Pastor's Message

​Turning Points Not in Washington D.C.

With the elections over, and all the talk about transitions from one presidency to another, consider these good words from Frederick Buechner. True history, he says, is less about elections and transition of power, but rather this:

"True history has to do with the saving and losing of souls, and both of these are apt to take place when most people -- including the one whose soul is at stake - are looking the other way.  The real turning point in our lives is less less likely to be the day we win the election or get married, than the morning we decide not to mail the letter, or the afternoon we watch the woods fill up with snow.  The real turning point in human history is less apt to be the day the wheel is invented or Rome falls than the day a child is born in a stable."

One of the purposes of a congregation is to save us from the anxiety of political transitions.  "The transitions in our hearts and minds are easy to miss; we often are looking the other away," writes Buechner.  The big transitions are not, he suggests, in the halls of political power, but in our personal and private lives. 

These transitions probably sneak up on us; we miss their coming to us.  We don't need to even see or acknowledge them, but they are happening to us every day.  This is one of the works of the Holy Spirit -- to change us when we are not  looking.

Bless you all.
Pastor Jim
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Jim Fish
Pastor