Pastor's Corner: Thank you, Havre!

This November day, I am sitting in a warm office. I am a grateful pastor. And the people called United Methodist in Havre, Montana, are a grateful congregation as we gather to:

• worship in the warmth of our sanctuary on Sunday

• learn about God, neighbor and self on Wednesday nights in our education wing

• support people with prayer, spiritual companionship and nourishing meals.

Why is this so remarkable? Isn't this just what churches do? Well, yes, but our gratitude comes because we no longer take it for granted. We are grateful for we felt God's mighty hand through the generosity of our Havre community. Please, let me explain ...

Shortly after my arrival in July 2021 to serve Van Orsdel United Methodist Church, I was told of the complete and irreparable status of two of our four boilers in the depths of our church basement. Over 29 years they had heated our large church building, but not anymore. Moreover, with the closure of the church worship and other effects of pandemic, our financial reserves were very low. We were told the remaining two boilers would not be able to keep the building warm in the winter ... but images of burst pipes or closed church doors were not allowed as final outcomes!

Our lay people already had a plan. Truly, I am a grateful pastor because of their faith and hope and organizational skills ... "Let's hold a community pig roast and have live music while we enjoy take-out or dine-in meals. Let's start raising the money for the boilers ... we need to get going because winter is coming!"

Our Pig Roast ... it became more than we ever expected ... the loss of two boilers soon revealed how much we have to be thankful for in Havre, MT. In all, we experienced God's grace.

Many people, businesses, churches and groups participated to make this a fun, community event:

• Havre Daily News wrote a front-page article with photo to highlight the need and plan of action.

• Bob Molitor agreed to roast the pig, and many church members helped to prepare pulled pork, coleslaw, pies that we all enjoyed that day. And, so many helped with clean up, too!

• Grateful Bread provided fresh rolls for the pulled pork sandwiches.

• Gene Allen and friends provided music for dancing and entertainment.

• Above all, families, friends, neighbors, other church members and non-church folks from Havre and along the Hi-Line came that day to eat the food, dance, talk, help out, and above all encourage our church community!

We raised $3,800 that day, after the food expenses were paid. It was a wonderful result, but far short of the $21,000 needed to buy two new boilers ... but the generosity continued on after the last sandwich was eaten and the clean pan was put in the cupboard!

Over the next few weeks, checks continued to arrive in worship and through the mail. The generosity extended beyond the church members, as people of the community gave generously and anonymously, in astonishing amounts. You may have already guessed this.... we soon reached the $21,000 needed to purchase and install the two new boilers

In mid-October, we turned on the heat - Thank God! Thank you, Havre!

A friend of mine from Angola in Africa, once reminded me, "If you need shoes, you should pray and ask God for shoes. You should also tell other people that you need and are praying for shoes!" This is living into our faith, as we trust the words of Jesus, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Matthew 7:7

Sometimes we are more comfortable in giving, rather than receiving. It's hard sometimes to admit that you are in need. But, to be honest about it, we need to remember that we are all in need. That everything which we receive and that which we give, ultimately have been gifts to us from God ... most generally through the lives of other people.

November is a month in which we remember the gifts we have received ... from the beginning to the end of November's church calendar, we focus upon 3 G's of faithful living: Grace, Gratitude and Giving.

On November 1st, All Saints Day, we remember those who have blessed our lives, but are no longer with us. We receive gifts and graces from them yet today. In the early church of the New Testament, "saints" were not celebrities of faith ... they were ordinary people who lived by Jesus's extraordinary and generous ways. This Way of Jesus often involved sharing food and wealth with others. Hear it described in Acts 2:44-47:

"All who believed were together and had all things in common: they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread from house to house and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people."

We remember those who are our "saints" today. Ordinary "saints," who fix meals, attend fund raisers, and who give to the poor who are always a priority of God. In his book Sacred Journey, the Rev. Fredrick Buechner wrote about our remembrance of those who loved us, who taught us, who essentially gave themselves to us in the past.

Who knows what "the communion of saints" means, but surely it means more than just that we are all of us haunted by ghosts because they are not ghosts, these people we once knew, not just echoes of voices that have years since ceased to speak, but saints in the sense that through them something of the power and richness of life itself not only touched us once long ago, but continues to touch us.

Later in November, many of us will observe Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday that allows us time to act upon our gratitude. Sharing a meal with family, friends or providing a meal for complete strangers, are all actions of thanksgiving rooted in our attitude of gratefulness.

At dinner table or communion table - we are opening ourselves to God's Grace - that mighty love, blessings and healing we experience in Christ's way. We are seated together, receiving the gifts of the past, enjoying the blessings of the present, and living in hope for tomorrow.

May you experience giving, gratitude and, above all, Grace!

We really ARE in this together! THANK YOU, HAVRE!!

--

The Rev. Susan King, Van Orsdel United Methodist Church