Message from the pastor

When did you enter or leave the story of Our Saviour? Who was here when you were? How did your voice together with theirs--your unique mix--participate in the creative and integrative weave of faith and action of all those who preceded you and upon which all future members will build upon? This is the story of Our Saviour in Cresskill? And yes, it is your story. You have a part in it, and a very important part.

After all, the church is not a building, but the voices and bodies that inhabit it and to the particular faith journeys and biographical contexts that each voice expresses. Whether active or inactive, vocal or silent, you are part of the weave that makes us who we are.

Anniversaries are always about stories (history means a narrative of stories) and always about a particular story. Elie Wiesel claims that God created humanity "because God loves stories."

Have we got a story for you! It is a mixed story to be sure, as all stories are. It has its drama and its routine, its joy and its adversity, its critics and its applauders, its honor and its scandal, and its hopes and its dreams, and the story can be told from as many perspectives as their have been members and friends.

Most importantly, our story creates part of God's story. Without us and others who are his witnesses, God has no voice. This makes me realize the huge investment and the deep faith that God has in us to be his witnesses and makers of love, mercy, and justice in the world.

So while our written history (see www.oursaviourlc.org for PDF download) is a history of facts and events, our story as a congregation, as Christians living in community together, is much more than that. It is the story of our congregation's spiritual life in the context of our journey. It is the story of our response-ability (the ability-to-respond in freedom) to God's call for us to be his active agents in the world. Our story is part of God's unfinished story.

This last year was one of those adverse years in our journey together, as I reflected in my annual report, and as was corresponded to you throughout the last year. That adversity strengthened our faith and resolve. We were not focused on celebration but on continuing to exist. With all of your support, involvement, and hard work we now can focus on celebrating at 75.

You are wholeheartedly invited to the events of Sunday, November 5. Bishop Roy Riley will be present with us in our worship at 10:30 AM, and gift us with a sermon. Afterwards, in the Parish Hall we will have a catered buffet and celebrative events to mark our Christian life together and our ministry to God.

We welcome you in the name of the God of Israel, and in the name of Jesus, our Lord.

RSVP requested.

The Rev. Dr. Kathleen J. Rusnak, Pastor

© 2006 by Kathleen J. Rusnak. All Rights Reserved. This page may be copied and distributed only with author's name attached, giving the author credit.