His trip and stay are being sponsored by the Mission Committee and we feel privileged to have him in our congregation.  Silas will be preaching Sept. 19^th at all of our services, Sept 26^th at the 10:50 Contemporary service and on Oct. 3 in the Traditional services.   He will be staying in the homes of three members of the mission committee. 

Kay and I were most fortunate to have Silas host us when we have gone to Malawi. We have found him to be one of the most impressive people we have ever encountered.  So one of the desires of the Mission Committee is to share Silas with as many of you as possible over the 3 weeks he is here.  So if you would like him have him at your home for lunch or dinner, or take him to a play, a movie, boating, or golfing (he loves to golf), or take him to the mountains for a day or two, I hope you will do so.  If your Sunday school class or circle or small group would like to have him teach I hope you would extend an invitation to him. 

Catheryn Thomas the administrative assistant for the Missions committee will be coordinating his schedule, so if you or a group would like to spend some time with him please call her at 762-9693 ext. 229 or email her at cthomas@sacpc.org.  Several events are already on his schedule so I encourage you to call or email soon.

Rev. Steve Hein

            What is going on in the Old Testament book?  This is certainly an allegory.  Hosea lives about the same time as Amos and both men are directed to speak to the northern kingdom.  Although all may seem well in the land as the nation is experiencing 50 years of prosperity, a closer examination shows a people who are wandering far away from the God of Abraham and Moses.  So, the depiction of Hosea and his wife is a picture of God and the nation.  In spite of the wandering ways of these people, God has made a covenant with them and will not let them go. 

            One might find this kind of covenantal love beyond our human reasoning and will.  Continual adultery ruins marriages.  As one begins to delve deeper into this unreasonable love, we begin to see that this is not essentially about our marriages and bad behavior.  This is a story about each one of us and our relationship to God.  Rarely a day goes by, or even an hour goes by, when either by action or inaction, or by what we think in our minds, we betray the God we say we love and adore.  Yet, we hear the message of the Bible that despite our failures and shortcomings, God loves us!!  Human love is so dependent upon the reaction of the one we want to love.  It is very difficult, and I would say almost impossible, to love someone who continually and constantly offends us. 

            So God, through the prophet Hosea, reminds us how different, how unreasonable, His love is for each of us. Think about this, just as Hosea paid a price to redeem his unfaithful wife, so Jesus paid a price to redeem each of us.  This is unreasonable LOVE!!

Yours in Christ,

Steve

            So Pastor Alcedir asks me, why do we come to Brazil? What is our motivation for accepting their invitation to be a part of their mission to these villages?  That question stirred something deep inside of me and I suspect his was surprised by the passion of my answer.  I know that one of the reasons we take these trips is to open the eyes and hearts of our members as they travel to the Amazon.  Almost always the experience for our members will give them a new perspective on life and encourage their spiritual growth.  That is a real blessing for us.  Another reason we go is to share our gifts and resources with the people of the village.  Our medical team works hard for that week.  Some of our team works with the children of each village and demonstrates caring and compassion for them.  Living on a boat for a week and sleeping in hammocks may sound adventurous but it is not the easiest week of our life that is for sure.  Try sharing a bathroom with 11 other people!!

            These are great reasons to go I told him, but the real passion of my heart and why I am stirred to go again and again is not for our sakes but for the sake of those villagers.  Yes we want to provide medical and dental care and we did that.  But most of all those villagers need to see Jesus in us.  They yearn to hear about God’s love.  You would be so proud of your members as two of them each evening in a worship service shared what Jesus Christ means to them and how God has been working in their lives. 

            Anyone who wants to in Wilmington can hear about Jesus Christ.  There are hundreds of churches here, that is not the case in the Amazon.  When we go, we are taking the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ to places where they are desperate to hear some good news.  So I told Pastor Alcedir that sharing Jesus Christ is the deepest passion of my life and I am so glad the Pretropolis Church asks us to join with them in taking the love of Jesus Christ to the Amazon.

            Thank you for allowing me to pursuit the passion of my heart!!

Yours in Christ,

Steve

Now, thinking about a non-existence future is not a reason to believe in a future life, but it is why Easter is the essence of our faith.  If Christ is not raised, our faith is in vain, the Apostle Paul writes.  But Christ has been raised, and so shall we.  So, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding, in the work of the Lord, knowing that, in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.   That is it.  Easter means our labor is not in vain!!  What we do counts.  It counts now, and it counts forever.

N.T. Wright said that it is the resurrection that causes us to make this world a better place.  When we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, we are demonstrating to the world, the world that is to come!!  Amen to that.

So why believe in eternity?  Well, one Sunday morning long ago, some women went to a tomb, not looking for resurrection, but to finish a burial.  The tomb was empty.  Jesus, who had been crucified and certified dead by professionals who knew their business in killing people, now stood before them.  This was not their imagination.  Nothing in their faith or culture told them to go to a tomb and look for a resurrected Jesus. They could not imagine what they could not conceive in their minds, yet here was Jesus, who ate before them and let them touch his body to prove he was real.

Why do I believe in eternity?  I believe in Easter Sunday and my life has changed because of it.  Just as the women who went to the tomb were not looking for a resurrection, I think back on my life.  When asked during my first year of college, what I wanted to do with my life, the answer is being a businessman like my Dad.  Ministry, you have to be kidding me.  Father Floyd, bless his heart, was not an inspiration for me.  The thought of ministry never, I repeat, never entered my mind or imagination.  Yet, after college, I went to seminary and have now almost completed 35 years of ministry.  Why? What caused that?  One answer.  I met Jesus Christ, the RISEN Lord and Savior, and that changed my life.

Is this all there is?  We have yet to begin to experience what God has in store for his people.

Happy Easter

Steve

I want to update you on a couple of items that I hope will keep you informed about the life of our church.  From the financial side of our church, I wrote a letter back in August that our giving pattern was similar to the previous year, which was not a good sign. We missed our projected income in 2008 by about 10%.  Two actions have taken place since August.  The Session reduced the budget by another 2%, and staff and committee chairs have been diligent in overseeing spending. 

The second thing that has happened is that congregational giving has significantly increased and we are back on target to come close to our estimated income for 2009.  That is really good news.  Last year we entered December almost $100,000 behind and this year we enter December only $4,000 behind actual expenses.  If we continue to control our expenditures and December giving follows its normal pattern, we should finish the year in a much healthier position than last year.  The Finance Committee wants to wait until the 2009 giving is completed and the stewardship campaign is completed before recommending to the Session a budget for 2010.  At this point our pledging for 2010 is below last year’s level.  This is probably not unexpected as our economy is yet to rebound and unemployment remains over 10%.  So it is possible that we may have 2010 budget that is less than this year.

That leads me to my second item which is the Personnel side of the budget.  Many of you have asked me how soon we will replace Reverend Ann Jahnes.  The Personnel Committee is studying different staffing options.  In the short run, we are going to increase Ann Benson’s calling hours, use some of own clergy who attend our church regularly to help lead worship, and some of Ann’s responsibilities will be temporarily taken on by other staff.  Going from three full time Pastors to two makes the Personnel Committee very sensitive to the work load for Robb and me.  The Session acted in its November meeting to suspend the Saturday night service beginning in January of 2010.  When the 2010 budget is adopted, then the Personnel Committee will have a recommendation to the Session for staffing for 2010.  That recommendation will be shared with the Congregation as well.

Thanks for your faithful giving of your time, talent, and finances during difficult times in your lives, and the life of our church.

Rev. Steve Hein