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July 2010 Pastoral Letter

 
Dear Members and Friends of First Church,

Greetings from sunny and hot Southwest Florida to you, wherever you may be. This is my monthly Pastor’s Letter to our extended church family.

My wife Jeanne and I had the privilege of attending the Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany with 40 others from First Church in early June. It was a wonderful time of bonding and relationship-building, but the highlight was the spiritual experience of witnessing this nearly six-hour-long presentation of the story of our Lord. Though the words were all in German, we had an English translation to follow. The entire village participates as the cast and back stage crew. Over 500,000 people will attend the play this year (it is presented only every decade). In addition to the Passion Play, we also toured in Austria and Germany. The contrast struck all of us, as we visited the Dachau Memorial, where Hitler’s first concentration camp was built. The pure evil of the Nazis compared to the incomparable love and goodness of Christ, as exhibited in the play in Oberammergau, reminded us of the paradox of human nature and the constant spiritual struggle that goes on in every generation. Our trip was a memorable and unforgettable one. Many thanks to Pat Hazen, church member and our travel agent, who made all the arrangements for us.

Now to some church news. We are very excited to have Dan Oedy return full-time to our staff. Dan has completed nearly all of his coursework for his Master of Divinity degree (he has two short courses to take this summer and then the degree is his). He has also finished nearly every step, except for taking one examination, to be ready for ordination as a Presbyterian minister. It’s my hope that Dan can be called and ordained as an Associate Pastor of our church by the end of the year (we still have a few “hoops to jump through” with the Presbyterian denomination before that can be accomplished). Dan and his wife Sarah have bought a home in Estero and moved in two weeks ago. They were presented in late June with a love gift from the congregation of over $20,000 to assist them in setting up their new home. Thanks to all of you who participated in that gift. Dan and Sarah were quite overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity!

Work on McClure Hall, damaged by an electrical fire in February, was finally completed and the room is once again available for our use. Repairs were quite extensive, including replacement of all the air conditioning ductwork, ceilings, and carpeting. Now the large room is open for our First Stop coffee hour, and the kitchen, conference room and rest rooms are also operational again.

I have been preaching for the last few weeks on the Book of Ephesians in the New Testament. This is one of the greatest letters or “epistles” written by the Apostle Paul, and it contains some great truths as a foundation for our faith. I invite you to keep up with the weekly messages of our church through the church’s website. You can listen to an audio version (podcast) or read the printed text. Both can be found in the Worship section; simply click on Podcasts or Sermons, depending on your preference. I am wondering if there might be significant interest within our congregation to be able to watch videos of our sermons through the website. There would be some substantial start-up costs involved in purchasing additional video equipment and hiring an operator. But if a number of people would enjoy and use this service, it may be worth the expense. If you have any thoughts on this, please share them with me.

When you return to Southwest Florida, you will see new signs identifying First Church on the front wall of our property. They are brightly lit and very easy to see as you drive east on Bonita Beach Road. I’m grateful to Elder Bob Wagner for spearheading this. We are also working on some other improvements to our buildings and grounds that I’ll tell you more about next month.

Local news from Lee and Collier counties is a bit thin at this time of year. Life in Florida feels very different in the summer months. Retail stores, restaurants, real estate sales and traffic are all much less busy and crowded; so are the churches! It’s actually a very pleasant and enjoyable lifestyle. The only challenges are to avoid the heat in the middle of the day and watch the sky or the weather radar for the periodic thunderstorms that pop up. In local sports news, Lee County is busy planning (and trying to figure out how to pay for) the new spring training complex they have promised to build on Daniels Parkway for the Red Sox. The local university, Florida Gulf Coast, has announced they are seriously studying whether or not to add college football to their athletic program; this is very expensive, and they appear to be prospecting for a benefactor who would like to build them a stadium and slap their name on it! In politics, the campaigns for Governor and Senator in Florida are heating up. The anxiety level is also high regarding the possible future effects of the oil spill in the northern Gulf. No oil so far on our beaches, but no one knows the eventual environmental consequences.

In Bonita Springs, a local veterans group is planning to build a beautiful monument to the veterans of all military services in our Riverside Park (Old U.S. 41 in the old town section). One of our church members, Dick Moore, has taken the lead in promoting the sale of bricks with the names of veterans on them. If you have served in our nation’s military or have a family member or friend who has done so, you might be interested in purchasing one or more bricks as a tribute and a way to make a wonderful community asset come into being.

Finally, a word about my own personal plans through the rest of the summer. I will be taking a week to visit family and friends in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia in July. Jeanne and I are taking our clubs along, and we hope to play a few of our favorite golf courses in that part of the country (golf in the hills of Pennsylvania is very different from the flat and lush courses of Florida). Then in August I will be conducting the wedding of a daughter of some close friends from Kansas; the wedding will be in Dallas, and will be just a quick weekend trip for us. I have my usual pile of summer reading to work through. I just finished Horse Soldiers, about the U.S. operation to overthrow the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, and Forged in Faith by Rod Gragg, about the early days of America and the impact of Christianity on the values and political philosophy of the founding fathers. For sheer fun, I also just completed a re-reading of one of the great mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlett.

I hope this letter finds you well and enjoying your summer months. I look forward very much to seeing you on your return to Florida. And I would love to hear from you during these summer months.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Doug Pratt