Dear Rose Park,
Do you remember Simeon from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke? So often we associate Luke chapter two solely with the birth of Jesus that we forget the other named individuals. About halfway through Luke 2 we hear the prophecy of Simeon. The bible tells us: He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. This passage came to mind a few days ago as I pulled into the church parking lot.
As my family pulled into the parking lot this past Wednesday for our Family Table dinner, there were already people eagerly waiting to come inside and sit down. Maybe it’s because they knew we were having pizza or maybe it’s because they were excited to win a gift card, but I want to believe it’s also because they, just like Simeon, were genuinely eager to gather as the family of Rose Park in the house of the Lord.
I don’t mean to make any large theological leaps that simply being in or near the house of the Lord guarantees you are simultaneously drawing closer to the Lord and aligning your heart with His. Our relationship with God is not merely based on osmosis. At the same time, it is difficult to draw closer to God when we are not spiritually near Him nor physically near His worshipping people. As a parishioner once told me: the church can’t save you, but it is a good place to get saved.
This is all to say, merely gathering on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights does not guarantee our salvation, but it does warm my heart and encourages my faith to see cars in the parking lot eagerly waiting to gather as the people of God. It affirms that the ministry occurring here at Rose Park is meaningful to us but more importantly glorifying to God and His Kingdom. So, I hope we continue to eagerly anticipate Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. I hope we continue to eagerly study His Word. I hope we continue to eagerly draw closer to each other as we draw closer to Him. And I hope, just like Simeon, that we might be eagerly anticipating for the Messiah to come.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark
Photo by John Matychuk on Unsplash