Pat was out of town this past Sunday, and Pastor Eddie Argüelles, the pastor of the hispanic congregation that meets at our church (and with which we are currently moving towards merging with), preached for us. Pastor Eddie is pretty good with English, but he doesn't preach in English, so he had a translator.

I missed some of what was said, but Eddie was touching on so many things that I've been thinking about for months. So I gave a copy of the sermon to Amanda, a member of the worship team who is also a Spanish teacher at the local high school (and is incredibly fluent!) to translate it for me. Thanks a ton, Amanda!

I've put the sermon up on the church website, and you can read the whole thing here in English.

The Bible verse Eddie focused on was:

"Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it seem to you like nothing? 'Be strong, O Zerubbabel,' declares the Lord. 'Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jahozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of this land,' declares the Lord, 'and work, for I am with you,' declares the Lord Almighty. 'This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.' This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'In a little while I will once more shake all nations and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the Lord Almighty. 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the Lord Almighty. 'The glory of this present house will be greater than that of the former house,' says the Lord Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the Lord Almighty." (Haggai 2:1-9)

The picture of God shaking the nations is just awesome. And God promises that when He moves, the glory of the what He's doing will be greater than what was left behind. To me, this is a huge promise, and gives you peace when you have burdens on your heart and you know you need to move forward, but you're scared.

Pastor Eddie's sermon culminated with this challenge:

Is anyone here ready to receive this challenge this morning? Are you ready? Maybe this means you will have to leave the things that you did in the past. Maybe you will have to say "I don't understand what Pastor Pat wants to do, but I am going to try it. I am going to help." If the pastor starts a new program, you be the first one in line, because you learned this morning that this is the year of new beginnings. The old has gone and the new has come. The glory of the past is gone. The past is always more comfortable. But, you know what? The Lord wants to remove us from our comfort zones. He does not want us to be comfortable; He wants to bring you his glory amidst all this.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much of an expectation there is for a new pastor to do things our way. We want a new pastor to come and do exciting things, but only if they fit our mental model of what church is supposed to be like. At this point, Pat has been here five years, and I know that he is burdened, in many ways similar to the things I've been thinking about, and in some ways different (and probably better!). At what point does a church give the pastor the benefit of the doubt and follow his lead? Pat has given our church five years, and in some ways I think we owe him the same! I'm glad that, in some ways, Pastor Eddie said very similar things. "If the pastor starts a new program, you be the first in line!"

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