From the Superintendent March 2018
By Greg Yee, Superintendent, Pacific Northwest Conference
I did not grow up practicing any Lenten rhythms in my home church in Oakland. But the time before Easter was always filled with rehearsals for Easter cantatas and drama productions. Grandma Yee didn’t have much money but would always splurge on one of those store-produced Easter baskets full of candy treats. We were expected to dress up every Sunday but we broke out the nicer clothes – always looking quite dapper. But today as I walk the way of the cross, these warm memories of the Easter Season seem distant to me – hear “distant” not “insignificant.” With our glaring realities as a broken people in a challenged society I find myself going in and out of two states of mind. One cries out with the Psalmist, the Prophets, and all of God’s people who felt crushed by the weight of our human condition – How long O, LORD? Enough is enough…right? 239 school shootings since 2014…too many reports of cancer, chronic ailments, accidents, and untimely deaths…inability to agree on even basic levels of what “for the common good” should mean. How long O, LORD? And as we’ve seen the interchange of clouds and sun these days, I also see the interchange of lament and joy. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were singing Joy to the World the Lord has come…repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat, the sounding joy! Indeed, our Savior came and he is still Emmanuel. Stop right there – that’s amazing and I need to just sit there much much longer than my chronically hurried-self will often feel…
It is true, we are people of hope. And we know this deep unmovable joy despite what life unfolds. I’ve seen this joy in mothers and children in the filthy slums of Nairobi – amazing. I witnessed living hope in the eyes and spirit of our new pastor at Newport, David Beck, as he heard the shocking news of his stage 3 potentially 4 pancreatic cancer a couple of weeks ago – inspiring. As I sat across the table from her, I felt the healing and resolve of a sister who had experienced horrific abuse in her past but walks forward with amazing confidence – contagious. I hope you’ve recently witnessed this kind of raw and amazing faith. Perhaps it’s your own story. Today, I’m a little tired of the shiny Facebook-faces that I see. But this is not because I’m discouraged or melancholy. In this Lenten season I find that it’s the un-shiny stuff of life, actually some of the hardest stuff, that keeps me in the way of the cross. I feel like I can see and hear more clearly. My heart aches in many ways, but I feel more centered than ever. I better know God’s blessings in these days, for each day is truly a gift. God bless you as you walk toward Holy Week. Yes, remember you are dust – but also remember that you are royalty. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope (Romans 15:13).