Sunday #7
For five days now we've been living in a cabin out in the woods in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, courtesy of my good friend Terry Cathcart--no electricity, no running water, 6 miles up a rutted dirt road. It's perfect!
We keep looking for the moose that are rumored to be in the area, but no luck yet. But we have learned to love the call of the loon, and had one swim up near the cabin yesterday. The big disappointment is that the rainbow trout which were supposed to be plentiful in our little lake have so far managed to avoid my efforts to catch them. I caught a small one the other day that I threw back, thinking that his daddy must be somewhere in the neighborhood, but he must have gone back and spread the warning to his family. I've got a new strategy planned for tomorrow.
Drove back to civilization this morning to attend worship at United Covenant Church in Ishpeming, MI. The entire Upper Peninsula is chronically depressed economically. Recession for these folks is not a temporary, but rather a permanent reality. The iron mines that once supported this region are pretty much gone, and apart from tourism, there just isn't much going on.
The Ishpeming church is, not surprisingly, small and struggling. (There were about 50 of us in attendance this morning.) But it was a lovely service, highlighted by an excellent message on the Kingdom of God by Pastor Karen Hins. Her text was Matthew 13, and as she spoke I was reminded that one of the reasons I support the full participation of women in ministry is that the Word of God is always the Word of God, whether it is preached by a man or a woman! The authority of the sermon never depends upon the messenger or the messenger's gender. It depends upon the eternal truths enshrined in the sacred text. And these truths were communicated vividly and energetically this morning.
Immediately after the service Caryn and I were greeted by an older woman who embraced both of us like we were her long-lost relatives. And of course, in a sense we were, for we are fellow-citizens with her in the Kingdom that is and is to come. Now, back to the woods (we're sitting in a wi-fi equipped McDonald's) and to figuring out where those rainbows are hiding!