Ruminations from Pastor Brian

Week seven, March 15, 2007

Greetings, fellow sojourners on the path—I had an interesting thing happen to me last Wednesday night.  I had just gotten home from the church at 9:00 or so, walked into our kitchen, and then my cell phone rang in my pocket.  I answered, and the caller said, “Brian, this is Rick.  Are you alright?”  Now Rick is my great friend from Michigan with whom I went to Duke Divinity School back in the late Seventies.  I said, “Yes…why do you ask?”   And Rick said, “Your cell phone just called my cell phone, and all I heard was background noise, and I was worried.” 

Well, it turns out that on that night, I had a pen in that particular pocket with my cell phone, and the buttons on my cell phone had bumped against it in just such a sequence that my cell phone found the name of Rick Dake on my Auto Dial and called him—without my knowing it!  We chuckled about it together, touched base a little while, and then said goodbye.  But what I was touched by was that Rick would call me—from the Detroit area at 10:00 at night Eastern Time—to make sure I was alright.  

Then I thought about this: This call of his to me wasn’t just out of the blue.  It’s something like what you have done with the great friends in your life.  Rick and I have invested emotion and effort into our friendship for 30 years.  We laughed and cried together during grad school at Duke.  I was in his wedding.  He officiated, along with my brother Paul, at Kay’s and mine.  I baptized his youngest in Michigan.  He baptized our youngest in Minneapolis.  For many years, our families vacationed together till things got too crazy with our kids’ schedules.  We’ve done continuing education together.  One of the things we’ve done lately is call each other every week to ask “How is it with your soul?”   We laugh together, jibe each other, talk baseball together, think together about our churches, and weep together over pastoral situations that rend our hearts.  We’ve invested in our relationship together. 

Maybe our walk with God is like that.  You and I have the opportunity to invest in a friendship with God.  In Bible study, in prayer, in worship, in serving Christ in the poor and hurting.  And so, someday maybe when we most need it, maybe even when we least expect it, there will be that divine tap on the shoulder saying, “I’m here for you.”

Paul’s great goal?  “I want to know Christ…”  (Philippians 3:10).  Not just know about him, but know him as Friend, as Ultimate Love, as Mystery, as the One to whom he could joyfully give his life in service.

See you in worship, or Bible 101, or Connectivity, or adult Bible study, or one of many places to get to know God better!

Peace to all in your circle of loved ones,

Brian