There are many mysteries in the universe, such as:

Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?

If a fork were made of gold would it still be considered silverware?

Isn’t Disney World just a people trap operated by a mouse?

And then there is my favorite:

What, exactly, does a pastor do besides the one hour on Sunday morning?

“Simple”; we make connections.

Yes we do a lot of administrative work in the church office, we prepare our sermons (which is not an easy thing to do week after week after week and takes far more time than any of us truly comprehend), we choose music, we plan bible studies and then teach them, we meet with people in need,  we meet with individuals, families and, of course, committees and boards (and often spend a lot of time planning for those meetings).  We correspond through phone, email, texting and in person.  We attend workshops, gatherings and community events.  We study the word of God, and we pray.  And pray some more.   And in all of these things, we make connections.

The Honey Brook Food Pantry http://www.honeybrookfoodpantry.org/ (please check it out and consider how you can support it) is a very important service organization in the Honey Brook area.  We have a lot of hungry people in this community – far more percentage wise than most of Chester County.  But the pantry needed a little help.  Many are unaware of their existence.  And so, when asked, I made a simple contact, connecting the food pantry to some of the churches.  This was a straightforward connection, nothing extraordinary on my part, but incredibly important.

A woman had gone to church her whole life.  She believes in Jesus, she knows the stories, she has great faith.  But she was unsure of one thing, the Doctrine of the Trinity.  In a sermon, the pastor preached the Trinity in a way that connected her to the doctrine, and more important, to God.  Simple, but great impact.

A person was feeling low and abandoned during a bible study.  The pastor looked up a passage of scripture and read it to that person.  A connection between God’s holy word was made, bringing comfort.

A woman was upset about being an outcast from her family.  The pastor pointed at the cross and spoke the good news of the gospel to her, connecting her to the God of the Universe.

Connections.  It is one of the things Jesus did, and one of the things pastor’s do.  Can you write it in a report?  Not really.  Can you quantify it and put it on a time card?  Of course not.  Can we live without connections?  No; especially the connection between people and God.

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Bill