Pastor's corner: Relational God

The Word of God teaches us to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22: 37-39). Love is the thread that ties the narrative of Scripture together — God’s unconditional and radical love for us and the witnesses of believers throughout centuries who are striving, and failing, to love as we have been loved. Furthermore, Scripture commands us to love just as God has loved us (John 13: 34-35). This tells us the importance of the quality of our relationships. We are not just to love when we feel like it or when we are loved back, but our command to love is every bit as radical and unconditional and sacrificial as God’s love for us.

In the tradition of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., we have what we call a connectional — or relational — form of governance. We do not have a bishop or a hierarchy, but rather we gather together several times a year as presbyteries to love and support one another. Chinook and Havre are part of 18 churches that make up Glacier Presbytery, covering most of Western and Central Montana.

When we gather, we do the work of the church, but more importantly, we come together to remember God’s faithfulness among us so that we can be sent out to pursue, and glorify, and serve God!

Our Trinitarian God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — is relational in nature. Relationships are the very core of who God is and who God has created us to be. God the Father creates us; God the Son redeems us; God the Holy Spirit restores us.

As followers of Christ, we are called and commissioned to serve every person we meet; greet them with a smile; explore their story and empathize with them; be peacemakers; express appreciation and respect; encourage each other; conduct ourselves with humility and discipline; embody compassion and service towards others.

We remember Jesus’ words: “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20). This Sunday, August 4th at 10:30 a.m., Chinook Presbyterian Church invites all to witness God’s goodness with an outdoor worship service and potluck lunch. We will be joined by our friends from the Harlem Yoked Parish, Chinook United Methodist Church, and First Presbyterian Church of Havre. Pastor Maggie will lead worship with special worship music by the bluegrass “Stonebroke String Band”. Holy Communion will be served — all are welcome to the Lord’s Table. Attendees are encouraged to bring a blanket or lawn chair, and a potluck dish to share.

We are each useful to God and have a purpose in sharing God’s love to the world. May the time we share together in fellowship nurture us — in body, mind, and spirit — to go and share God’s love in our communities who thirst for that word of grace. Let us embody the hospitality of our God who welcomes all! Let us be leaders of the transformative love that has the power to change lives, right here in our own backyards.

Thanks be to God!

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The Rev. Maggie Lewis

First Presbyterian Church, Havre

Chinook Presbyterian Church