This week’s posting is brief and early.

In this E-pistle:
A thank you
Reflections on Pastor King
Congratulations to Joe Hill

As most of you know, I will be leaving tomorrow morning for California and my father’s memorial service, returning on Tuesday. Becky, Christopher, and Alanna will remain here in Beaver. Thank you to the many of you who have offered such kind words and have assured me and my family of your prayers. It is a blessing to be in a church family like the Park family in times of need!

On Monday as I was preparing for the sermon I was going to preach this Sunday, I was wrestling with the text from the Book of Acts, the one about Peter and Cornelius and Peter’s dream that taught him that God is no respecter of persons. The sermon was going to be about dreaming dreams and having visions, as the men and women of the first church did. This Sunday also being Martin Luther King’s birthday, I had several of King’s sermons in front of me, and, certainly knowing my dad’s illness, I was particularly struck not by King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, but by a sermon he preached at Ebenezer Baptist Church just a month and a day before his assassination. King had titled his sermon “Unfulfilled Dreams.”

As I have continued through the week, I found myself going back to that sermon over and over again. Whether Dr. King was someone prescient about his own death, we don’t know, but though it was delivered by a 39-year old in the prime of life, it speaks with the wisdom of great age. Throughout the week, it has been Martin Luther King, Jr., pastor, not the great figure from history, who has spoken so powerfully to me. Thank God for his faithful witness. (If you’d like to read the sermon, Click Here)

Finally, congratulations to Joe Hill, whose most recent book, Suffering: Understanding the Love of God, was released yesterday in U.K. by Evangelical Press and will be available next month in the USA. It can be seen at Evangelical Press. John Calvin’s name is writ large on the cover, but Joe has contributed more than one-half of the contents — as contemporary commentary. I am eager to read the book!

Again, thanks for all your prayers.