Hark, the voice of Jesus calling,
“Who will go and work today?
Fields are white and harvests waiting,
Who will bear the sheaves away?”
Loud and long the master calls you;
Rich reward he offers free.
Who will answer, gladly saying,
“Here am I. Send me, send me”? (LBW 381, verse 1)
Music has always been a joy for me and this hymn has always been a favorite of mine. In fact, while I was supposed to be practicing my piano lesson when my parents were milking cows in the barn, I would often goof off. I would sing and direct the “make believe Sunday School choir” and this was one of the hymns that I would blast away on. It’s a vivid image for me, if not a tad bit embarrassing. I sang; I waved my arms; I pounded the keys…and God sank the message deep into my bones.
I like to say, “my parents were ministers after the cows were milked.” I grew up in a family devoted to living their faith in Jesus and I am grateful. I learned early about caring for God’s creation on the family farm. There is something to be said about breathing clean air, muscles aching from hard work, hanging out with sad-eyed cows or my playmates across the road, enjoying garden produce preserved from the garden, and experiencing plenty of “family time.” Add to that a heaping dose of love – practiced in a family of seven siblings! I was blessed. And while it’s been decades since I swung on the swing set on the farm or walked the pasture to get the cows in for milking, you can’t take the farmgirl out of the pastor.
From these two paragraphs, you now know two ways in which God has been at work in my life.Of course, there are more! God has taught me a lot raising my daughter Olivia as a single momand continues to teach me about love and grace as I share my life with my husband Blaine. In pastoring in settled calls since my ordination in 1993, and now as an intentional interim helpingcongregations in transition get ready to welcome their next settled pastor, God continues to teach me so much through the people God places in my life.
That’s enough about me for now. You will learn more as we get to know one another in the coming months, serving side by side. I look forward to the opportunities we will have to connect, serve, and grow in Christ’s love!
Peace,
Pastor Julie