 Wisdom from Ecclesiastes 1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 As we wind down for the approaching summer and we take a break from some of our programming, we dare not take a break from worship. After all, worship is not a program! Worship is, well, worship, the place where we hear and receive God’s grace and respond in devotion to him. Solomon (if he is indeed the author of Ecclesiastes) has some words of wisdom for us regarding worship and our approach to the presence of God. What exactly does he say? How do you process this passage? You might find two subjects here:
Solomon points out two frequent failures as we approach God in worship. First, that we turn worship into a sacrifice. In other words, worship is something we do for God to somehow appease him and gain his favor rather than a time we receive from him (vs 1). Second, the “word” spoken of in verse 2 is most likely prayer and therefore a warning about our prayers being thoughtless, selfish, and lacking faith. Neither of these are God pleasing or a proper approach to the presence of God. Solomon calls us to examine ourselves, our attitudes toward worship, and our approach to his presence. If we find that we have slipped a bit he calls us to repentance. Granted it is a bit hard to find the gospel in this passage but it is there! Perhaps it is implied rather than overtly stated, but it is there. Solomon tells us to draw near to listen. Yes, that is law, it is a command, none-the-less the good news is there hidden in the hearing. We are told to listen so that we might hear the gospel of God. We are told to listen that God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love might be proclaimed to us and heard! Listening is key in our worship. It is key so that we can hear the absolution spoken, the words of institution spoken, the sermon spoken, and the liturgy spoken (sung). God’s speaks to us in worship and so it is key to listen. You are redeemed, forgiven, reconciled, and loved in Jesus Christ! May God bless your worship this summer as you draw near to listen and let your words be few. Visitation for Convention Resolution Evaluation Many of these visits have been completed. Feedback has been positive with congregations growing in their knowledge and appreciation of the work of the Synod as well as discovering resources available to them. Unfortunately, some pastors/congregations have been slow to schedule a meeting with the visitor and are missing out on the opportunity to strengthen their relationship with the District and Synod. Opportunity will soon come to a close for receiving one of these visitations.  The NJ March for Life is only 3 months away (September 26th)! If you have never experienced one of these events I encourage you to do so. It is a very orderly and respectful event but also one that make a statement about Life. You are encouraged to participate and experience this event. Participants will gather at the State House for the Rally at 1:00 am. The March begins at noon. Parking will be at a premium so we are encouraging people to carpool to the Quakerbridge Mall or other Trenton area mass transit site and catch the bus into Trenton for the festivities. If there is a large number of people participating we can petition for an additional bus or use another nearby bus line. In order to do this we will need to know how many people will be attending. If you can let me know by email or calling the District Office that would be helpful. Strategic Plan The NJD Strategic Plan for the rest of this and the next triennium is in the development stage. Three Task Forces have been established to work on three of the targets of the plan. Each Task Force has a VP, a Board Representative, and other people from our churches, some clergy, some lay. There are four parts to the strategic plan: · Healthy Pastors · Healthy Congregations · Ethnic Ministry
Initiative for Ministry Development (IMD) The first rounds of Small Church Clarity and NJDU are now complete. We had 21 congregations participate! It is now time for us to circle back and see if there are other congregation who did not participate or who did not complete the process would like to do so. If there is enough interest I will offer Small Church Clarity and/or NJDU again. Phase three of IMD is well underway. In this phase we are offering “Advanced Studies” not only to congregations that have completed Small Church Clarity or NJD University but to any NJD congregation. A variety of subjects will be addressed, some simple and easy to implement (e.g. Operation Barnabas) and others more complex and involved (Growing Young). Recent Advanced Studies offered:
Circuits 5 & 6 Visit Fort Maguire/Dix/Lakehurst In April Circuits 5 and 6 meet jointly and were hosted by Chaplain Greg Jans Lt. Cornel USAF at Maguire Air Force Base. In the morning the Circuit Pastors had a service in the Air Force Chapel and then in meeting learned more about the ministry of Military Chaplaincy. Lunch was on base at the commissary (with linen table clothes no less!) and in the afternoon the pastors each had a chance to use the flight simulator. It was a very special day, one that I will always remember.  Pastors of Circuit 5 and 6 at Maguire  Chaplain Jans and President Gewecke in the simulator. A perfect landing! Congregations
District Short Clips National Youth Gathering. The next National Youth Gathering will take place July 19-23, 2025 in New Orleans under the theme Endure. Congregations are encouraged to send a group of their youth to this faith edifying event. If your congregation only has a few youth desiring to participate you may want to consider teaming with another church. Hope Dunbar is our NJ District NYG Coordinator. She is happy to help you with questions or information about the Gathering. In addition, if you are a congregational youth worker and have a group attending the Gathering please let Hope know. She will make sure your youth are included in any information dissemination or District events at the Gathering. Official Visits. I am in the midst of a third round of visitation this spring/summer. This round was somewhat truncated because of my surgery. Soon I will be sending out invitations to another seven congregations to establish a fourth round of visitations. Conclusion If you are able, I encourage all of our pastors and laity to take some time this summer for rest and relaxation. Take some time for yourself to replenish. When you are healthy you can serve better. Another way of thinking about Solomon’s words of wisdom in Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 is in the context of personal devotions. Here too we draw near to God. Here too we seek to listen first and speak less. Perhaps you can choose several books of the Bible this summer (a Gospel, an Epistle, and an Old Testament book?) to hear, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart. And yes, thoughtful, faith-filled prayer is good too. The Lord bless you, President/Bishop Gewecke |