What was the weather like 3 years ago? I can't remember. If the one picture of the church is taken that very day 3 years ago, then it was a nice day. Do any of you that were here 3 years ago at St. John, Clarinda, IA, remember what that day was like?

This is the picture that came up on my memories. If that is the church on that day, it must have been a beautiful day. What a nice blue sky there was. 

What was taking place on that day, March 31, 2019? I was installed as pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Clarinda, IA. Yep, I had been called to serve the saints here in Clarinda, I had accepted that call and was installed 3 years ago. It was an exciting day. It was thrilling to be installed as the pastor of the congregation. A new direction in ministry - what do I mean? It means that I had new people to minister to, a new congregation to lead, a new community to get to know and a new state to live in. Some things are the same - the proclamation of Law and Gospel, the sharing of the love of Christ, the teaching of God's Word, and the loving of the people. What are the differences? A new community. New people. New state. New opportunities. 

I know that Penny and I were excited to start a new life and ministry here in Clarinda. The look on Penny's face that day said it all.

She was going to take a picture of all of us pastors who were there, and the camera wouldn't work right for her. So she brought it up to me so that we could get a picture. She was happy. I was happy. The family was happy (you can see Shirley Rex, Penny's mom who has moved to Clarinda 6 months ago, Matthew and Chelsey Schuessler in the front pew). And I think that St. John's members were happy. 

I could not have imagined the things that were going to happen. A year later, Covid happened. 15 days to flatten the curve ended up being 2 years of crazy times. I would never have thought that I would have a police officer come into the church and tell me that we could not have a worship service. We started in person services 6 weeks after the shut down. We have continued to record services and put them on YouTube. We have been continuing to reach out with the message of the Gospel. 

What a crazy time. And what a good time. I continue to be thankful to be here. We continue to move forward with trying to figure out how we can share the Gospel. We are learning to live our mission statement: Sent to reveal God's love to the world. 

What will the next years be like? They will be blessings. How do I know that? Because I am serving the Lord with gladness. I am doing the work of the Lord as pastor here in this congregation. And I am living as a child of God.

Let's work together to share Christ. Happy anniversary St. John.