Be astonished!

July 2015

To all the Saints of St. Paul’s,

Grace to you, and peace!

It is hard to know how to introduce yourself sometimes, where to begin, and so I’ve decided to start with a Scripture passage that in many ways defines my sense of ministry and who I feel called to be.

In Habakkuk 1:5 we hear God say, “Be astonished, be astounded, for I am doing things among you that you would not believe if you were told.”

I am so looking forward to meeting all of you, to learn how God is at work in your life, and for the prayers we can share of how God might touch your life in new ways.  Between you and me, these will be new relationships, but I hope that even those of you who have known each other for many years will have opportunities to say “Wow, I didn’t know that about you! I didn’t know you felt this way!”

But just as importantly, my heart beats just a bit faster when I think of us being astonished and astounded together: God is doing things in this church and community, things that we wouldn’t believe if someone told us. The Spirit is blowing, and while we can’t see it, we can feel our spines tingle when we recognize that God in Christ is moving the world. We can feel our hearts swell when we realize how we have been called to be a part of what God is doing. And we can hear our throats catch when we share how Christ has loved us, and how that same Good News can change the lives of those who hear it, again or for the first time.

May we all have hearts open enough to behold the new things that God is doing. I’d say we’re off to a good start: having a Presbyterian pastor serve a Lutheran congregation is still astounding me! God is good.

God is all in all,

Pastor Steve Shussett

(pronounced “shoe-sit”)