Pastor's Page

A Message from the Director of Ministries - Carl H. Rehwaldt

Dear Friends,
It was late Friday evening, June 6, and hundreds of people had gathered at the Hastings Senior High School athletic field for this year’s Relay for Life. The luminaries lining the track stood as quiet reminders of those who have struggled with cancer–those who died from it and the even greater number who continue to live with it or who have survived it.

Hand in hand, my wife and I walked quietly and slowly around the track several times, taking note of the names so lovingly written, painted, or printed on the luminaries. We would recall moments in the lives of friends and church members who, after long battles, succumbed to cancer only to be given the ultimate victory of life with Christ. We were struck by the number of other friends and church members whose cancer diagnosis has been relatively recent. And we gave each other an occasional look of surprise (the look that says, “I had almost forgotten that s/he had cancer.”) when we would see the names of those who had cancer long ago and now live on as survivors decades later.

I bring this up as a testament to the power of God to instill within us faith and hope that persist in all kinds of circumstances. So many of you have been touched by cancer–as a cancer patient or a family member–and have responded by leaning on the Rock that does not shift, by placing your cares and worries at the feet of Jesus. You have shown in myriad ways that neither cancer nor any other illness or trouble or difficulty or circumstance can separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus and from the peace that Christ gives.

May such peace fill each of your lives these days.

A Word from the Associate Pastor - Paul T. Dunbar

The announcement was made one year ago, June 25, 2007: Hastings was the winner of Yahoo!’s “Greenest City in America” contest.

Since then, we’ve all heard a lot locally about “living green,” and there’s ongoing attention to the issues brought by the GoGreen Hastings campaign and the Green City Task Force.

I know that environmental issues come with lots of baggage and can be hotly debated. But whatever your thoughts about global warming, whatever your political leanings, whatever your attitude about the Yahoo! contest and how the award money is spent, I pray that you will live as a faithful steward of God’s earth.

Do it not to win a contest, nor to fit in. Do it not to be politically correct, nor to feel good about yourself, nor even for the good of future generations.

Do it foremost because we live in a God-created world, a world for which God has commanded us to care. We are privileged to be God’s servants here during our lifetime, and with that privilege comes the responsibility of stewardship of God’s gifts.

Let us, as Christ’s people, be creative leaders in the care of the earth. We can start by being informed, knowing how our lifestyle impacts God’s creation (that takes study!), knowing what our government is doing, then calling and writing our elected officials.

In our own homes, we can buy less stuff, live more simply so that we use less and throw away less. We can use less (or no) chemicals on our lawns, turn off lights, turn up the AC, walk more and drive less, reduce, reuse, recycle. Why? Because we are Christians!

And Christians are called to be wise stewards of God’s earth, to keep it green, as an act of faithfulness to the Lord.