i. 2007:  God at Work
ii. 2007: An Uneasy Feeling 

i. 2007: God at Work

I began sending e-pistles to all of you in August 2000.  Each year since, I have spent some time on the last Friday of the year looking back over the posts for that year, and every year I find in the prayer lists, announcements and reflections evidence of God’s work among us.  It’s fairly easy to see; you don’t have to be an ecclesiastical CSI to figure out what happened.  God didn’t leave us alone. He didn’t ignore our prayers and he wasn’t unmindful of our need for constant direction and help. And, he continued to surprise us with his grace.

Our year began with the sad news of the tragic death of Lois Anderson , who was gunned down in her beloved Kenya. We celebrated Mabel Miller’s 100^th birthday in February and then mourned her death and rejoiced in her life in August. George Harry, Olive Huberman and Will Logan were among others for whom we have a sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life. They are missed, but the witness of their faith continues to remind us of what life well-lived looks like. God at work.

You know that the year has ended with a flurry of baptisms and during the year we welcomed around 25 new members. God at work.   

Park members served meals, repaired hurricane-damaged houses, taught vacation Bible school, built houses, delivered Thanksgiving food baskets and Christmas presents here at home and around the world. God at work. 

It took one intrepid band of Park missionaries 80 hours to travel from Beaver to Brazil, and God was with them every minute of the way. Another group made life-long friends and made a life-changing difference in a place called Pearlington, Mississippi, and God was honored through it all. God at work.   

Strangers wandered in off the streets and found God waiting to meet them through the people and the ministries of our church. God at work. 

Children, youth and adults gathered for Bible studies, and Park Women for prayer. Our Prayer Room was opened and God is honoring the dedication of those who come day by day to lift our joys and concerns before the Throne of Grace. Youth Hall was filled with 20 to 40 middle school and high school kids every Tuesday and Club 1440 continued to reach out to the younger children of the community every Wednesday afternoon. God at work. 

Our 2020 Vision Team began to bring our next dozen years into focus and have done a great job, with more to come. God at work. 

Worship inspired us, fellowship encouraged us, study equipped us, mission and ministry humbled us. God was among us!

ii. 2007:  An Uneasy Feeling 

On a personal note, 2007 ends with a sense of unease.  

It was a good year for Becky and me. Alanna graduated from Grove City College one weekend in May and Christopher and Katie were married the next.  In October we celebrated thirty years of marriage. Alanna and Katharine and Ryan celebrated Christmas with us, and we were reminded, once again, of what a marvelous gift a family really is.   

Together we enjoyed ABC classes and a marvelous group of Park Church friends there and elsewhere. We cannot help but praise God for all the wonders of his love!

But God began an unexpected work with us, as well, a work that led to a call to leave Beaver and begin a new ministry in a new place. We struggled with that call and Jacob-like wrestled with what it meant. In the end, we received God’s assurance that, in fact, he was about to start writing a new chapter in our life with him.  

So as I sit in my study on the last Friday of 2007, I feel a sad uneasiness. I should be preparing material for winter ABC. I should be putting final touches on the orientation for new church officers. I should be gearing up for the 2008 edition of our Brazil mission trip and helping the 2020 Team run its last lap before the finish line.  

But that’s not what I am doing. Instead, I’m trying to figure out which loose ends still need to be tied and which obscure details tended. I’m cleaning out files and thinking about the Confirmation class I won’t be team-teaching with Missy, the wedding I won’t be performing and the new members I won’t be greeting. I’m thinking about these dozen years the 2020 Team is envisioning that I won’t be sharing. I’m aware of friendships that will no longer have the nurture of frequent contact.  

God called Mary to believe the impossible, Joseph to bear shame, the shepherds to give witness and the Magi to seek truth until they found Him. Calling is the very nature of God. Noah was called to build a big boat and Abraham and Sarah were called to leave home and trust a preposterous dream. Moses was called to go tell Pharaoh a thing or two and David was told to gather up five smooth stones on his way to meet a man named Goliath. 

Calling is the everyday business of God. Occasionally, but not always, his calls are great disruptions in our lives, the kind that make us feel uneasy. 

Some of you have been kind enough to ask how we’re doing. Thanks. How are we doing?  We’re doing okay. Just a little uneasy. 

Now a detail or two:

• Our final Sunday in January 6, and I will be on vacation beginning January 7.

• We hope to visit Christopher and Katie at Notre Dame and then head to Langhorne sometime in the middle of the month

• Our house on Taylor Avenue has not sold, so initially we will house sit for a Langhorne snowbird while we wait for God’s timing on the sale of the house here and then the purchase of a house there.  

• We covet your prayers for all of this

 And thanks for all the ways you have allowed God to use you in our lives in 2007! Grace surprises us at every turn.