Advent Three

I just turned 81.

(Yes! I know! I don’t look a day over 80!)

And on Jan 21, I will celebrate my 42nd year as pastor of St. Matthew.

So—how did that happen?!?

Well, in 1982, I was a 29-yr-old theology student beginning a second career after teaching.

I needed a church to serve while in seminary. And there was this small, dying church nobody wanted to be sent to.

St. Matthew.

A church off the main drag. No prospects.

I was sent there to close it down—pronounce the “last rites,” so to speak.

But it didn’t die. It began to grow.

By 1989 we were out of room. We had a building program to transform the sanctuary into the glory it is now.

Since I presided over an unlikely recovery, the bishop let me stay. Many bishops let me stay. Having this continuity is what has preserved a church that seemed to have no future.

That—and this. This thing you are reading.

In 1987, we began these “little articles” in papers.

Some 90% of our members come through Friday’s Word.

And everyone knows what they are getting before they get here.

We attract loving and accepting people.

And by the way—I ain’t done yet. I am as excited about ministry as the day I first stepped into a pulpit.

And Christmas at St. Matthew will be glorious.

The Christmas Show is this Saturday night—the 16th –at 6:00. It’s kind of like an old Bing Crosby TV special.

Great music.

Christmas supper after.

And Santa for the kids.

And Sunday morning?

I’m still preaching.