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September 2010 A Note from the Pastor September is here and that means we are two-thirds of the way through the year 2010. September means choir, bells and chimes begin, and Sunday School for all ages starts. The Nominating Committee is gearing up to find new elders and deacons. Each of you are asked to pray to see if you are to be one of those new officers. Thinking of the changes September brings, I thought of the book of Ecclesiastes. The third chapter opens with, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:” It then goes on to list opposites such as a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. Chapter 3 continues, “So let us know that God has made everything suitable for its time. Moreover, God has put a sense of past and future into our minds, yet we cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. There is nothing between for us than to be happy and enjoy ourselves long as we live. It is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. What God does endures forever, nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this so that all should stand in awe before God. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is and God seeks out what has gone before.” The book of Ecclesiastes is filled with tension and contradictions. Often seen as pessimistic writing, it also contains wisdom and a sense of God’s mystery. We read that life is vanity; this word can mean breath, breeze, vapor, or mist. What, then is good for humans according to Ecclesiastes? First, never give up questing, seeking, and searching. Take joy in what one has and worship with awe our God despite knowing that for everything there is a season. And repeatedly, humans are urged to embrace life and its good food, drink, love, work and play as gifts from God. Life is filled with a variety of ups and down, changes and routines. So keeping in mind the events occurring in September at HPC, and using the literary form of Ecclesiastes, there is: A time to take a vacation, a time to practice choir, bells and chimes. A time to sleep an hour more on Sundays, a time to get up and attend Sunday School. A time to rest from officer duties, a time to volunteer for elder or deacon. Remember, do continue to embrace life and enjoy the gifts from God. And in your questing, seeking and searching, discover what season God is calling you to live out. Blessing of Peace & Joy,
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