Dear Rose Park,
The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. - Exodus 34: 6&7
The 34th chapter in the book of Exodus describes God in various ways, but perhaps one of the most important descriptions is faithfulness. God is abounding in faithfulness to His people. He is steadfast, loyal, and true. This means we can depend on God to keep His promises; promises to go before us, to be with us, to never leave us, nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8). God also calls His people to be faithful in return.
If you know the rhythms of the Old Testament, then you know the people of God are not always faithful. They have a habit of following the same pattern: establishing a covenant and committing themselves to God, breaking the covenant by wandering to a different god, and then re-establishing the covenant and coming back to God. They do this over and over again…and yet God remains faithful to His people.
I witnessed faithfulness this past week; as many of you know our beloved Bette VanDyke passed away in the late hours of Friday evening. What you might not know is Bette was the longest living subscriber to the Holland Sentinel (over 70 years). Each and every morning Bette received her paper and would faithfully check in to the happenings around Holland. When I went to visit Bette in the hospital this past week, even though her eyes were closed and she didn’t have the strength to read, sitting right next to her was her daily paper. Bette was faithful, not just to the Holland Sentinel or the Holland community but also to God and the people of Rose Park.
I will miss seeing Bette sit in the back left-hand corner of our sanctuary around the table with Mike & Mary and I will miss visiting her Appledorn Apartment on the southside. I’ll miss her practice of faithfulness, but though we mourn her loss and we grieve her passing, we also celebrate a life well lived. We can trust, because of God’s faithfulness to Bette and her faithfulness back to God, Bette is now walking hand in hand with her beloved husband Elmer in the eternal presence of God.
The season of Advent reminds us of many truths, but particularly the truth that God is faithful. The birth of Jesus points towards the foundational truth that because of God’s deep love and steadfastness to His people He is willing to forego the heavenly realms in order to put on flesh and move into the neighborhood. So, as we continue to wait and anticipate in the season of Advent, let us wait with trusting hearts and steadfast minds knowing that He is Emmanuel: God with us.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark
Photo by Utsav Srestha on Unsplash