Dear Rose Park,

Thank you. Thank you for your faithfulness, your support, your prayers, and your commitment to the people of God during these odd and unprecedented times. Thank you so much for loving your neighbor as yourself and being hospitable with our health protocols. Thank you for not allowing the fear of today overwhelm your hope in eternity. It brings a smile to my face and a warmth to my heart to be a recipient of your thoughtfulness and support as well as to witness your generosity to others.

Dear Rose Park,

Today’s letter comes from the desk of our intern, Amanda Bunce…

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness, come before him with joyful songs. (Psalm 100:1-2). The joy and worship this Psalm talks about is the type of relationship I had with both the Lord and my small town church growing up. Through high school, I loved going to church, I was very active in worship, and I felt extremely loved by my small (15-30 people) church. In looking back, I felt welcomed and loved by this congregation because I fit the mold and did what they considered was “good” and it was worth their praise. They only knew me as the girl who lit the candles, read scripture every Sunday, worked hard in school, and was no wild child. However, I wanted to do these things so the love and acceptance they gave me was still genuine.

Dear Rose Park,

Our minds tend to wander. Whether it’s at work, in class, or sipping coffee at the breakfast table our minds tend to drift. Rarely are we fully present in one place. Too often our physical bodies are present, but our minds are somewhere else. Maybe you’ve had this while driving, during a zoom call, or even in the middle of a sermon. However, this is not the case with God. God is not only everywhere present but He’s also fully present everywhere.

Dear Rose Park,

35 When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” 37 But Jesus answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”

Dear Rose Park,

“You see, I believe that Jesus gave us an eternal truth about the universality of feelings. Jesus was truthful about His feelings: Jesus wept; He got sad; Jesus got discouraged; He got scared; and He reveled in the things that pleased Him. For Jesus, the greatest sin was hypocrisy. He always seemed to hold out much greater hope for a person who really knew the truth about himself or herself even though that person was a prostitute or a crooked tax collector. Jesus had much greater hope for someone like that than for someone who always pretended to be something he wasn’t.”

Dear Rose Park,

One of my favorite stories in the bible is the story of the Prodigal Son. I’d imagine many of you know this story, but if you don’t I encourage you to look it up in Luke chapter 15 and read it with a friend or a family member. It’s a story of adventure, foolishness, love, grace, relationships, bitterness, and so much more. In fact, the story of the Prodigal Son is the story of the people of God. It’s the story of you and me. And it’s the story of the Church.

Dear Rose Park,

Paul pens these words in his first letter to the Thessalonians: “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1. Thessalonians 5: 16-18). Even in a world filled with wildfires, hurricanes, shootings, and viruses there must be a way that Christians can still rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances.

Dear Rose Park,

Monday night was a long night. A littler after 1:00AM, the rain started to fall but it wasn’t by itself. Along with the rain, came lighting, thunder and a stiff wind. Within a few minutes, I could hear Simon rolling around in his bed and then I heard the voice of a scared little boy cry out, “Daddy!” I got out of bed, walked down the hall to his room and found him sitting up in his bed pointing to the window saying, “I don’t like the thunder.”

Dear Rose Park,

It’s a tradition. At the beginning of every school year, parents ask their children to take a ‘first day of school’ picture. This was never a favorite tradition of mine. I can remember standing in my driveway with my backpack slouched to one side, my eyes half-rolling and begrudgingly smiling while my other 6th grade friends waited for me to walk to the bus. However, in the current social-media era, every picture posted is flawless. Sisters don adorably matching outfits while holding hands and smiling and brothers wrap their arms around each other while holding a sign that says ‘First Day of School.’ But let’s be honest, we all know there are other pictures that didn’t make the cut.

Dear Rose Park,

As an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament, I have the unique privilege to be involved in some very meaningful services. Some of those services, like baptisms and professions of faith are called “congregational services” while weddings and funerals are called “pastoral services”. Beyond these congregational and pastoral services, I also have the unique privilege to be involved in what are called “classical services.” These services include the commissioning of a Minster into a specialized ministry area, the final worship service at a closing church, and the ordination and installation of other Ministers of Word and Sacrament. A few Sundays ago, I had the privilege of attending such a service for the ordination of Rev. Katie Alley.