Monday, June 22, 2009

A TIME of REFRESHMENT

Holidays are always good when they result in refreshment, and that's exactly what the last week in a remote cabin in Tennessee has done for our family. No cell phone reception. No internet. No television. Just "down" time. Just face-to-face visiting and playing with those people whom we love, but seldom get a chance to encounter without the interruptions of advanced technological life. Fantastic!

Now it's time to get back into the routine of work again. Children and grandchildren have driven home or caught planes to other continents. The grass needs to be mowed. Articles need to be written. Mourning people need to be visited.

May God bless all of you, wherever you are, with a peaceful time of relaxation this summer.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

CORPORATE History

The idea of "corporate history" is sort of like "corporate worship." It means "doing something together." We worship together. We make history together!

I have just returned from the annual meeting of Concordia Deaconess Conference - Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which many women attended, from all over the country and even from a few foreign countries. We were together to worship; read-mark-learn-and inwardly digest some Scripture; hear reports on mission work facilitated by Hands of Mercy and on the first ever meeting of deaconesses from across South America; encourage one another in our work and faith; take a tour of historic deaconess-related sites in Fort Wayne; and basically just enjoy being together and having some "down" time from our normally busy lives.

These conferences contribute to the ongoing collection of corporate history that makes the CDC what it is and what it will continue to be. The annual business meeting, always held sometime during the conference, also facilitates a moving forward - to be certain that the objectives and goals of the conference are met; to ensure that we continue to make corporate history in the future. It makes us happy that our history is rooted in in God's Word. That history is laced with a deliberate ministry of mercy to one's neighbor, but we know it is only a reflection of the mercy that Christ first provided for us.

I thank God for all of the women (and of course our Pastoral adviser) with whom I was able to share this past week. I can only hope that they are all as refreshed as I am after such a wonderful conference!