Dear Rose Park,

A few weeks ago I wrote a letter to you all naming the obvious dynamic that the world, and particularly the worlds relationship with the church, has changed. Fifty to seventy-five years ago, when a family would move into the neighborhood not only would they look for the local church but they would also look for a particular denomination of church. Fast-forward to today and we’re lucky if that same family is looking for a church at all. This shift is for a variety of reasons and at some level, can be disheartening, but at another level this shift in culture can be the stimulus for renewal.

Dear Rose Park,

By the time you’re reading this on Wednesday morning, Lord willing, I will be arriving to the Isle of Iona in Scotland. Iona is a tiny island off the southwest coast of Mull in the Inner Hebrides. It is only 1.5 miles wide by 3 miles long, with a population of around 170 permanent residents. Despite it’s small stature it has one of the coolest nicknames I’ve ever heard; Iona is known as ‘the Cradle of Christianity’ in Scotland.

Dear Rose Park,

This past Friday, Simon had his first baseball practice through Holland Little League. Along with another dad, I volunteered to be the coach of his team, the Guardians. There are twelve little boys on the team, each of them coming from different backgrounds and experience levels, but all of them seem to be eager to learn and try new things on the baseball field.

Dear Rose Park,

Over the course of the last few years, I’ve read and re-read Tod Bolsinger’s book Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory. It’s been a fascinating book to read and critique while in the crucible of pastoral ministry. Essentially, it tells the story of explorers Lewis and Clark who were prepared to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean, instead they found themselves facing the Rocky Mountains. In that moment they knew they no longer needed their canoes, instead they needed to find new navigational tools.

Dear Rose Park,

Last Wednesday, along with Bill & Joyce Dora, Kathy Bradford, and Patty Riemersma, I met Doug & Marlin Prins at Russ’ for coffee and pie. Doug & Marlin are our mission partners in Alaska; we had a great time hearing about their ministry and celebrating God’s faithfulness to them on the long road of obedience in the same direction.

Dear Rose Park,

Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws

And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;

Pluck the keen teeth from the tiger’s jaws,

And burn the long-lived phoenix in her brood.

These are the opening lines from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 19 and they paint a picture of the devouring power of time. Time blunts the lion’s paws and the tiger’s jaws and even the phoenix - the mythical bird believed to rise from its ashes in order to live forever - will be devoured by time. Time does have power, but if we give time too much power then we forget we have agency within time.

Dear Rose Park,

Easter has come and gone. Lilies have been ordered, received, and taken home. Chocolate bunnies are now on clearance. Our Easter pastels have been relegated back into the closet and now we’re left with the question: what do we do now?

To the People of God at Rose Park, Embody Christ Fellowship & Central Park,

A few months ago Central Park Church was looking for a way to bless our Words of Hope missionaries who work in the Middle East with some of the proceeds from our Holiday Shoppe. When I called the Words of Hope office and asked what our missionaries needed, I leaned something interesting.

Dear People of Central Park, Embody Christ Fellowship, & Rose Park,

Last week I ran into two of our friends while shopping at the Community Action House Food Club. I talked to the first as I was arriving and they were leaving with a cart full of groceries, and I chatted with the second as I was leaving with my hands full of groceries (why do I always underestimate how many groceries I need) and they were arriving. Within both conversations I heard the same phrase: ‘how are you really doing?’

Dear People of Central Park, Embody Christ Fellowship, & Rose Park,

At Rose Park, our mission statement is quite simple: connect the disconnected, empower the connected, and reconcile all things to God.  One way we can empower the connected is by inviting our young people to boldly share their faith and to graciously show the love of Jesus in everything they do and everything they say.  With that said, enjoy this devotion from Ms. Ava Lemire….