To the Cloud of Witnesses known to the world as Hilltop United Methodist Church. To Marilyn and me, it will be home.
Home is an important idea.
In baseball we find profound
theological insight by the terms used to describe the game itself i.e.
sacrifice, as well as the overall objective of the game: to get home, safe.
When I first came to Colorado in
1973 John Denver had just made popular a song about Colorado and how he was “Comin'
home to a place he'd never been before.”
When my replacement pastor here in
Colorado was introduced to the church leadership last month, his wife said “I
feel like I am home.” Home should be a
place of profound and deep safety, we know it when we experience it, and it is
in fact a critical element in our life journeys.
In Romans 12: 1-2 Paul invites the scattered house churches
in Rome to be a “living sacrifice” on behalf of Christ in the world, and he encourages
them to be different than the rest of the world.
Those are three important concepts as we write to you the
last time in 2012 from afar: home,
sacrifice, different.
The time is fast approaching when Marilyn and I will be with
you there in Utah having come 'home to a place' we ‘have never been before’ and
knowing we will be safe. We know our shared future experience in
community will be different than the world and we will be blessed by God through
the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Your prayers for us as we goal to finish well in Colorado
and also goal to start equally well in Utah will be powerful and effective as
we have faith that you are righteous people, i.e. James 5: 16.
Until we join you in the home that is Hilltop, know that
Marilyn and I truly look forward to joining you in collaborative leadership.
Until then, know that both of us
are simultaneously excited and humbled by the journey that lies before us.
Until then, peace truly be with
you,
Pastor Dennis
