A lot has been happening in our church lately. After years of brainstorming, discussions, visioning, and voting, we finally have new structural supports in place so that we can open more space in the narthex. This will enable us to put in a decent ramp into the sanctuary (the one we have used for years is hazardously steep) and open more space for fellowship after worship. You have probably also noticed that we have moved our office spaces as part of this project. The Pastor’s Study is back in the original sacristy, and we have converted two of our hallway classrooms into the new church office space. We are still completing a few parts of this move, but we have come a long way in improving our building for its current use. We are looking forward to how improved accessibility and use of our space will benefit our community and ministry down the road. Many thanks to Gordon Granley who has gone above and beyond, putting in long hours to make this happen, as well as to others who have helped along the way!
             
There has been a lot happening in our nation as of late, too. As I write this, I am processing the news that a deranged gunman in small town like ours in Texas shot up an elementary school yesterday, leaving over 20 dead. Most of his victims were children. In the past few weeks, there has also been a mass shooting at a grocery store and a church. Murderous violence has claimed the lives of Americans of all ages and races recently; from children learning at school, grandparents shopping for food, to Christians praying in church. This morning my son, in a very matter of fact tone, said, “People love to kill other people in America these days.” The image of our nation that we have allowed to form in the minds of our youngsters is one of violence and rage, not peace and prosperity. Lest you think he has this image just because we watch the news in our house, I quickly explained that the incidents he was hearing about are the reason he had to go into lockdown on his very first day of public school as a kindergartener here in Ronan. It is difficult to be raising up the next generation to face unprecedented levels of violence and domestic terrorism.
           
In many ways, though, this is nothing new. Though we like to think of our world as modern and enlightened, the callousness people show toward one another and the evil we endure together is as ancient as our stories of creation. In fact, the older I get, the more I believe in sin – sin that is pervasive, long lasting, often difficult to acknowledge, but even harder to endure. Whether it be the sins of addiction that orphan children in their own homes, the sins of members of one race trying to terrorize those of another through violence, the sins of drunk drivers who claim innocent lives on highway 93, the sins of greed that displace locals, drive up prices, and collude against farmers and ranchers, or the sin of mass murder, the evils of the world swell up around us constantly and persistently, no matter how enlightened and exceptional we might envision our world to be.
           
​Still, I am drawn to recall the words of psalm 23 that my church had me memorize when I was roughly my son’s age – though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil (Psalm 23:4). Though our neighbors rage against us, God does not. God binds up the wounds of the brokenhearted, comforts those suffer evil, and guides those who journey beneath the shadow of death. It is for such times as these that we believe in a future that God provides – one which is infinitely better than the present we are providing for ourselves and for our children. It is for such times as this that we place our trust in Christ’s resurrection which confounds the deaths planned by spirits of malice or the cowardice of indifference. It is for such a time as this as we exhort one another to love our neighbors as ourselves and teach our children the way of peace, so that the way of the cross might lead us beyond such godless evils.
 
In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Upon writing this, I have recently returned from my first in-person Montana Synod event in at least two and a half years. My colleagues and I have met online for Zoom meetings and convocations, but we have not physically gathered together in years. While I am grateful that we have been spared driving thousands of miles of travel across Montana and Wyoming these past few years, I have to say that the collegiality and community that we experience when we meet in-person cannot be matched by get-togethers on computers. It felt good to be in the same space with my fellow pastors again.
           
There are many reasons that online connections feel different than being in the same physical space. For one thing, when we meet others online, we meet them two-dimensionally. This is all that our computers, tablets, and phones allow for. We only see one another on screens as having height and width, but never depth. I, for one, have felt that lack of depth with my colleagues, and I also felt the difference it made to finally meet in the same physical space again, almost immediately. Additionally, it takes a great amount of intentionality to meet online. Unlike running into someone at the grocery store, at a local high school game, or even at the office, planning to meet with others online takes a lot more effort than simply running into somebody around town. This usually has meant that our online conversations have been much more focused and serious than the small talk that we usually gab about when we meet in the same physical space. It can make a group’s conversation feel more two-dimensional, as well. When our gatherings are all planned, it can feel like we constantly need to stay on topic in how we speak with one another, never straying to talking about how we are doing or other chit-chat like that.
           
What I think was the biggest difference about finally being able to meet in-person once again was, in the end, all the small stuff. In conversation, it was priceless to share in small talk about where new pastors in the synod have come from and what old friends have been up to since we last met face to face. In relationship, we finally had another opportunity to go fishing, have our kids play together, and enjoy the pool in one another’s presence. It is the little things of our lives that really bring us close to each other, and the more little things we are able to commiserate with friends over, the closer we are able to be.
           
This experience has led me to realize that God knows us fully through the little things, too. We do not only come to know God through the largesse of the cosmos or the massive expanse of the history of the universe. We also know our Lord through the small moments of encountering God moving in our lives on a daily basis. Likewise, God does not solely know us by our careers, our school transcripts, our reputations, our legacies, or other achievements in the material world, but also by our deepest selves from the inside out. God knows us by our small passions and prayers, our unique interests, our fears, our small joys and pleasures, and everything in between. God knows us and loves us from the littlest parts of ourselves on up to the greatest bits of who we are. There is no part of us that is too small to save, and part of the grand wonder of Christ’s salvation is that the most miniscule, personal parts of ourselves are saved first so that big things may follow.
 
In Christ,
Pastor Seth