By JUDY KILGORE
Religion Editor

Pastor Jeffrey M. Halenza of Christ Our Hope Lutheran Church has some interesting views on the church as it enters the new millennium. In his church newsletter, “The Scribe,” Pastor Halenza likens the journey to a move to a new neighborhood. It most definitely belongs in my Precious Gems file. I thought you would enjoy it:

“An author has written that he grew up in the 60s on a street a realtor would now describe as a cul-de-sac. Back then it was called a dead end. For his earliest years, however, it defined the limits of his world and the kids he could play with. they were the kids on either side of his house, the kids in the house across the street, and the kids in the house next door to theirs.

Beyond that, he and his friends did not go, nor did they feel any need to. he and his friends walked to school together and played together afterwards. They had favorite games they played together so often there was no need to discuss tams or rules. They knew where the bases were and the yards that were out of bounds. Then his family moved to a different neighborhood.

“The author learned that the rules he'd grown up with were not universally accepted. He had to learn how to play on a new team, with new kids and new boundaries. It was disconcerting at first and took a while to get used to.

“He discovered that giving up what you thought were life's certainties isn't easy, no matter how old you are.

“The author then comments that one thing the church entering a new century means is that `it's time we realize that we are in a different neighborhood, even if we haven't moved houses.' He writes, `Familiar rules don't always hold. There are new kids on the block. Boundaries need constantly to be negotiated. We need to learn to play and work and worship with those who grew up on different streets, in different houses. It's time for us to celebrate what we have in common, honoring the differences that mark our particular identity. Christ calls us to service in the world. We cannot move back to that dead end street.'

“And what this author says applied very much to us as a congregation as we enter a new century. We live in the same house, but there are new kids on the block. It's a different world. Our hope lies in being open to this new world, being open to and reaching out to new neighbors and learning to play and work and worship together. It means continuing to serve as Christ calls us to.

“One of the grandest images of the prophets of Israel was that of a highway through the wilderness on which the people could travel to the new future God was working. And God wants us to work a new and hope-filled future for us. But the highway that will carry us to that future will lead us away from old certainties and well-known bases and yards and boundaries—it will lead us to new and unfamiliar territory, yet also new and wonderful experiences of God and expressions of faith.

“The temptation, of course, is to stay in our familiar cul-de-sac. But what that is, remember, is simply a dead-end street with an elegant name. God's highway is not a cul-de-sac. It's a regular Interstate to new life!

“As we enter a new year, a new century, let us flow this highway of hope and life.”

God be with you...
Jeffrey Halenza

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