Living WordFrom the Pastor's Desk
Dear
Friends of Living Word Lutheran Church:
What troubles you, dear one? The Psalmist asked: “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (Psalm 43:5) Indeed, we must ask ourselves the real reason whenever we feel sad or troubled.
Our congregation voted recently to close our Academy. This school has been in operation almost since the beginning of our congregation. We have had twenty four years of service to about 700 children. Hundreds of stories can be told of the blessings received through this ministry. The school was never glamorous in the eyes of the world. It had humble beginnings and the total enrollment never exceeded much over 50 students. But the school had an impact upon the lives of children and families that we trust will last for eternity. The prayers of God’s people were answered and those answers far exceeded our expectations.
I am still sad because of the end of the school. I had great hopes that this school year would start to see a rebound and the number of students would increase. That was the prayer of many. While the financial situation was an issue, I was not as concerned about that as I was the fact that only five students were planning on returning in the fall. I have seen small numbers in church and school treasuries and I have seen the Lord supply those needs in unexpected ways.
In past years, we prayed for new students and phone calls would come from interested parents. This year the phones were almost completely silent. Only one new family seemed committed to coming. While that one family was an encouragement, trying to start a school year with such a small number of students did not seem realistic.
Those who serve on the school board can attest to the fact that prayer and lots of discussion went into our meetings as we tried to discover other options for the school. The congregation was alerted at the summer quarterly meeting that the Academy was facing some serious financial concerns because of the small enrollment. Then for several weeks before the annual meeting of the congregation, we had prayer meetings in the classroom after the worship service.
Downcast, disturbed? We may feel that way, but there is another part to the verse: “Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” As the Apostle Paul would later write: “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.” (I Thessalonians 4:13) When the Lord takes a loved one from us, do we stop believing? Or do we think that God has failed us when an important ministry is removed?
This is a hard time for our congregation because we grieve the loss of the academy in some ways like we would a child. It is too early to assume that we know the next step God will lead us in, but we can be assured that the Lord has plans to “give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) He has plans for this church. He has plans for the children who are in the academy. The Lord is calling us to do something that takes courage—we are called to put our hope in Him.
Praying with and for each of you,
Pastor Tim Skramstad