From the Pastors' Desks

If you knew my Uncle Bill, who died last month at 52 years old, you would have liked him. Everyone did. He was a charmer. Uncle Bill loved going to weddings. He always found a way to fill up his dance card with the pretty girls at a wedding. He would sneak over to the DJ to play his favorite hits and then proceed to command the dance floor. We also had to keep a watch out because he had a habit of sneaking his way to the nearest microphone and giving speeches – sometimes dangerously unvetted!

In recent years, there’s been a lot of talk in the news about government surveillance. I know little to nothing about this earthly sort of intelligence gathering, but I have come to know something about the unearthly sort of personal monitoring revealed in the Bible: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account” (Heb 4:13). In Scripture, God reveals himself as the infallible and reliable Searcher of hearts. As such, he is the God who sees clearly, and who speaks redemptively to what he sees.

One of the best benefits of getting older is the joy of having “old friends”. I often smile when I hear an earnest 19-year-old give a wedding toast to her friend whom she’s known “almost her whole life”

Early June mornings on the farm were absolutely intoxicating. They were saturated with good things

This summer the Walk Ministry Team and Sunday School Committee are inviting Harvest members to join us for another memorization challenge. This summer we will be memorizing Psalm 139. Whether you are young or old, please join us in committing this part of God’s Word to memory.

This Sunday we will be celebrating Pentecost. It is a historic event we all too easily overlook – and yet it is the birthday of the New Testament church! Not only that, but the presence of the Holy Spirit is also the defining mark of a New Testament Christian. If you are a true Christian, then you are a “Pentecostal” in the truest sense of the word - the Spirit of the living God dwells within you. That means He is always present with you. He goes everywhere you go.

This past week concluded Andrew Bekkering’s full-time internship at Harvest. On behalf of the session, the pastors wanted to thank Andrew for his service at Harvest and to share with you some of the ways he has been a blessing to the congregation as a part-time intern (2019-20) and then as a full-time intern (June 2020-May 2021).

Pastors looking at their congregation through the lens of Scripture see both a wonderful prospect and a daunting challenge. The prospect? Scripture helps pastors see from a distance the glory of God’s people coming into their own: “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).

I invested a lot in those roses. I built them a home. I watered and fed them. I pruned them. As they slowly grew, I would stop to actually smell the roses and examine their progress as I came home from work each day. To see them grow and blossom was a source of joy for this novice rosarian. As autumn wound to a close, I researched how to winterize my roses. I knew that I couldn’t simply expose these young flowers to the elements, but they needed some shelter. So that’s what I did. And while my Floribunda and Hybrid Tea sat under their Styrofoam cones, I dreamed of spring and what it would be like for my roses to come back another year stronger.

So, I’m watching it snow