Happy Saturday, friends!
Yeah, I know there’s usually some Saturday modifiers there, but I’m purposely leaving them off today.
Sometimes I know ahead of time what my writing focus will be for a particular Saturday Pondering.
Sometimes it’s whatever comes to mind first when I warm up my Saturday morning thumbs (it’s almost always composed on my iPhone).
There’s usually a spark of an idea that gets some oxygen which I hope is (at least sometimes) the breath of the Holy Spirit. Something that spreads to a flicker of a thought worth pondering.
All that to say, it’s very much “in the moment.”
My hymn text this morning is the first of six hymns in my current hymnal set to the tune of Jean Sibelius’s beautiful “Finlandia.”
I didn’t spend a lot of time looking, but I imagine there’s not another tune so well represented in the hymnal. (One of my very favorites renditions of that tune).
This morning, “Finlandia” brought to mind our 2025 Baltic Sea Mission with the Singing Men of Texas-North Central.
Two of our eight concerts were in Finland. The second of those two was in Turku, Finland’s oldest city and the home of the Turku Sibelius Museum.
The church pictured with the hymn text is the site of our concert: St Michael’s Parish Church.
The picture with Psalm 122:1 is the steps of the same church on the same day as we arrived to set up for the concert.
Psalm 122 is a psalm of ascent, sung by Jews traveling together on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Certainly the “house of the Eternal” (“house of the Lord” in most translations) was a focus—the destination of the pilgrimage was the temple in Jerusalem.
But the journey itself is not forgotten, nor are the fellow pilgrims.
In the New Testament, the understanding of the Temple (God’s House) shifts from a physical temple to a spiritual temple.
From a building to a people.
From a single nation to the people of God from all nations, tribes, and tongues.
And our “gladness” is found in our collective journey in the Way of Jesus.
I could have gone to all the same cities and concert venues by myself.
But the journey with 120 people committed to the same Master and message and shared with thousands who came to hear of His love through music resulted in a gladness that could not be found in isolation.
Our joy in Jesus is less than what He intends for us if we don’t journey in community—loaning each other joy, focus, and courage on the heavy days and spilling abundance on each other on the light days.
I’m a pretty extreme introvert. I must have time to be alone, still, and quiet.
But the longer I journey, the more I recognize that I MUST be with other pilgrims—explorers of the Christ-life.
On this date 19 years ago I was in transition. I had celebrated my final Sunday as a pastor and was preparing to begin my new ministry as a “DOM” (Director of Missions of an association of Baptist churches).
When I walked in the door of the association office on June 1, 2008, the first face I saw was Elaine Schenck, who was—on that day—celebrating her 4th anniversary as the association’s administrative assistant.
We would spend the next 11 years working together and would become friends as well as colleagues.
Every time I would see her husband, Don, the first words he spoke were “Happy ____day (whatever day of the week it was).
So my Happy Saturday can be traced back to him.
I stopped by and met Don and Elaine for dinner a couple of days ago and couldn’t help thinking about how different my life might have been if a significant portion of my ministry hadn’t been spent journeying with them.
Here’s what I’d like to encourage you with today (that’s a gentle way of saying I’m about to give you some homework):
Think about some specific people who have walked with you on your Jesus journey. Think about specific ways they encouraged you and you encouraged them. If they’re still with us, contact them. Go see them if possible.
Think about how you’re journeying now. Who’s your traveling tribe? How are you encouraging each other toward Jesus? How are you being intentional about staying connected to your faith community? What do you need to keep you connected?
Be amazing today, my friend.
