From the pastors desk ~

December 2011 - January 2012

“From the four corners of the earth,
people are coming to their senses,
are running back to God.
Long-lost families are
falling on their faces before him.
God has taken charge;
from now on he has the last word.”
Psalm 22:27-28
(The Message - translation of the Bible)

OH... the shopping malls are getting busier and busier—the roads are becoming more and more crowded! The rush of the holiday season has begun…

The verses from the psalm (above) help to foster the dream I have of all the earth being drawn like a powerful magnet to the glory of God’s love and mercy through Jesus! As the Christmas season quickly approaches, we Christians have a unique and wonderful opportunity proclaim that message of God’s love for all creation.

I pray that with me, you begin to see a vision of flocks of people rushing into the church and into the houses of worship around the world… Just as people are going in droves to the shopping centers opening wide their wallets, I dream about the hundreds and thousands of people who are desiring to open wide their lives to transforming power of God’s love…

This year, invite a friend, a relative, or acquaintance with you to a Christmas worship… or decide to do things a little differently and volunteer on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day…. Or visit a shut-in member of church or a friend in a nursing home… However is unique to you and your gifts, proclaim the Good News of God coming in the world for ALL!

Together - We can begin to make God’s vision and our dream a reality!
Blessed Advent season, a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!
Blessings on the journey
Rev. Imani N. Dodley


November 2011
Abel became a keeper of sheep, and Cain became a tiller of the soil. (Genesis 4)

Each time that I have had the opportunity to lead a study on the book of Genesis I have grown ever more amazed at the profound depths of these ancient stories. Today, as I sit at my desk, having some devotional time and reflecting on other things in my life I realize how much we destroy this work by arguing over whether or not Adam and Eve are “real” persons as if their historicity were the important part of the story.  These stories speak what is truly “real”, a truth about the character of the human soul and the mysterious reality God.

Here is the story …

Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions.  Each brought their best to God. Each understood that they stand in the universe before something greater than themselves. Each understood that they owe their life and their labor to that which is beyond us. Each made an offering of the first of their labor.  And each made an offering because though they labor to tend flocks and plant the seed, they themselves have no power to make the plants grow or the flock to multiply.

Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions.  Each gave to God the first and best portion of all that God have given them. And then comes the troubling mystery:

And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.

For no reason (well, some reason), God chooses one over the other.

Today, I think I realized something for the first time about this story.  The story is not the story of Cain and Abel; this is the story of Cain and God. Abel is only a player who is quickly dispatched to let us watch this profound contest between God and Cain. And it brings out the question, “In the face of life’s ups and downs, what will reveal itself in the human heart?”

When he discovers that life is unfair, what will Cain choose? So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."

Sin is lurking at the door. Like a mountain lion crouching in the bushes it waits to pounce. It seeks to devour. It hungers for us. Its muscles tense, its tail twitches in anticipation.

What will this child of the first humans do when fate chooses one over the other?
Or in simpler questioning - How did I respond when my brother came home with twice the Halloween candy that I had, when I was a child?

Or it may bring up questions not only in me but each of us, like these:

“How will I respond when the corporations CEO’s walks away with millions in bonuses while my 401k withers by half?

“How will I respond when chance leaves my child hurt by the hands of someone else?”

“How will I respond when I find out my father is ill and there is no one to help him?” 

“…sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."

There is plenty to resent in life, especially when the economy turns downward, family becomes ills or we feel dreams sleeping away. And there evil lurks, eager to place the blame, eager to take revenge, eager to find an enemy, a scapegoat.

Abel has done nothing to his brother. He has not sabotaged his brother’s offering; he has not cheated him of his produce or harmed his fields. He was not the source of his brother’s wrath, just its victim.

And Cain has a choice. He can see his brother as his brother. He can rejoice at his brother’s good fortune.

Love rejoices when good comes to the beloved.  Sin lurks at the door, hungry to devour us – and wishing to place a divide between us and God.   Sin, will always lurk at the door and we, another translation says, “may master it.”  You see, we cannot deliver ourselves from envy, but we can choose what we do next: whether we say, “this is my brother,” or whether we say "Let us go out to the field."

We have a choice.  Not only at Christ the Good Shepherd.  Not only at Peace.  Not only at Reformation… Not only individually – but collectively - throughout the entire body of Christ.  We have a choice.   And just maybe, that is one of the major things we should be grateful for during Thanksgiving.  Choice.

Seven times in the text the word brother is used of Abel. And this is the deep spiritual question: in the face of life’s chances, with sin crouching at the door, eager to devour our humanity, can we see that our neighbor is our brother?

It is the question Jesus poses to Israel when faced with a conquering Roman army in their land. It is the answer Jesus lives when he prays for those who are torturing him to death: “Father, forgive them.”

So my final question is not only for you – but for myself…”Will we be sons and daughters of God or children of Cain?”

Blessings on the journey
Rev. Imani Dodley


October 2011
Texts to read:  Malachi 4:1-2a; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19

In this newsletter I am going to be talking about Stewardship and I encourage you to continue reading.  Not because I will write something so prophetic but because I believe, all of us, including myself need to be honest and not afraid of the conversation and commitment. Stewardship is a subject that pastors and church leaders wonder and worry about these days, especially financial stewardship, I know I do.
Because of the difficult economic times it has contributed to decrease in giving. In Second Thessalonians, Paul encourages people not to be idle, but to work. Today, you likely know people who are out of a job and desperately wish they had work to do! Maybe you are one of them. Money is tight!

So how do you talk about Stewardship--about following Jesus--in times of economic turmoil? When people are afraid? And the future seems very uncertain?  Not only personally but also as it relates to the future of our church. 
For me, it starts with one word - Steward.  Stewardship Sunday will be November 6th but the month of October we will engage in conversations around what is a steward and what is stewardship? 

If we are honest, when we think of stewardship, we normally think of the Sundays where the preacher gives a “fundraising” sermon to raise funds for the church.  The preacher, if he or she is good at it, is supposed to do it like a dentist, first gently putting in the right amount of Novocain in to numb the pain and then doing the tough stuff about raising money but in a painless way so the patients won’t feel it.  Or it is “time, talent and treasure” Sunday and so we talk about the time, talents and treasures we are going to pledge to Christ and the church.  Or, we may think of a steward and stewardess on an airplane.  A steward and stewardess are people we can easily visualize as they bring the food and beverages on an airplane, the pillows and blankets, answer questions and provide for the safety of those flying. 

But stewardship or being a good steward is not about that narrow slice of life we call offerings to the church or that narrow slice of our time, talents and treasures that we give to church.  Stewardship and being a good steward is taking care of the precious property/people that God has entrusted to us and that has been a valuable lesson that I have only recently truly learned.

Steward comes from the Greek word, “oikos”, which means house and after reading a recent article did I truly realize that basically, Stewardship is taking care of household matters or what we can call “oikonomics” from which we get the word, “economics:”
Stewardship is taking care of money matters that God has entrusted to us. Jesus said, “Give me an account of your stewardship.  Give me a record of how you are taking care of your household affairs.”  How are you taking care of things around the house?  Your clothing?  Your car?  Your furniture?  Your plants?.  Your animals?  All the property that has been entrusted to your care. 

And then he says, And none of this belongs to you.  Your clothes, your house, your furniture, your pets, your toys, your plants, your family.  None of it belongs to you.  Can you take it with you when you die?  Of course not.  It’s not yours.  Everything in life belongs to God who entrusts you and me to care for these precious possessions.

“Oiconomics.”  Jesus said, “Give me an account of your household finances.  Give me a record of how you are managing money.”   This has become an important lesson for me, which is far more than I can go into in this newsletter but trust me when I say; It is so important that we learn to manage money rather than having money manage and dominate our lives. We need to learn to manage money wisely.  Or even how our money is used – for example, if we are leaving lights on in the church that are not being used, then we are throwing money to RGE. 

This month, the stewardship team will invite you to “ASK God to lead us, to GIVE so that ministry can continue and to GROW our faith.”  And we will hear Jesus as he asks us that persisted question:  “Give me an account of your stewardship. 
So how do you follow Jesus, how do you be a faithful steward, in a time when there is economic turmoil, and the future is uncertain? Jesus tells his disciples, "Don't go running after whatever comes along. And don't be afraid. By your endurance you will gain your souls."

"By your endurance . . ." The word from Jesus, is, Persist, keep on going in your faithful stewardship, trust and be a bold disciple even in hard times! Because God is faithful. God is with us.

Just as God has seen God's people through turmoil and uncertainty before, so God will see us through now. You can count on it. So do not lose heart.  Jesus is leading us to Ask, Give and Grow.  All of us. 

So as we pray about our financial commitments, let us persist, let us keep on going in our faithful stewardship, let us trust. Let us even be bold in our work for the sake of the world, and celebrative in our life together. Because God is faithful, God is with us, by our side, walking our way.

Thanks be to God.
Blessings on the journey
Rev. Imani Dodley


September 2011

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, ~ Genesis 1:14

Lots of people tell me fall is their favorite season.  Me too!  The weather, the color, college football and school starting back up.

There’s plenty happening at Christ the Good Shepherd this fall.  We will discuss further our plan of restructure and partnership opportunities that are before us, with both Peace and Reformation Lutheran Churches on September 11th. 

Also on September 11th  we will share in worship at St. John’s on the Ridge, a service of prayer, remembrance, penitence and hope. 

I am so excited about our Sunday school starting back up for both the adults and our young people, including confirmation on September 18th.  Along with that, one of our back rooms has been cleared out over the summer so that our young people and those wishing to utilize a room for prayer have been established.  This is all in the effort to create an environment for learning and reflection. 

We’ll support the Social Ministry by coming out for the movie “Pay it Forward” on September 23rd at 6 p.m., where not only will we share a meal but also encourage others to bring a gift of a canned food to share with the community food cupboard, creating our own “pay it forward” to others within our community. 

Speaking of paying it forward, we will journey with Abraham Chol, the foster son of Cheryl Moeller, who recently wrote a book that was published about his struggles and journey as being a “lost boy” of Sudan.  I truly hope that you can come out to the church on September 25, where he will have his book for purchase, share his testimony and signing his book. 

Another joint effort that we are participating here at CGS is collection of Comfort Kits for Rape Crisis services.  Many of you know that I volunteer at RCS as an advocate, which involves me going into hospital rooms with victims.  Outside of physical support and resources, the advocate carries with them a “comfort kit.”  This includes:  a toothbrush, trail size toiletries, chapstick and at times underwear of various sizes.  These small but necessary items we find provide comfort to the victim and at times are in short supply.  You can start today collecting and dropping off items to the church for this wonderful effort.  Our goal, with churches within the conference is to raise 1000 comfort kits by Sunday October 2!  I believe that together we can do it!

On October 18th  at 7 p.m. we will have a Healing service worship that we will share with the churches within the Urban Cluster.  This healing service is a wonderful opportunity to bring before God, whatever ails us physically, spiritually and emotionally or even a time to name our loved ones that may need to experience healing. 

And we’ll continue to gather to praise God, who gives us the season, of the harvest, and everything else good.  We’ll continue our ministries of healing and care, and we’ll keep inviting others, as well as our own members to be part of God’s family here at CGS.

I hope it’s a good autumn season for you, too.  I hope we can all get together to celebrate.  It will be good to see you. 

Blessings on the journey
Rev. Imani Dodley


July/August 2011

Ever wonder how many decisions you make in a day?

Take a moment and think about it. The obvious ones come to mind first -- what to wear, what to eat, what work needs to be done first at home, school or in the marketplace. I am not a big fan of grocery shopping because trying to buy cereal over the years for the kids and myself is a decision maker’s nightmare! There is fat-free with sugar, fat-free low sugar, low-fat, high sugar, wheat versus oat, and on and on! Then the milk, good heavens -- .5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2%, skim milk , whole milk, buttermilk, milk with something I can't spell added to it, and so forth.

Argh! Decisions, decisions, decisions.

The above decisions are not life-changing or even monumental. However, what about all the "defining moment" decisions? What about the seemingly gray-area decisions that affect our walk with Jesus, and those decisions that affect the people around us in our church or even just spiritual seekers?

Do you remember wearing or seeing the bracelets that said "WWJD" (What Would Jesus Do?). Well, I think it is a great question to ask before making any decisions, but I have to admit sometimes, I ask the question "what would Jesus do" and I get a cloudy answer or a clear one AND it is not what I want to hear. When those moments have happened, I have leaned on my own understanding and that has ended up being a huge mistake… huge. 
So, in studying 1 Corinthians chapter 10, three principles jumped out at me, particularly as we try to make decisions about moving forward in our church life here at CGS. Let's take a look at them.

1 Corinthians 10:24 says, “Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.”
Paul is telling his readers, Live unselfishly. Now, I know that living unselfishly  can be hard to do, in a world that is all about self and there are things that we enjoy or we want.  But the call of discipleship is not to live just to satisfy ourselves, but to seek good for our neighbor. It's the same thing you have heard me say many times before, blah, blah, blah…"Love God, Love People."   That means, we ask the question, what is God calling us to do in this place at this time for the whole people of God.

Now, in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, when we ask the Lord's blessing upon our drinking from the cup of wine at the Lord's Table, this means, doesn't it, that all who drink it are sharing together the blessing of Christ's blood? And when we break off pieces of the bread (although we use wafers) from the loaf to eat there together, this shows that we are sharing together in the benefits of his body. No matter how many of us there are, we all eat from the same loaf, showing that we are all parts of the one body of Christ.

The principle here is that we must maintain our unity and witness in living for Christ. Yes, God calls us to be separate from the world but God does not call us to be monks or hermits living away from the other sheep in the world and doing ministry that is internal only.
God expects us to be His light and His salt. Salt standing alone and tucked away in a cabinet does nothing. The salt must get along-side of the food to make a difference. So should we. We must develop relationships with our un-churched neighbors, co-workers, co-students, and the list goes on and on.  Which should move us to question, how can we do that as a Church?

Finally, 1 Corinthians 10:31 , says, “whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

This verse says it all for me. Whatever you do… no, whatever WE do… not sometimes when we do some things, but every time we do something, do it to the glory of God. We should have a single-minded focus on glorifying God in all that we do. That is our purpose in life in a nutshell, to bring glory to God.

My prayer for us here at CGS is to genuinely and honestly ask God what we are called to do.   There are many options before us and we must listen to the Spirit of God, not ourselves.  Decisions, decisions, decisions….. So the final question for us is… what would Jesus do?

Blessings on the journey
Pr. Imani Dodley

June 2011

Read:  John 14:1 - 14 – Do not let your hearts be troubled; trust in God, trust also in me.

These simple words of Jesus can bring us a great deal of comfort and peace when life gets hard. I think that we need to get a better understanding of what Jesus is telling the disciples and us when He calls us to this deeper peace.

This was the night of the Last Supper where Jesus had washed the disciple’s feet and shared the Passover meal. It was at this meal that Jesus told His disciples that one of them would betray Him and that he would soon die. Jesus predicted the denial of Peter and the rejection of the rest of the disciples.

In less than three hours Jesus had totally demolished the disciples flawed image of who He was and their vain hopes of what He had come to do. Jesus saw the effects of what he was saying and then tells them: Do not let your hearts be troubled.

The Greek word for troubled means to agitate, to disturb or to trouble the mind with fear, terror or doubt. The truth is that day-to-day life could fit into this category because every day can be disturbing and it can be troubling. Jesus was telling the disciples to not be afraid, to not be terrified and to not be in doubt. Jesus was giving to these disciples the cure for troubled hearts. And as a member hugged me as she walked out of the church, she said this to me… “Jesus simply calls us to place our trust in Him.”

So, what does it mean to trust?
Webster defines trust as a basic dependence on someone or something, Belief that something will happen or someone will act is a prescribed way. 

Our trust is found in our unswerving belief that the God of Heaven will indeed work on our behalf to bring His perfect will for our lives into being. Jesus was calling the disciples to trust God through any and every circumstance of life. He was about to be crucified and they would be scattered. Jesus was telling them to trust even when they did not understand because God was still at work. 

If I were to ask you individually here at Christ the Good Shepherd, most of you would very quickly say that you trust God but there are times when trust is not so simple.  I think that can sum up our situation here as we begin to discuss our future. 

Trusting God means we believe in that which we cannot see and sometimes may not understand. Trusting God is literally against our human nature. Trusting God means that we have to admit that we are not in control of our lives

We need to place our trust in something or someone and we do it every day. We trust our cars to get us to our destination. We trust our employers to deliver paychecks. We trust our doctors to heals our illnesses. How much more should we trust God?

So what is the prescription for a troubled heart? Simply place your trust again in Jesus.

In the coming months trust is something that we must really wrap our minds around and more importantly our hearts.  On June 5, 2011, we will have a congregational “town meeting” to discuss four areas: 
•Financial stability
•Options for our future
•Council and restructure team findings and discussions
•Pastoral leadership beyond September 2011
You and your family are encouraged to attend this meeting so that all voices are heard.  But through it all, that each of us listens to the still small voice of God, the author and finisher of our faith, and trust God’s leading. 
Blessings on the journey
Rev. Imani Dodley


May 2011

“He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; 2he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”  Luke 21:1-4

I wonder if any of you remember the comic strip "Shoe." What a great comic strip that is! It tells the adventures of a bird named Shoe who is the editor of a newspaper. Cosmo, a regular in the comic strip, is a reporter for the paper, and Roz, another regular bird character, owns and operates the local greasy spoon.

In a really old strip that I clipped years ago, Cosmo is at his typewriter (that gives you a hint about how long ago I cut this out of the paper). Cosmo is at his typewriter while sitting at Roz's lunch counter. Roz says to him, "Yup. It takes a lot of hard work to make a dream reality." Cosmo responds, "You bet." Then, he adds in the final frame, "It's a lot easier to make a dream a delusion."

In many ways, you, at Christ the Good Shepherd, are working on a dream; that is, you are striving to give this congregation the opportunity to excel ... to continue being faithful ... to be in ministry and mission. Through this dream, you have the opportunity to have a profound impact on the lives of the people in this congregation and community - that's right, a profound impact on your lives!

Roz's words ring true, "it takes a lot of hard work to make a dream a reality."
It takes continuous prayers.
It takes constant presence.
It takes consistent gifts.
It takes caring service.

There is no question in my mind that Roz is absolutely right.

But in my own personal experience, Cosmo's cynical statement also rings with truth. For it is a lot easier to make dreams into delusions than it is to make dreams into reality . . . however, I must be quick to add that, while it's easier, Cosmo's way is never very fulfilling.

So there you have it: Roz or Cosmo.

As your pastor but more than that, you sister in Christ, I want your vision and your dreams of excellence to become reality, not delusion. And for that to happen:

All of you must work hard!

All of you must respond proportionally to the blessings which God has bestowed upon this faith community!

All of you must generously support this place which forms and shapes the values that carry you through times of difficulty and times of celebration.

But speaking of comic strips, there is another… Calvin and Hobbes!  As you probably know, Calvin is a little boy with an overactive imagination. Calvin's stuffed tiger, Hobbes, comes to life in Calvin's mind.

In a classic strip, Calvin turns to his friend Hobbes and says, "I feel bad I called Susie names and hurt her feelings. I'm sorry I did that." Hobbes replies, "Maybe you should apologize to her." ... Calvin thinks about it for a moment and then responds, "I keep hoping there's a less obvious solution."

When it comes to stewardship (yes I said that word!) . . . when it comes to money . . . when it comes to generous giving to the church . . . when it comes to financially undergirding the vision and dreams of excellence that are possible in this congregation . . . when it comes to the hard work of giving to the church in a generous, proportional, disciplined, and consistent manner - we find ourselves wanting to be more like Calvin than like the widow in today's scripture lesson!

So let me encourage you to make dreams reality in this faith community. When it comes to giving money to the church, I'm here to prompt you to move from Calvin's attitude of "hoping there's a less obvious solution" to the poor widow's faithful attitude of giving extravagantly!

Now you may think that this is a newsletter article about asking church members and friends for money. If that's what you think, you're wrong.  This is not a "stewardship sermon." I'm just desperately trying to give you a word from the Lord. So this is not about getting money from this congregation to keep the institutional church afloat.

My words to you today are my best attempt to prayerfully discern and share with you what the Bible has to say to us today and to encourage you to consider your personal response to what we are asked to do as followers of Jesus Christ.

We have to be honest and ask ourselves, Do we have a Calvin attitude about giving to the church?
OR
Do we come to church with the attitude of the widow whom Jesus observed as he watched people putting their gifts into the treasury?

Maybe some of you struggle with this: Calvin or the widow . . . or somewhere in between – I know I do. 

We come to the Lords house with lots of maybes:
•Maybe we plan to give in a generous, sacrificial way once we've paid off the mortgage or your credit card debt, or when you've doubled your present income, or when your kids and grandchildren are through with college.
•Maybe we plan to step up our giving to the tithing level or even higher once we have more discretionary income, or when that level of giving doesn't force us to sacrifice the little luxuries that we've come to enjoy.
•Maybe we think we give to a lot of good causes, that we have bills to pay, and it seems like the church is doing okay without any more of our money.
•Maybe we rationalize that we don't have to pay dues to belong to the church.
Long ago, in a small Italian town, there lived an old beloved priest. In time, it became necessary for him to retire from his active duties and take life a little easier in his old age. Several of his parishioners said, "We have no money that we might give to make Father's life easier, but we do have several wineries in town, and each of us has some wine we could spare." So they found a large wine barrel, which the men of the church hauled from house to house in the village, and each family poured in some of their own wine until the barrel was filled.

When the parishioners presented this to the old priest, his eyes filled with tears over their generosity. Several evening later, the old priest, remembering their generosity and kindness, decided to have some of the wine with his dinner. As he opened the spigot, his glass was filled, not with wine, but with water! You see, everyone had thought that his or her water would not be noticed in so much wine.

The point is that each of us . . . and what we give . . . is important!

All of us here at CGS have to believe and know that we can make a significant difference in the quality of program and leadership in the church and that our gifts can be used.

In studying scripture, I have learned that, like the widow, giving myself - all of myself - to God is not only important - it's essential.

Listen, I am not saying that Jesus doesn't want us to enjoy the finer things in life?
The woman has given more because she has given herself. When you give yourself to Jesus Christ, you will be transformed, and you will begin to become the creation God intended. It might not be instantaneous, but you'll know that it's happening by two symptoms:

The idea of mere happiness will seem trivial because you will experience joy and the question "How much is enough?" will start to lose its meaning.

Yes, Roz, it does take hard work to make a dream reality and no, Calvin, there isn't a less obvious solution.,. you must give your all!

Blessings on the journey
Rev. Imani Dodley



April 2011

Read Matthew 27:62-28:10

"Go," Pilate says to the chief priests. "You have a guard of soldiers. Make the tomb as secure as you can." Security is almost everyone's concern in the last chapters of the Gospel.

- Those who arrest Jesus do so with the enhanced security of swords and clubs.
-In response to the arrest, the disciples flee the garden and desert Jesus, finding their security in the cover of darkness and the swiftness of a runner's pace.
-Pilate's wife tries to keep her husband safe from the prisoner who stands before him by sending Pilate word to "have nothing to do with that righteous man" (27:19).
-Then, even after Jesus is safely dead, the chief priests know that "you can't be too careful." They need a guard at the tomb, for security. Pilate sends them on their way. "Knock yourselves out, boys. Make it as secure as you can."
If the people who try to sell us things are any indication, security is able to capture our imagination just as it captured Peter's and the chief priests'. Everything from tire treads to investment advice is marketed with a thirty-second story line that features a threat to our security and then answers the threat with the product offered for sale. The tire tread commercials are generally set on a dark and stormy night, and they generally feature a woman driving a toddler somewhere.

Everyone is interested in keeping us safe. Cell phones, security systems, taking our shoes off in the airport security line, getting the right medical tests after the age of 50: almost everything can be sold as a way to keep us free from threat.
Sometimes even our churches can come across this same way.  A TV commercial might sound something like this:

- Not sure if the Almighty has your best interests at heart? We have theologians who can help you keep a potentially wrathful deity right where you want it.

We'll make the tomb as secure as we can. It doesn't work. It doesn't work for Peter to follow Jesus from a safe distance. It doesn't work for Pilate to wash his hands and declare himself innocent. It doesn't work for the chief priests to secure Jesus in a sealed tomb. All this dabbling with security runs right up against an earthquake.

In response to the earthquake, and to the appearance of an angel who looks like lightning, everyone in the security detail faints dead away from fright. (Apparently nobody said anything about lightning-complexioned angels in boot camp.) Mary Magdalene and the other Mary do manage to maintain consciousness. To them, the angel says, "Don't you be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you."

It seems that the women take to heart everything that the angel says, except for that part about not being afraid. Matthew says they leave the tomb with fear and great joy. They are joyful, but it does not appear that they feel exactly safe. They are living in a world where the ground is not staying put under their feet and where at least one of the dead has not stayed dead. Neither of these realities would inspire a feeling of security.
Both frightened and joyful, the women run to tell the disciples. On the way, they run into Jesus. Jesus, like the angel before him, says to the women, "Do not be afraid."

"Do not be afraid." This time the word as it is spoken by Jesus has the desired effect. It is the last anyone speaks of fear in the Gospel.

As the first Christians came to recognize the risen Christ, they experienced boldness and freedom of speech that surprises those of us who read their stories. It is as if their security came from the inside out.

They were not afraid of people who scoffed at their claims.

They were not afraid of authorities who ordered them to stop speaking of Jesus.
They were free from what the neighbors thought about them and free from what the established power structure could do to them.

What might that kind of freedom mean for you? How might it change the way you listen to the nightly news? How it might it change the way you pass a stranger on the sidewalk? How might it change the way you look at our churches current financial situation?
I'm not saying that harm to some degree won’t happen. Certainly, the first disciples were often in harm's way after their experience of Christ's resurrection. I'm only saying that even when they were threatened, the threat did not own them. It did not define them. Someone else's power over them did not become the only thing they knew about themselves. They also knew that even after all their mistakes, after all their displays of cowardice and foolishness and fear, Jesus had come back to them. He had gone ahead of them to Galilee, and he had promised to be with them till the close of the age.

Starting now…Do not be afraid.

Do not be afraid.

Your (and ours at Christ the Good Shepherd) life and your security are where they have always been-hid with Christ in God.

And, brothers and sisters, Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!



March 2011

As many of you know, I’ve been working on shedding some post seminary pounds.  It’s the unfortunate side effect after ones ordination that many of us become sedentary.  Well this year I have made it a promise to myself that I will begin to break that cycle and get active and healthy.  In light of that, scientists and nutritionists tell me that I need 64 ounces of water each day, eight glasses of eight ounces each. So I visit the grocery store, set to satisfy my daily need – and this is what I find…

* I find not just water but also soda water and tonic water. I find Smart water, mineral springs water, artesian springs, mountain springs, imported from Poland, imported from France, from Maine, fluoridated, and non-fluoridated water.

Then I realized, that somewhere in the world, right this minute, someone is thinking up a new way to quench my thirst.

But I am overwhelmed! I then walked away paid for my groceries and as I did, I passed a water fountain.  There I thought… Give me a drink!

Two thousand years ago, a Samaritan woman came to an ancient well with the same need. She needed a drink. She was a human being with the same physical needs that I have today. She had probably been coming to Jacob's well in Shechem, naturally, every day. There were no crowded grocery shelves in those days. She satisfied her thirst daily, with water from the well. It was routine.

But on this day, a stranger is there, the prophet Jesus. She does not recognize him, and he begins to puzzle her. "Give me a drink," Jesus says. Yes, Jesus asks for a drink from the well. I like verses like these from the Bible, verses where Jesus expresses ordinary human needs. After all it was noon on that day at the well, and Jesus was thirsty.

This Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for a drink. But, soon, he also begins to speak of water, that is, living water, a water that will leave a person never having to thirst again. At first, the Samaritan woman thinks he means flowing water-flowing water as opposed to flat water.

Yes, I suppose that there were meager water choices 2,000 years ago. One could drink flat water, water perhaps that had gathered in a cistern or one could drink flowing water from a spring or well.

"Sir," the woman asks, "where do you get this living water?" Jesus responds that whoever drinks from the water that he gives will have a river of living water flowing up from inside them!
"Sir," she says, "give me this water."
"First, go get your husband," Jesus commands.

Ahhh, but she has no husband.
No, wait. She has had five husbands.

Does the Samaritan woman live in any formal, committed relationship at all? It looks like she has consumed husband relationships in the same manner that many of us choose something to drink today. We have so many choices that we try to choose them all. Those relationships have not satisfied the Samaritan woman. She has ended up now in a relationship that is not marriage at all.

Yes, human beings may not have always had so many choices about what to drink. Truly, our beverage choices in this day can overwhelm us. But we have always had other kinds of choices. We have always had choices about how to satisfy our deepest needs, our deepest needs for intimacy, for love, for security, for truth itself.

We choose, we choose, we choose, trying to satisfy those deep needs for refreshment, but our meager choices never satisfy. The Rolling Stones were right: I can't get no satisfaction, and I try and I try and I try.

You and I today have tremendous choices, don't we? We choose and choose and choose. We try and try and try, but our choices rarely stay with us. We have to choose again the next day.
What will we choose during this Lenten season? 
Will we choose to continue to go with the ways of the world or that of the cross? 
Will we choose to listen to the voices of our past or listen to the soft voice of the Spirit? 
Will we choose our way of thinking or truly asking “your will be done, God?” 
Will we choose to spend our monies on self building or kingdom building? 
Will we at Christ the Good Shepherd, both those that are here every Sunday and those that are not, choose to go our path or the path laid out for us by Christ.
 
After this encounter with the Samaritan woman, there is one other time in Scripture that Jesus is thirsty.

Can you remember?

It is when Jesus is about to die. Jesus is on the cross. Among his short and plaintive last words are these: "I thirst," he said. Jesus, remember, is human, deeply human, with the same sets of physical cravings that each of us knows today. Ah, not just physical cravings, but spiritual cravings, too.

We will see on Good Friday, on the cross, Jesus' thirst is our thirst. "I thirst," Jesus said, and he takes the thirst of the entire human condition to God.

That is the truth also revealed on the cross. Of all the endless varieties of ways we humans devise to quench our thirst, none of them is finally true. The true satisfaction of our thirst comes from a face-to-face encounter with God, in spirit and in truth. This is satisfaction.  May we during this season find this truth for ourselves and be willing to share that drink with others. 

Blessings on the journey
Rev. Imani Dodley



February 2011
"Taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him."
Psalm 34:8

Immediately after Christmas, I began to see something that was a little disturbing to me, that I don’t believe I really noticed before.  Literally the day after Christmas, I began to see something quite disturbing.  It was Valentine ’s Day candy!  Everywhere I looked there was a message of love with a box of you guessed it… chocolate.  I thought to myself, we haven’t even taken the Christmas lights down in Macy’s and we are saying we are near Valentine's Day.  But there it was, boxes of chocolate in all the stores and then chocolate on tv promising to be the only love you need, chocolate girl scout cookies--CHOCOLATE! I even saw chocolate Altoid breath mints in the grocery checkout aisle the other day! I think that's what led me to remember the famous quote from Forrest Gump: "Life is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get." (I even remembered it with his accent.)

In reality, that phrase can be true in many ways. We wake up every morning completely unsure of what the day may hold for us. We've made our plans. Sometimes they even happen the way we make them.
But we never know for sure, do we?

The days that come with caramel in the middle are my favorite. The ones with the coconut are just so so--but the ones with the strawberry goo --YUCK! I'd rather eat cold mush. And then there are the days where tragedy or difficult times come out of nowhere, and the chocolate sits in the pantry untouched...there's no sweetness to be had in those moments, it seems.

God knows that life as it pertains to circumstances is uncertain for us. That's why He comforts us and reminds us so many times that He is our constant companion, our steadfast friend, our consistently loving God and Savior. He doesn't keep promises the way we do:

"When people make promises, they guarantee them by appeal to some authority above them so that if there is any question that they'll make good on the promise, the authority will back them up. When God wanted to guarantee His promises, He gave His word, a rock-solid guarantee--God can't break His word. And because His word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable." (Heb. 6:16-18, the Message)

You see, no matter what chocolate we are "in the middle of" right now, here at Christ the Good Shepherd, He is there--with the certainty of His promise today as well as His hope of heaven in the future. Listen to how the verse above continues to encourage us: (vs.19-20)

"We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up His permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek."

I love the visual picture of grabbing on to Him with both hands as He runs ahead of me to the Father. Now I know, that’s not considered “inclusive language” but for me, the image of Father is so important because of the love that it represents.  That image is what makes me able to get up today and praise Him for whatever comes my way and it should conjure up those same feelings for each of us here at CGS, no matter what.

A couple of Sunday’s ago, Julia, the daughter of Sylvia and Nick and the little sister of Marissa, did something that really brought such a smile to my face at the communion table.  Now, as many of you know, I bless the kids that come up for communion and then they receive a little treat from me because it’s my way of showing my love for them.  Now, Julia is also very familiar with this process and she is confident that she will receive these two things.  But this Sunday, she came forward and before I could bless her she exclaimed, “I’m so very happy to be here!”  Now, she did this with a wiggle and a huge smile and I have to tell you – it stopped me short and reminded me of the importance of praise of our Lord and knowing without a shadow of doubt of how God is there, extending love to us always.  I don’t know if she had a bad morning or even a bad week but what I do know, she was happy to be in the Lords house and at the Lords table.

This same faith, this confidence, this hope is our unbreakable spiritual lifeline--HIS love for us no matter what, when, how or why. Let's binge on His priceless box of chocolates today...the sweetest and most satisfying of them all.

Blessings on your journey
Rev. Imani N. Dodley



December 2010 - January 2011

When I think about Christmas - and who doesn't this time of year? – I miss my grandparents, my parents and I miss my brothers and sisters - not as they are today (well for my grandparents they are all deceased), but as they were back then. I miss the delight of seeing the lights that decorated the houses around town. You see, my grandfather would take us out to see them Christmas Eve, while my grandmother was getting ready to go to church (and putting out the gifts from Santa we would discover when we got home late that night). I miss the fun of picking out gifts for everyone in the family at a secret Santa shop - all purchased on the two or three dollar budget I had back then - and the thrill of waiting for the moment of opening the gifts - and seeing how much everyone else liked the gift I picked for them. I miss my grandparents, who always made sure there was plenty of gifts for all four grandchildren and hearts full of love. I miss going to the midnight Christmas Eve service and seeing the huge Christmas trees lighted up and hearing the congregation - hundreds of people packing into the huge church in the city area of Columbus Ohio that I attended as a child - singing those Christmas hymns with such zest and emotion. I miss the wonderful preaching of Pastor Hale - pretty near the perfect pastor.

The best thing about Christmas is that it promises that the people I miss most - and the delights - are not gone forever. I will see them again. Throughout my life, I have celebrated and delighted in so many things and people in Christmas - and sometimes I did not focus on the right things in my celebration, but Christmas begins the 'do-over' of forgiveness, and eternal life and salvation. All by itself, Christmas doesn't do any of that, but the best thing about Christmas is that it is never "all by itself".

Christmas is the celebration of a part, a step, in the extravagant plan of God for our salvation. Each part is worth celebrating, and singularly impressive all by itself. The whole thing, of course, is too big and too wonderful to be grasped in its entirety by a mind as feeble as my own. I can see the outlines of it, and I can delight in the meaning of it, but I cannot comprehend the whole thing anymore than I can make the Trinity work in my reasoning. I can repeat what the Bible tells us about it, and stake my confidence in it, and confess the truth of it - but three in one and one in three doesn't actually work smoothly in a mind like mine. I just accept it.

And that is how it is with the plan of God for our salvation. I can repeat what the Bible tells us about it, but the entire thing is too wonderful for me, as the Psalmist says, it too high, I cannot attain to it. I am able only to believe it and confess it and find delight in it - and that only by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in me through the Word.
Christmas is the celebration of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. It was of such significance that angels just had to sing about it over the fields outside of Bethlehem that night. God had humbled Himself to become one of us - and to do it by the ordinary route of birth as an infant. His love made Him do it!

Love for me! Love for you!

We focus on the babe of Bethlehem, and the manger and the trappings of that first Christmas, both the realities and the traditions which have grown up around the day in our minds. He is the main event, but He is so much more than our hymns and nativity crèches express. I would guess that is necessarily so.

I mean, how do you pack the wonder of the incarnation into a table-top display?
Who could sing the music that would be required to express the glory of it all? So, we package up little bits of it in each piece of our celebration and hope to celebrate the whole thing to some degree.

One of the things about Christmas that I enjoyed most, but didn't realize it was such a big thing for me until I outgrew it, was the Christmas program. For eight or nine years, I had a part to memorize and then recite to some extent, for the whole congregation. Over those years, I memorized many parts of the account of Christmas from Luke chapter 2. As a pastor, it is still one of my favorite things - to hear children reciting the Scriptures about the birth of Christ or telling the story of Christ and Christmas in their own special way. It is a very visible and audible demonstration that we are passing on the Gospel to the next generation. It is one of my greatest Christmas joys - when we have children in the congregation!

But the best thing about Christmas is, simply, Christ. We can live without the gifts. Most people complain about the commercialization of the holiday anyhow. The family meal is fun, but who really needs the calories? The people who really need them aren't coming to our tables. The family gathering can be fun, but it can also be a source of holiday stress at times. The church services and the Christmas programs are delightful and nostalgic, but we don't really gather for nostalgia - or at least we should have a higher reason than that.

The best thing about Christmas is Christ.
•He loved us enough to humble Himself to be born of the Virgin in Bethlehem
•He chose the obscurity of a stable.
•He chose to be cradled in a food-trough - what the King James Bible taught us to call "a manger".
•He elected to come into absolute poverty and want, taking no advantage over the poorest and most humble among us.
•He could have called for kings to come and worship, but He chose shepherds instead.


Not one of us would deliberately put ourselves in a position of such total dependence. Not one of us would sign up for such absolutely certain pain and death. Few, if any, of us would choose to humble ourselves so completely, let alone do it for the sake of others - especially those who declared themselves to be our enemies with no provocation from us.

But God did.

He loved us so much that He chose to walk a path we cannot honestly imagine ourselves walking. He was born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law. He humbled Himself for us.

That is the love of God - how deep and wide it is for us. Of course, Christmas isn't really Christmas without Easter, but the best thing about Christmas is Christ and what the Incarnation reveals to us about God and His love. Christmas gives us that identifiable 'first step' in the Gospel plan - and a season of delight!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Blessings on the journey
Rev. Imani N. Dodley







November 2010

"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for your in Christ Jesus", 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

Spring, and a young man's fancy turns to love. November, and our thoughts turn to Thanksgiving. In November the World Series is over, and the Super Bowl is a couple of months away, so Thanksgiving is all we have to set our minds on, unless you pay attention to Luther's Birthday on November 10th.

Honesty compels me to mention that I really have no interest in writing about the holiday. It is a secular-civic holiday, after all. They talk about God and stuff, but our nation is unable to identify the true God, and in our efforts to be open and neutral, we clearly intend each religion to connect their 'god' to the word "God" when we urge people to pray or to give thanks, and the like.

Actually, I wanted to use the excuse of the holiday to raise the topic of the sort of thanksgiving which belongs to the life of the Christian. This sort of thanksgiving is too big and all-encompassing to fit into one day a year - or even one day a week! This is the sort of thanksgiving which occupies the life of the Christian. Just listen to the Scriptures: "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for your in Christ Jesus", 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

We are to give thanks in everything. That doesn't mean just to give thanks for the stuff we really enjoy, but in everything and every moment. If you do a search in the New Testament of the word "thanks", and its other forms, "thanksgiving" and "thanksgivings", you will find that it is the constant exhortation and expectation of the Apostles. Jesus was always giving thanks, and Paul writes about thanks or giving thanks in almost every single letter in the New Testament. After a while, it begins to sound like the chief activity of the Christian church.

And that is probably because it is. Realistically, what else is there? Think about it. God gives us life - physical, daily life. We rebel against Him in sin. Our race chose death over life in Adam and Eve, and each one of us personally makes that choice every time we sin - particularly when we sin deliberately and consciously. Of course, we would never choose to think of it that way, just like we try not to think about how we are growing old, or how heavy we are getting, or how well our cherished ideas and activities comport (or fail to comport) with the things we confess on Sunday mornings in Church. Reality is often at odds with our preferred and personal perspective on things.

So we exist by His goodness, and we have salvation by His goodness, and we possess all of the wonders and blessings which we possess by His grace and goodness. What did we do to deserve or earn our birth? The question is laughable. Of course, we did nothing. What did we do to earn our salvation? The question is seriously entertained by many, but the answer, according to Scriptures, is just the same - The true answer here is that we have done nothing, and could have done nothing. It is the grace and goodness and love of God. Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

The last link in this chain of reasoning is the question of why you should have the abundance and riches which you enjoy in this life? Is it your hard work? Then what of those who worked just as hard elsewhere - and in other ages - without such abundant results? Is there something about you that merits the reward of hard work more than the poor man who must work just as hard for poverty as you have for abundance? No. It is the blessing and gift of God, see Isaiah 45:7. Sure, we have all worked, and endured the hard stuff of our lives, but God has been unthinkably good to us! We have all that we have - and are all that we are - by God's rich and abundant blessing, without our needing to do anything - much less anything extraordinary or unique - to achieve or deserve it.
So, what else have we to do, really, than to give thanks? What is left? All that you need is given to you. All that you really need done has been done for you. There is nothing left for you to do but live in God's grace and goodness and enjoy it, and give thanks.

You have two possible directions to go, basically, two possible responses to this reality. One is thanksgiving - the only thing left to do, realistically. The other direction is to live as though everything really depends on you and your work and your self-determination. Sadly, most people, even most Christians, choose direction number two. It is particularly sad when one remembers that, in the catalog of sin of Romans one, the first sin is thanklessness; For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Romans 1:21)

The example of the Apostle Paul should serve us. He is always giving thanks. For example, But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, (Romans 6:17). Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:25) [I] do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; (Ephesians 1:16) and, We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, (Colossians 1:3). And numerous others. 

Our minds are to be set on the awareness of the great goodness of God toward us, and toward all mankind. In the sixties, the cliché "The attitude of gratitude" was popular. It is a cliché, but it does capture the proper mind-set for Christian living. For the Christian, however, thanksgiving is not simply something we speak - or even an attitude. It needs to be part and parcel of how we live. God would have you to consider how love and thanksgiving can shape your desire to give back to God by being a blessing to those God places around you for you to serve in His stead. Viewed in this way, Thanksgiving becomes a stewardship thing.

I want you to go back and read those last two sentences again. I want you to pay attention to the fact that there was no mention of money. The word "steward-ship" has been tossed around in the institutional church so often as a way of digging into your wallets that many people read or hear the word, and they stop . . . listening or reading, or thinking, for that matter. This is not about money, primarily, although you cannot talk about all of your life and ignore that one piece of it. That would be artificial.

Thanksgiving is accomplished by expressing thanks to God out loud - and to yourself - and by living out the reality of your dependence on God and your delight in His goodness to you.

People may want your money, but they need your care, concern, compassion, and your time. Thanksgiving is lived when you care enough to take the time, to reach out your hand to help, when you listen to others because they need someone to listen, when you pray with and pray for others because they need blessings from God.

When you are secure in God's abundance towards you, so secure that you can share all of that abundance with those in your circle of neighbors, then your life confesses His goodness and not only expresses your thanks, but causes others to give God thanks on account of your living out the thanksgiving which is the life of the child of God.

Thanksgiving. It is the fruit of the lips, according to Hebrews 13. So we should be ready to speak aloud our thanks and praise. And our thanks ought to well up in us in how we live and how we make decisions and what our values are. We should confess both by word and deed our confident trust in our heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Having all things as His gift, thanksgiving is all that He has left to us to do.

Blessings on the journey

Rev. Imani N. Dodley



October 2010
Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you. ~ 1 Peter 5:7

It’s been only three days since I returned from my 16-day trip missions trip to Zambia and Zimbabwe Africa. Ever since the day I returned, I’ve been trying to figure out how to best write about the trip. Each time I get started, I find that it’s an overwhelming task for which the proper words just don’t exist.

Many people ask me, “So, did you have a good trip?” I’m never quite sure how to answer this question. It’s almost like the question I received numerous times while in Africa, “How is America, is it good?”  In many ways, the word “good” isn’t nearly a strong enough word to describe what I experienced. In many other ways, the word “good” is far too strong of a word to describe some of the things I experienced as they were anything but “good”.

When people ask me to tell them about my trip, I’m never quite sure where to start. One of my friends asked me, “Well, why don’t you start by telling me the purpose of your trip.” That sounds like as good a place as any…

The Purpose

I was one of fourteen people from the Upstate NY Synod that went to the several areas of Zambia and Zimbabwe from July 27 – August 12. Those sixteen days changed my entire world-view–nothing in my life will ever be the same again.

The primary purpose was  to build relationships and solidify the companionship that we had with the church in Zambia and Zimbabwe, while learning from the people of those regions their stories of faith.   It was also about how we can better twin our congregations in Upstate NY with the ELCZ and ELC-Zam churches.  Along the way, however, we had opportunities to share in daily devotions both in the morning and evening, bring a word of hope, participate in worship services, visit orphanages and see how ministry works in many areas. 

Traveling to and from Africa

The first day and-a-half days of our trip were spent just getting to our destination. I’ve often said, “It’s a small world,” but it’s not. The world is HUGE! I believe I logged over 23,000 air miles over the round trip. Amazingly, sitting in an airplane seat for over 24 hours is exhausting work. Those 5-hour flights to wherever for business seem much, much shorter now too.

Economic Situation in Zambia and Zimbabwe

In Zambia – conditions seemed a lot worse than that of Zimbabwe.  Many people traveled across the border of Zambia to Zimbabwe, just to sell their items to make money to supply the needs of their families.  The shocking reality for me was that the average pay per month for a pastor in that area, was $33 per month.  Now when you take in consideration that they travel almost daily on the bus to meet with their parishioners, which costs, $1 per day – it makes you wonder how they make it from month to month.  It truly makes you believe in community support. 

Zimbabwe was once one of the most prosperous countries in Africa. In recent years, it has become the worst economy in the world in only a few years. I could’ve exchanged $60US to Zimbabwe dollars when I arrived but we were told that the US dollar is accepted everywhere . Now if I had it would’ve exchanged to $23,000,000Zim.. I read last week that the Zim dollar is trading 1 million to 1 US Dollar. In only 3 weeks, that same $60US would exchange today for $60,000,000Zim. In the 1980s, the Zim dollar and the US dollar were roughly equal. This is an incredible rate of inflation.

Despite that reality, there was a call for us to give a word of hope to the people of both those areas, that seemed to come out of 1 Peter, which was, “Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.”  You see because of the drastic conditions of both of those areas, the pastors and congregations are fighting another economic issue, “the theology of prosperity” which many churches, that are popping up are preaching, if you give “this”, then God will give you “that.”  It’s also a message that says, if you are poor, than you are living in darkness and don’t have faith.  In such difficult economic times of both of those regions, it is hard to preach against those words, particularly if your congregation members are without food. 

The People

What can I say about the people of Zambia and Zimbabwe except that they are some of the most wonderful people I have ever met in my life. They are certainly the most humble people I have ever met. I have always heard people talk about the arrogance of Westerners, and I never really understood that–sure, I knew that some of us westerners were arrogant, but I didn’t see that as a generalization. On the Thursday when we left, after spending a week with the people of Mnene and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, I was shocked at the arrogance and pettiness of tourists I encountered at the airport. As I saw people complaining about the most petty of things my heart just broke realizing that they didn’t have a clue about what genuine humility is.  And maybe I didn’t either before this trip. 

Many of the people of Zambia and Zimbabwe live in extreme poverty conditions–never quite sure where their next meal is coming from, or if there will be a next meal, even though it is better than when it was truly worse in 2008. But thru it all they have a sincere hope in the Lord.  And that hope is manifested in the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen. Somehow, they seem to find hope where there is no hope. If the entire infrastructure and economy of America collapsed, I can’t help but think that most of our country would be bitter against God for allowing it. In Zambia and Zimbabwe it seems to draw so many people closer to God because they realize they need to trust in Him. God is ultimately the only source of hope.

In America, God has blessed us with so many other things we can trust in–money, jobs, government, insurance, self, etc… One would expect that those things would drive us all closer to God out of gratitude and appreciation for His blessings. Yet most often we choose to focus on the blessings and take the One who Blesses us for granted. We complain about petty things that inconvenience us and don’t have any idea what the rest of the world is really like. We do have it incredibly good here in America, but when was the last time we gave thanks to our Creator for those blessings? They can all be gone in an instance. If that happens, I pray that we will draw closer to Him, like the people of Zambia and Zimbabwe, rather than growing bitter and more distant.

One of  the nursing students in Zimbabwe I met started a question by saying, “Because you are from America, where everyone is so close to God, can you explain…?” I don’t remember exactly what she wanted me explain, but I remember addressing her opening comment first. I said to her, “Because of the immense trust and faith that the Zimbabwean people,  have to put in God, I believe that they are much closer to God than most of us, and we can therefore learn much from them.”

After that, a looming question that I had, for myself and for us as Americans, was ”when was the last time we prayed the model prayer and didn’t give a second thought when we said, “Give us this day our daily bread?” (Which incidentally was the theme for the fabric of the Vashindiri, the women’s group of all Lutheran churches in Zimbabwe, gave me to take back home) For the people in Zambia and Zimbabwe, that is an earnest cry of their heart. We take for granted, not only that we’ll have food for the day, but that we’ll have delicious and enjoyable food. They hope just for something to fill and nourish them.

Africa and My Future

Except for the fact that I missed my children and our congregation immensely while I was away, I could easily have made the decision to stay in Mnene or Manama Zimbabwe or even Mberi Zambia and continue to work with these people. That’s quite amazing when you consider that before this trip I did have a vision for going to Africa and doing some work, but never on a long term basis but what I realized is that God  touched my heart for these people.

During many of my conversations I was asked, “When will you be back?” I wish I knew. I don’t know when I might be able to return, but I do hope that God gives me that opportunity again.  And that realization started a silent prayer in me, “Lord, although  this body returns to America, allow my  heart to remain in Africa. And allow me to tell the story of the people of Zambia and Zimbabwe in faithfulness.”

I believe God has honored that prayer. I can’t get Zambia and Zimbabwe of my mind. Even today, everything I see and do seems to go through a “African filter”. God changed my life on this trip in ways that I may not realize for months or years to come. I’m thankful that He gave me this opportunity to serve Him, and I look forward to continuing to serve God for the rest of my life, regardless of whether it is in America, Africa, or anywhere else.

Blessings on the journey
Rev. Imani N. Dodley