June 2025
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. – Isaiah 12:2
Grace and peace to you all! I hope this finds you well as the weather turns warmer. If it were up to me, I would spend the rest of the summer in a dark, air-conditioned room, because while God’s creation is amazing and majestic, sometimes I’d prefer if it didn’t shine so brightly or get so hot.
And yet, while I am tempted to hide away from it, to avoid the thing that brings me easily the most grief during the middle of the year, I can’t do that. I can’t stay inside all the time; how would I drive to church on a Sunday morning, or leave the office to go home when the work day is done? How would I enjoy the cold of a pool on a hot summer day or even the rare, delightful popsicle during the oppressive heat of a July evening?
The temptation for us is to avoid the things that frighten us, anger us, or make us uncomfortable. Even worse are the things that make us anxious because they are unknown. We are moving into a blisteringly hot summer, but that comes during a time of anxiety-inducing upheaval in our society as well: legal, financial, and social. An atmosphere of low-level nervousness hovers under everything. It’s there when we wake up and when we go to sleep.
When we are nervous, we tend to hunker down and draw ourselves and what we have close for fear it will be lost. We want to avoid the world and protect what we have now. Living like frightened creatures huddling in the dark sees only one reality: this world and the forces contained within it, as though those are all that affect our lives.
But we are Christians, and we are called to see another reality: one where we trust that God is moving as well, affecting our lives not for God’s gain, but for our own. As Paul says in his letter to the Romans, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God’s purpose” (8:28). We are called not to live in fear of what might be, but in trust that God will act for us. Imagine the good we can do if we trust in God and live as though our needs will be cared for?
I want to thank Peggy and Faith for living into this promise. On Wednesday, May 28th, they joined me and other Lutherans from all over California at Lutheran Lobby Day, casting off the shackles of anxiety that would have kept them away and diving into the unfamiliar. They walked into the offices of state legislators and spoke about our faith and what it calls us to do. They acted with faith in God to guide them to where they were called. They may not have realized it, but this is what they did, and I praise God for their willingness to serve.
I invite you all to consider how you are being called. What fears are you being called on to release, trusting in God to take care of you? Where can you show trust that God will be your strength and might? How can you show your faith that God is your salvation and will watch over you?
As for me, you can see it as I brave the sun at our 100th anniversary barbecue on the 31st and throughout the rest of the summer. Say a prayer for me, and I’ll say one for you.
Blessings, Pastor Rob