Promise Fulfillers

"Teach me to do your will, for you

are my God. Let your good spirit

lead me on a level path.”   Psalm 143:10

 Dear Promise Fulfillers:

    Well another month of the New Year has gone by already, February is right at hand. It seems just like yesterday that 2019 was ending and we were promising new resolutions to ourselves for 2020. Perhaps you swore to yourself that the New Year would be different. You thought maybe this is the year you would try that new thing. Possibly you promised to make a change that would affect your life. So a month later, how is it going?

            So often, we may think that we are going to begin to change, to try new things, to seek new patterns, practices or habits, and then we fail to follow through. Change is hard. Even when we know that we have to do it for reasons of health, relationship, financial or some other demand, we still find that putting the new methods into practice is just so difficult.

            St. Mark is facing a similar point of personal crisis over making resolutions for the future. We know as the people of God’s living Church in Hanover, that we are to be about worshipping our Lord, deepening our faith through prayer and education, sharing the Word and the Sacraments with others, and seeking to care for others in our community as God has first cared for us. While we are doing these ministries, we know that we still need to do so much in many ways. Our trend is that we have lower numbers of worshipers, supporters, and volunteers, while at the same time the number of unbelievers, unfaithful, unchurched are growing right around us. We know that while we have a great building with many assets given to us as God’s stewards, we see the increasing needs of the building with aging roof, pipes and walls. While we have dedicated servants filling roles of ministry right now, we struggle to wonder who will be there to take up the work after them. This pattern cannot continue. We know a change is needed.

            It is time for St. Mark to make promises to God and ourselves as a church, to find ways to fulfill the ministries that are needed. We cannot let time go by and wonder what ever happened to those hopeful resolutions and dreams. Now is the time to seek new prayerful ideas and ministries. It will be difficult. It will be hard. But with God’s help, we can meet those challenges and make the changes God is calling us to fulfill.

                                                In the peace and grace of God,

                                                                        Pastor Kirk Griffin