Pastor's Corner

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Our local newspaper has a weekly religious column called Pastor's Corner.  Several area churches take turns writing the piece and this last week it was my turn.  When I write it I try and make it general enough so that it will appeal to a diverse audience.  

Here it is.

Father Fred Steinbach

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

Pastor Hobbs from First United Methodist Church wrote the Pastor's Corner last week and I called him this morning to compliment him on his message of weeding our spiritual garden. Many of us can relate to clearing out the weeds in gardens especially at this time of year and the analogy seemed very appropriate. I told him I planned on building off of his analogy with this week's reflections. So here it goes.

Gardens are a lot of work. First you till the soil and plant the seeds. Then you pull the weeds. Finally, there is the harvest. Spiritual gardening is much the same. One of the things we need to do is plant the seeds. That to me means sharing the good news with the people in our lives and letting those people know that our churches are fertile ground for them to be nourished and grow spiritually. Too often many of us practicing Christians miss that primary step in gardening of planting seeds. We should never be timid about inviting our friends and neighbors to be a part of something that will enrich their lives.

A recent study indicated that approximately 30% of Americans attend church services on a regular basis. The United States has a population of three hundred million people so that means two hundred million Americans do not attend church. This tells me there are a lot of spiritual seeds that can be planted in the fertile ground of our churches.

Christianity was designed to be practiced in community. It is about our spiritual relationship with God and with each other. There is an energy in healthy churches that allows us to be spiritually stronger and helps us to clear out those pesky weeds that seem to just pop up out of nowhere in our lives.

The purpose of a garden is to harvest produce that will sustain us and keep us healthy. The purpose of God's garden is much the same. God wants us to have strong and vibrant souls that are centered on our love of God, our love for each other and love for all of God's creation.

I encourage you to invite someone you know to a church service this Sunday. Plant a seed.