Grace and peace unto you, my Siblings! 

On behalf of the Laity of the Northern Illinois Conference, I greet you in the name of our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ!  What a blessing it is to be on this faith journey with each of you as we, both Laity and Clergy; continue to learn, grow and transform with the help of the Holy Spirit.  The mission that Christ set before us has not changed over the many years.  I don’t believe that Jesus ever wanted us to make it to the pearly gates alone.  I’m sure He would want to know where are all of the others that we were to make disciples of for Him.   

Sisters and Brothers, there is no way we can accomplish the mission that Christ has tasked us with if we don’t love all the people.  Disaffiliation, budget crunch, declining membership, and political posturing has stoked divisiveness to the point of stagnation and immobility.  We cannot walk around with blinders on, hoping to weather the storm and push on through to the other side.  I don’t believe that is what Christ is calling us to do.  We can’t become dispassionate, immobile or complacent with a mentality of scarcity while we serve a God of abundance. 

We aren’t transformed or transforming if we don’t recognize that all people are members of Christ’s beloved community.  We must move from a mind-set of, “If we build it, they will come,” or “If they come, we will embrace them.”  

Our God is not a respecter of declining membership, disaffiliating churches, church closings/decaying buildings and reduced budgets.  He has still provided us with all we need to be transforming and to be transformed.  We are not a broken church, rather, we are a transforming church.  We must be intentional in our efforts to love all the people.  We can’t wait for them to find their way into our sanctuary.  We must search them out, embrace them, meet them where they are and tell them we love them!  Jesus has never stopped working on our behalf.  We must do our part by loving and fully embracing each of God’s precious children as our sisters and brothers.  We don’t get to pick and choose or play favorites.  Our love and respect must be unconditional just as Christ’s love was, because, but by the grace of God, there go you and I.      

God wants us to depend upon Him.  All too often, we act as if we made it to where we are today on our own.  My Siblings, by sharing radical love, my prayer is that we will all lean into this season of transformation with an attitude of abundance rather than scarcity.  Jehovah Jireh, you are truly more than enough.  Thank you for being a God of plenty, whose promises have never been returned: “NSF, non-sufficient funds.” 

Blessings to each of you during this season of transforming and being transformed.  Go with Christ and be well.   

Amen.