of Psalm 104!):
O my soul, bless God!
God, my God, how great you are!
beautifully, gloriously robed,
Dressed up in sunshine,
and all heaven stretched out for your tent.
You built your palace on the ocean deeps,
made a chariot out of clouds and took off on wind-wings.
You commandeered winds as messengers,
appointed fire and flame as ambassadors.
You set earth on a firm foundation
so that nothing can shake it, ever.
You blanketed earth with ocean,
covered the mountains with deep waters;
Then you roared and the water ran away –
your thunder crash put it to flight.
Mountains pushed up, valleys spread out
in the places you assigned them.
You set boundaries between earth and sea;
never again will earth be flooded.
You started the springs and rivers,
sent them flowing among the hills.
All the wild animals now drink their fill,
wild donkeys quench their thirst.
Along the riverbanks the birds build nests,
ravens make their voices heard.
You water the mountains from your heavenly reservoirs;
earth is supplied with plenty of water.
You make grass grow for the livestock,
hay for the animals that plow the ground.
The moon keeps track of the seasons,
the sun is in charge of each day.
When it’s dark and night takes over,
all the forest creatures come out.
The young lions roar for their prey,
clamoring to God for their supper.
When the sun comes up, they vanish,
lazily stretched out in their dens.
Meanwhile, men and women go out to work,
busy at their jobs until evening.
What a wildly wonderful world, God!
You made it all, with Wisdom at your side,
made earth overflow with your wonderful creations.
Oh, look – the deep, wide sea,
brimming with fish past counting,
sardines and sharks and salmon.
Ships plow those waters,
and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them.
Oh, let me sing to God all my life long,
sing hymns to my God as long as I live!
O my soul, bless God!
This psalmist is delighted with God and notes the generosity and abundance supplied by God. It reminds me of many verses throughout the bible where we are reminded how much God cares for us, seeing to our every need.
Do you see yourself as a creature to be cared for by God’s great and overwhelming love? Do you know how much you are adored by our Creator? God has made you and you are Enough! You are just right. You are wonderfully and beautifully made. You are a human being loved for who you are and not just what you do.
This psalmist clearly adores God and sees God’s creation, the wonder of it all, as a gift in which we get to live. God offers Godself to us completely; and we are called to love God in the same way right back. As God’s creation, we have been given something of God’s power and creativity to share. You are gifted by God and I’m grateful you are utilizing your gifts.
As the psalmist marvels at the fish in the sea, how the reservoirs are filled with water, I marvel at you and the steady ways you are supporting your congregations, preaching grace and mercy, living out compassion and care, and creatively living into gatherings for homecomings, family events, bible studies and so much more. I am delighted to find you are finding ways to thrive personally and professionally. I can’t say thank you enough for what you have given of yourselves in this past year. Please know I am truly grateful and blessed by each of you.
Peace,
Tara
A few post scripts:
As we continue to walk together, I am continually looking for ways to connect. If you are unable to meet during daytime events (as are our hardworking dually employed pastors), please let me know times we can be in touch.
Thank you to all of you who have completed your Charge Conferences! So many have shared wonderful words of thanksgiving for their pastors and for the beautiful ways congregation and community have intersected. I truly look forward to being with all of you via zoom over the next few weeks!
Even as this psalmist highlights God’s creation, we know creation needs our care as stewards of the earth. Our district is starting a Creation Care Team to assist churches in Harbor in beginning best practices of such stewardship. Please let me know if you are interested in serving on this team or have a layperson interested. Thanks!
If you would like to view past editions of Time with Tara, follow this link:
https://harbordistrictnc.org/category/from-the-ds/