Dear Church… 

What a rainy, dreary week here in the Glen.  As I write this (on Wednesday, April 3), it is 70° and sunny in Riverside, California… 

It’s time for a trip back to the West Coast.  On Sunday evening, April 7, Debbie and I will jet off to Portland, Oregon, for a week of vacation.  We are going to take a week off in Oregon, go to Powell’s Bookstore, drink Dutch Bros. coffee, eat at Pine State Biscuits, visit with a Mosaic Conference Partner-in-Ministry leadership couple (Ben and Ando Wachiye, from East Africa),  and hangout with our daughter’s family. Our Oregon grandsons, James and Gabe, are celebrating their 10th birthday on Tuesday, April 9. 

On April 10th, Lord willing, our son’s family in California gets a new addition.  Celina, our daughter-in-law, is scheduled to deliver her 4th son.  Joining Jake, Jack, and John will be our youngest grandson, Jonah Xavier Wright.  It’s going to be a great time.  We get to help, we get to play with the guys, and we get to let our son and daughter-in-law deal with sleep deprivation. We arrive in Southern California on April 12, and I’ll take the weekend to enjoy and assist with Jonah and his older brothers. 

But trips to the West Coast are not totally vacation for me.  I’m also working remotely for Blooming Glen and for Mosaic Conference, April 15-25.  I’ll be available by phone, text, email, and Zoom. I’ll be working at some Blooming Glen long-range planning, and sermon preparation. I’ll have meetings with Mosaic pastors, CRM executives, and partners in ministry in Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.  I’ll be installing Pastor Bernie Chung, as the Interim Pastor at San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church, on Sunday, April 21.  It will be an active time.   

The Dodgers also have a nine-game homestand, April 12-21!  (Just in case you were wondering…) 

I return to Blooming Glen Friday night, April 26.  I’ll be preaching on Sunday, the 28th and departing again late Sunday night, for a brief trip to the UK and France, to help reestablish contacts with several Anabaptist-related ministries. Again, I’ll be doing some remote work for Mosaic and Blooming Glen, and available by text, email, and Zoom as needed, April 28-May 4. I’m excited to be going, as it has been close to eight years since I’ve been in the UK.  I’ll take a brief trip to explore some ancient family roots in the West Midlands (May 5-7), and I’ll return to Pennsylvania on May 8, resuming my usual Blooming Glen schedule on May 10.  Debbie will return to Pennsylvania on May 28, having been yet again recertified in changing diapers! 

Upon my return, I’ll be pivoting in May and June to work related to ending the interim assignment you’ve called me to do.  I’ll be finalizing a preaching ensemble of 3-6 voices proclaiming the gospel with unique voices.  I’ll be working with the CLB to hire the full compliment of program and administrative staff Blooming Glen needs to meet the vision you’ve expressed, and I’ll begin to onboard this reformatted staff for new avenues of coaching ministry, based on our REDS strategy (Recruit, Equip, Deploy, and Support).  I’ll be helping to solidify steps staff and elders are working at to make our congregational care ministry even more excellent.  I’ll be overseeing the implementation of plans being made by staff and elders to expand our worship voices without compromising our commitment to be a singing church. And with those strengths in place, I’ll be working with staff and elders to build the teams that engage our neighborhoods, continue to establish peaceful practices, and reconnect Blooming Glen to the global church. 

There’s a lot to do between now and July 31.  The traveling in early April to early May, and in early July (to help with the MYF summer service ministry in Los Angeles) will energize and support my continuing efforts to position Blooming Glen for an ongoing transformation – to continue to become a people of prayer, with generous hearts, and loving, radical candor in relationships, committed to helping one another belong in order to believe, to find identity through the worship of the Risen Jesus, and to embrace a meaningful life purpose of serving neighbors near and far and building peace pathways through the gospel. 

“…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…”

It’s a great time to be Blooming Glen Mennonite Church!

Thanks, Church, for this grand opportunity to serve you…

Pastor jeff
jeff@bgmc.net

PS: So, one more “Coffee and Conversations” at the Broad Street Grind, May 5, 3:30pm-4:45pm.  Then, I’ll be away until Friday, May 10, when there will be another coffee and conversation at the Grind, 3:30pm-4:45pm.  I’ll miss our Monday mornings of “Omelets, Oatmeal, and Observations” at the A&N Diner until Monday, May 13, 7:30am-8:45am.  In between now and then, go ahead and gather for discussions and fellowship with one another….

Dear Church, 

Walking 250 steps to and from work daily means to see subtle changes more clearly.  The bare branches of the trees around the church parking lot have unmistakably begun to bud anew.  Blooming Glen Bob, the groundhog living under the farmhouse porch steps (and under the shed, and in the Barn), is out sunning himself almost daily.  New life is all around.   

As it should be. 

The role of the church is to be a magnet for renewal.  The reality of the resurrection of Jesus is that death has lost its grip on us.  The contagion of pain has been overcome by Christ’s conquest of sin, death, and hell.   

But it takes courage to believe that. 

It takes courage to believe in the face of blustery north winds and flooding rains that winter is waning.   

But it is all true.  Winter will give way to spring.  Sin gives way to resurrection. The church can be full of new life and purpose. 

The author, pastor, and church consultant Carey Nieuwhof (www.careynieuwhof.com)  suggests that current challenge the church in North America faces is not primarily political polarization, or doctrinal differences.  The problem is mostly one of indifference.  We’ve stopped caring.  We’ve stopped caring about God’s grace.  We’ve stopped caring about God’s truth.  We’ve stopped caring about the promise and presence of resurrection. And because we are indifferent, we find Jesus’ behavior during Holy Week hard to imagine.  We see the intensity of Jesus dancing, weeping, overturning moneychanger’s tables, contemplating and discerning, and we don’t know what to do.  So, we sit, indifferent to Jesus.  Indifferent to one another.  Indifferent to our neighbor. 

Easter calls us to a return to white-hot intensity of purpose.  The resurrection matters.  It defines us.  It shapes purpose.  It revives us to dance with joy in the presence of the Holy Spirit and sob over the condition of our neighborhoods.  The resurrection demands we overturn the moneychanger’s tables and restore the hope of the poor.  The resurrection expects we will reflect, contemplate, and discern.  The resurrection seeks to remove our doubt and confusion, and guide us to see Jesus our Lord, love one another in the church, and break down the barriers of nationality, race, class, gender, and language as nonconformists, servants, caregivers to God’s creation, and evangelists who invite our neighbors to join us in following Jesus Christ daily in life. 

Easter is no time for indifference, church.  Easter is when we put on new garments of praise and start afresh to work in confidence that Christ, who has died, has also risen, and will come again to fulfill God’s restoration of a new creation. 

It’s happening all around us. 

Don’t settle for an indifferent faith. 

We are an Easter people, and Hallelujah is our song. 

Christ is Risen.  He is Risen indeed… 

Pastor Jeff
jeff@bgmc.net 

PS – Coffee and conversation on Good Friday, March 29, and April 5, at the Broad Street Grind, 3:30-4:45 pm.  Dialogue over Oatmeal and Omelets next Monday, April 1 (it’s no joke!), at the A&N Diner, 7:30-8:45 am.  Good food.  Good coffee. Good conversations. You’re all invited.