Pastors' Weekly Message: From Pastor Pat

This week I have been serving in one of the other spaces to which I have been called, which is as a member of the Baltimore Washington Conference Board of Ordained Ministry. As you read this, we have concluded our fourth and final day of the oral examination of several persons called to ministry and who are seeking provisional membership, which in layman’s terms is the first “step” toward ordination.

These exams are conducted annually but as you can imagine, the pandemic necessitated seismic shifts in how we conducted what previously was our norm. The point of this sharing is that even with the anxiety of doing a new thing, the looming possibility of it not working for reasons within and beyond our control, we completed our assignment; and if I might add, with an abundance of grace!

Grace is the necessary ingredient to navigating any change or transition, adjustment or revision. Grace transforms a mistake into a lesson. Grace repurposes disappointment into motivation.

For those still waiting for Christmas packages to arrive at their destination, extend grace to the postal worker who may have just recovered from illness.

For those whose technology is playing keep-away with your ability to complete assignments, extend grace to the tech support groups who have worked non-stop on our issues, forsaking their own.

For those for whom the delivery person has yet again not adhered to the delivery instructions, let grace be the prayer for their continued safety as they work long hard hours and risk exposure for our sakes.

Grace: a little dab will do it!

At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
(2 Corinthians 12:9-10, The Message)

-- Pastor Pat 
pallen@stpaulsk.org