A Message from the Pastor

back

May, 2010 - Pastor Kyle Rouze

After a wonderful installation service I am jumping in full force into the wonderful ministries of this place. I would like to send a warm word of thanks to everyone who participated in the installation service; worship assistants, musicians, and everyone who was a part of the call team throughout this call process. It is your willingness and cheer that makes this place so great! The whole church has been tremendously welcoming to Crystal and me. We feel very blessed to become a part of this church family.

It happens in some families that distant relatives stay away and whenever the holidays roll around you have to try to remember their name because you only see them once a year, and maybe not even that often. So be patient with me for awhile and remind me of your name until I can get it right. Don’t stay away from me like that distant relative either, please come up and chat with me. Hopefully I will soon be able to call you by name. I am very anxious to get to know y’all and learn how I can support and be engaged in ministry with you at Calvary.

Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. Acts 9:36

The end of April was this year’s synod assembly. The bishop expressed that there is a deep anxiousness in many churches. This anxiousness comes (according to the Bishop’s words) because the church that we have known and grown up with is dead. Dead like Tabitha in Acts 9:36-43. When she died, the people were anxious for Peter to come and grieve with them, and when he came they showed him all the “good works and acts of charity” that she had been responsible for. I imagine that Peter got to know Tabitha from the stories of those people. He learned about her gift of sharing the love of God, and her sense of mission trying to make a difference. Those that surrounded Peter that day could clearly see the difference Tabitha made.

Peter moves into the room where they had laid her and prays. He calls out to her by name, “Tabitha, get up!” And she took his hand and got up. I’m sure the people gathered around were so energized by what they saw that they immediately started spreading the message that they had seen.

Peter put all of them outside, and he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. Acts 9:40

At the assembly people heard a vision that reminds us the church is like Tabitha. What seems dead is ready to be called by God to get up and be very much alive in a strong sense of mission and making a difference. I could feel the energy and enthusiasm of the assembly. Our church is very much alive with this sense of mission. Like Tabitha was called by name by Peter, God calls us by name in the waters of our baptism. We are energized by a sense of mission to share our own acts of charity with those in need. We share the love of Jesus so that others, who might not even attend Calvary, will call us by name and know, “That church makes a difference!”

May God bless us as we work to make a difference together,
Pr. Kyle

back