Where God Loves to Be

​June 21, 2016

                                      “There, where our understanding is outraged, where our nature rebels,
                             where our piety anxiously keeps its distance ~ that is exactly where God loves to be. 
​                                          There, though it confounds the understanding of sensible people,
​                          though it irritates our nature and our piety, God wills to be, and none of us can forbid it.”           
​                                                                   ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1933

Beloved:
​
    How close to home Pastor Dietrich’s words do strike the church eighty-three years later.  In these days of constant vitriol and violence when I long for spiritual comfort, his words remind me that discomfort may be the most spiritual place of all. For here is where God loves to be.  Maybe where God can work with us, where we flex the muscles of the faith we claim:  patience, trust, gentleness, helplessness, emptiness, leaning, waiting, hoping, taking care of one another, knowing the outcome of nothing for sure.  Where God can work with us and we with God, more than any other place. 

    The summer has set in fully now.  Vacation Bible School and Habitat for Humanity were big and hard and worth every ounce we gave to them.  I couldn’t be prouder of University Baptist Church for your joyful service in both.  Our next big deal is the HomeComing Celebration this fall, October 15 & 16.  You’ll start seeing the Jubilee logo around the place soon enough.  See Carl Briggs, Vicki Pierce or Hope Snodgrass if you want to help with planning.  There’s ever so much to do.  As always, it is my pleasure and my privilege to serve the gospel with you in this time and place. 

~ peace & prayers,
pastor annette
​

The picture is from the dedication day at our Habitat House. 
​​Thanks to so many UBC'ers for attending!