Ecclesiastes 3... and a video

***Ecclesiastes 3***

A time to blog... a little later than normal. I'm just doing one chapter today... but it's an important one!

There is a season for everything. It's good to think of stages of our life as seasons.

I grew up just outside of Detroit where I was able to experience all 4 seasons every year.

Summer was great! No school, baseball every day and fishing on the Detroit River.

Fall was good. My birthday is in fall, it's football season and watching leaves turn colors and fall to the earth is beautiful.

Winter is terrible. Everything is dead, it gets dark early and it's really cold.

But then there is spring... the snow melts, the flowers bloom, Ernie Harwell is on the radio broadcasting Tiger baseball and hope springs anew.

Life is full of ups and downs. Some ups last for a long time and some downs feel like they will never end.

I am very proud to say that I am a Lutheran and a Detroiter, although both the Lutheran Church and the city of Detroit have been experiencing some rough years.

People are leaving the church and people are leaving the city. The church doesn't have any money and the city is broke. Both are stuck in the middle of winter.

I've heard it said that mainline churches, as we know them, will be gone in 20 years. And Detroit is just barely hanging on. But spring is coming.

Jesus had seasons to his life. He was a traveling preacher and performed miracles in the summer. In the early fall his enemies began to plot against him, in mid-fall he was arrested and flogged and on the last day of fall he was crucified. He was dead, like winter for three days. But he rose again, just like the flowers of spring... and since then he has been giving new life to all.

I think it's a good time to be the church. The Lutheran church needed to be refocused, to have a renewed passion for the mission of Jesus Christ. As long as the church never forgets who they are, then the future of the church is bright... because it is God's church.

The city of Detroit needs to be refocused too. No longer can an entire population be dependent upon one industry. I am proud that Detroit is the Motorcity, but it needs to make more than just motors to rebound. I don't have all the answers, but I have faith. Faith that the people of Detroit are going to make it to spring. Faith that the race tensions that hangover from the 1960's will be overcome, faith that the can-do attitude that made Detroit so great won't be overcome by fear and anxiety... And I have faith in God. Faith that God loves Detroit as much as any other city in the world and God wants the best for the people of Detroit.

The greatest gifts God has given us are faith. hope and love. I have faith in the city and in God, I hope for spring and it is love that is going to make it happen.

I posted a song by Kid Rock below. I think it says everything that I wish I could. This post is about Detroit, but it's also about everyone everywhere. We all go through hard times, we all persevere with the help of God, and we all overcome, just like Christ overcame death.

"Even though it's bittersweet and brings us to our knees, it makes us who we are in times like these."

Lord of all people and places, we pray that you would be with us in the long, dark days of winter and that you would bring each of us into spring. Help us overcome all the ups and downs in life and lead us to the eternal spring, which you have prepared for us. Amen.