On the eve of my retirement from the position of Senior Pastor at FECC, I received a congratulatory message from KKLA that our church staff is being recognized for our ministry and treated for free lunch last Thursday. Terry Lim, chair of our Board of Directors has nominated our church staff and we were selected by KKLA among the many nominees from Southern California.
The first question asked of me was, “How do I feel that you have been nominated for Thankful Thursday?” I simply said that “ I was excited, grateful, appreciative, and honored, however, I claim no credit for the success of our ministry. It is all of God’s grace and credit to the cooperative spirit and endeavors of our pastoral and supporting staff.” God is good and to God be the glory indeed! Although we have been going through some tough times due to the threat of a pandemic, we experience God’s peace and goodness. His presence, protection, provision, and power continue to sustain us. We learn to live by faith and not by fear. God’s mercy and steadfast love are new every morning, and great is His faithfulness to us. KKLA’s ministry to the pastors is to be commended. Their recognition of the contributions of the pastors not only to the Kingdom of God but also to the society at large brings much comfort and encouragement. May the Lord continue to prosper their work in broadcasting; sharing the gospel and spreading God’s love all around to a broken world. My brothers and sisters in Christ, I bid you au revoir. After 33 and a half years at FECC, it’s about time for a new leader to lead the next chapter of our church life. I count it a joy and a privilege serving with you all these years, and I thank God in every remembrance of you. I am very grateful for the way many of you have willingly and sacrificially offered yourselves to the service of the Lord. You have given your best to the Master and are living out the characteristics of a chosen people, a royal priesthood, and a people belonging to God. I will be delivering my last message as your Senior Pastor today. My sermon title is: “Majestic Mystery: I Know Not How”; narrating some of the amazing things God has done for us, in us, and through us. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. He has begun writing the story of our faith journey and will finish it with a beautiful ending. God loves you, so do I !!! 1God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.
(Psalm 46:1-2) Today’s word is all about recognizing and making space to feel whatever feelings you’ve got about your life. I don’t know about you, but I’ve observed that a lot of us have fairly complicated and pronounced feelings about our lives. We love our life. We hate our lives. We’re tired. We’re hopeful. We’re burnt out. We’re curious. Consider your own feelings in this season. I’ll also say that our collective relationship with work/ministry is well, rather complicated. Societal tells us to believe that work will be the place where we make sense of ourselves – the central vehicle that helps us know about our giftings, our passions, and our potential. So, if work isn’t going well, or we don’t have paid work, we wonder about who we are. Turns out, that’s a lot of pressure to put on work and it isn’t exactly biblical. Plus, it negates all the other contexts and relationships through which God is actively forming us for the work of God in the world. Today, we are living through a unique season of feelings about work – a season in which many people are thinking about or are actively quitting their jobs. Experts are calling this season The Great Resignation. Even if you’re not thinking about quitting, the overall shifts can feel pretty turbulent. The image that comes to mind is that of an earthquake. An earthquake comes, often unexpected, and we don’t quite know when it will end or what kind of damage will occur. The Good News is that God is very clear about where God is when things feel unstable. The psalmist says that God is a very present help in times of trouble. In this changing world of life and work, and especially in seasons of individual wrestling, God promises to be near to you. To hold you and love you. In this, we are sustained by the with-ness of God. And, because God promises to be near to us, fear doesn’t have to consume us. We can bring our fear, or any other big feelings we might have about work or about change, straight to God. Pursuing meaning in a changing world requires that we get really honest about our own feelings. And the safest, surest place to get honest about our feelings is with God, who draws near to us in times of need. Yes, there are times when the ground shifts beneath us. And, yes, there are times when our experiences don’t match our expectations. There are times when we flat out fail and all we feel is the tension between where we are now and where we want to be. But, through them all, making space for the big feelings we naturally have is central to the path forward with God. Oh God, my Gracious Father, thank You that You indeed show up in times of trouble, and when I’ve got a lot of big feelings. It is amazing that You, the God of all Creation, promise to be with me in my feelings about all of life. Thank You!! 24So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. (Genesis 32)
In the past few years, I have talked with people that have something in common: they are in a season of wrestling with something. Some are explicitly in transition while others are just feeling all the effects of change around them. As a whole, we’re dealing with a lot. We’re working through all that we notice that’s broken, and all that we hope for going forward. I’m thinking of the new mom wrestling with the work of motherhood, the executive thinking about a professional change, about the small business owner wrestling with the gap between what their business looks like and what they wished it looked like, and the college student seeking direction and meaning as they prepare for a career ahead. I believe that wrestling is core to what it means to be human. And, that wrestling is often the breeding ground for God’s transformation. And for that, we need to recognize how holy the process of wrestling might be. When I think of wrestling, I can’t help but think of Jacob. Jacob is such a beautifully complex person. On the one hand, God calls him to a life of leadership before he’s even born. On the other hand, Jacob lives a life of conflict, especially with his brother. In a way, Jacob’s entire story seems to be marked by wrestling, a theme that comes into focus when he literally wrestles a stranger in the middle of the night (Genesis 32). There are many theories on who that stranger might be. Just before daylight, Jacob seems to have the upper hand on the stranger and literally demands a blessing in order to let his sparring partner free (again, Jacob is a beautifully complicated human being). But the stranger does not bless him – at least not in the way Jacob might have been hoping for. Instead, the stranger gives Jacob a new name. No longer will he be called Jacob, which means “trickster.” His new name is Israel, which means “God rules or preserves.” God’s presence in the holy wrestling transforms Jacob’s identity and quite literally how he walks through the world. His assurance on the way forward is that God is with him, naming him and calling him into the future. We too can expect that holy wrestling might transform us. It might change how we think about our work or our ministry, or even how we understand God. What we learn in seasons of wrestling will likely change how we “walk” through the world as followers of Jesus and workers and friends. For in wrestling, just like with Jacob, God names us and calls us and promises to be with us on the road forward. We are changed by God’s with-ness. I wonder what you’re wrestling with, whether it is at home, at work or in your neighborhood, or somewhere else. We’re usually always wrestling with something. Maybe you’re having a hard time with a colleague or trying to encourage a spouse in their own walk. Maybe you’re wrestling with how to start something new just, or worried about your kids. Whatever it is, what if you saw it as an opportunity to focus on how God might be forming you, and transforming you for the way forward? Oh God, my Gracious Father, meet me in my own wrestling, help me to know what it is I need to let go of and how I might emerge from this season more dependent on Your direction and guidance. For Your glory! Amen. On the eve of my retirement from the position of Senior Pastor at FECC, I received a congratulatory message from KKLA that our church staff is being recognized for our ministry and treated for free lunch last Thursday. Terry Lim, chair of our Board of Directors has nominated our church staff and we were selected by KKLA among the many nominees from Southern California.
The first question asked of me was, “How do I feel that you have been nominated for Thankful Thursday?” I simply said that “ I was excited, grateful, appreciative, and honored, however, I claim no credit for the success of our ministry. It is all of God’s grace and credit to the cooperative spirit and endeavors of our pastoral and supporting staff.” God is good and to God be the glory indeed! Although we have been going through some tough times due to the threat of a pandemic, we experience God’s peace and goodness. His presence, protection, provision, and power continue to sustain us. We learn to live by faith and not by fear. God’s mercy and steadfast love are new every morning, and great is His faithfulness to us. KKLA’s ministry to the pastors is to be commended. Their recognition of the contributions of the pastors not only to the Kingdom of God but also to the society at large brings much comfort and encouragement. May the Lord continue to prosper their work in broadcasting; sharing the gospel and spreading God’s love all around to a broken world. My brothers and sisters in Christ, I bid you au revoir. After 33 and a half years at FECC, it’s about time for a new leader to lead the next chapter of our church life. I count it a joy and a privilege serving with you all these years, and I thank God in every remembrance of you. I am very grateful for the way many of you have willingly and sacrificially offered yourselves to the service of the Lord. You have given your best to the Master and are living out the characteristics of a chosen people, a royal priesthood, and a people belonging to God. I will be delivering my last message as your Senior Pastor on February 27, 2022, 10:00 a.m. at our Cerritos Campus. My sermon title will be: “Majestic Mystery: I Know Not How”; narrating some of the amazing things God has done for us, in us, and through us. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. He has begun writing the story of our faith journey and will finish it with a beautiful ending. God loves you, so do I !!! |
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