Council Happenings

January 2010

This is the last Council column I get to write as Council President; in fact, by the time you read this, I won’t be Council President anymore. And before my Council Prez gig, I spent quite a few years writing Memo columns for PADS – so after this month, I’ll be without my own personal Parish Memo soapbox for the first time in more than a decade. I’m okay with that, believe me. But before I fade off into an anonymous middle-back pew, I’d like to say three last things.

First, thank you. Thank you for your unfailing love and support, and thank you for reading and tolerating these little sermons-sans-credentials; but more than that, thank you for being hands-down the most hard-working, Christ-centered, loving congregation I’ve had the pleasure to be a part of.

Second, thank you to the Lead Team and especially to my fellow Council members over the past four years, who made those long Monday meetings a lot of fun, and who have kept their eyes focused on the Lord’s work. I’m delighted to hand over the reins to the incoming Council, a marvelous group of people who will lead the church well with their strong faith and good judgment. These past four years have seen great changes here at OSLC, and it will be fun to see where God leads us next.

Finally, I hope you will indulge me by allowing me to plagiarize myself – repeating, in part, something I wrote in the Memo five years ago for PADS. It expresses my hope and my prayer for our continuing life together as a congregation:

I John 4:16 tells us, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” God is love: It’s something we’ve known since childhood. When Moses asked for God’s name, he received an even shorter response: “I AM” (Ex. 3:14). That’s all we need to know about God’s identity: God is. And according to Jesus Christ, what God asks of us is simpler yet: We are to love. The entire law, Jesus says, is contained in two commands, to love God and to love our neighbor (Mk. 12:30-31). God is, and God’s command boils down to a single one-word instruction: Love.

We share God’s love because of who God is and what God commands of us. This is the certainty, and the command, by which we live.

God is. Love.

Respectfully submitted,

Betty Birner

Outgoing Council President