January 4, 2022
Good afternoon,
” The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him , ” Follow me. ” John 1:43
Henri Nouwen had a conversion after visiting Latin America. He was a priest and a professor before, but when he saw deep poverty among the people of Guatemala, he was converted, again. He ended up working with people who were physically and mentally challenged at L’Arche.
A friend, Doug Pritchard, followed Jesus in a new way after seeing poverty. He was a chemical engineer, and left quickly and eventually, became the peace minister of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada. He still works in peacemaking in Toronto.
I have gone to church all of my life. I was baptized in 1977. I became a pastor in 1987. I was converted back to following Jesus as a congregational minister at Poole somewhere between 2017 and 2020. God seems to re-organize my faith all the time. Conversion is never just one and done. It changes if you happen to get married. It changes when you change jobs. It changes all the time when you are worshiping in church. Everytime you meet God, you are born again.
A woman at Floradale grew up at the church. She revealed to me she only really accepted God’s grace when she was in her 60’s. It was when she could not ” do” anymore and she responded to just “be” in the arms of Christ.
I wonder what Philip was saying yes to, so long ago in Galilee.
Grace and peace for our journey of faith and life together.
Fred
Chaos in the winds
Scattering my troubled thoughts
to land on soft clouds Monica Pieper Landoni 2022
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I agree!
Fred.
