Vineyard Church | Weekly Update July 24th, 2024

Nostalgia, pre-empty nest syndrome, waking up and wondering “what the hell am I doing in Aberdeen, South Dakota,” and the Letter to Philemon… There is a lot going on in my head this morning. Let me try to force these puzzle pieces to connect into something that looks like a cogent picture.

As I write this, I am working in a hotel room for the day as one of my kids is participating in a distance running camp at a college she is interested in attending. So many tangents that can be explored, like what the heck is a distance running camp? Do they just get together and… run? And there is a camp for this. Huh. The mysteries of the athletic world abound. I have quite a list of work tasks to complete today, which is good because I need to focus on something other than how quickly my kids’ childhoods have gone.

Being in this Midwest town snaps me back to 26 years ago (yes, I know, old got here faster than I thought it would) when I was in the place of my kid, visiting colleges and making plans. I ended up in Storm Lake, Iowa, not terribly far from where I am writing this. The similarities between Aberdeen and Storm Lake are so striking that I have been thrown into a fit of nostalgia and reflection. I have more than the humidity (and the mosquitos) resting on me as we explore the town and ask the Holy Spirit to speak. The joy of watching my kid seek discernment on if this place could be the one makes 26 years feel like 26 seconds.

I left home for college and began to find my own way, a journey that started with making a small Midwest town my temporary home. My education extended beyond the boundaries of Buena Vista University’s campus and launched me into more lessons as those 26 years progressed. The only way I can contextualize these last 26 years also is the reason I think that the letter that Paul wrote to Philemon is included in the canon of scripture. As I live in this moment, I am overwhelmed by the realization of what Christ did for me. The boy that arrived in Storm Lake in August of 1998 feels distant as I consider what Jesus has done in my life since then, especially as I gain understanding in allowing what He has done in me to be an entry point to living for His will over mine.

In William Barclay’s commentary on this book, he presents the question, why did this little slip of a letter, this single sheet of papyrus, survive to speak to us today? His question, and those of Biblical scholars and readers over generations, is predicated on the reality that it doesn’t deal with a great doctrine or attack a heresy, it is simply a letter to a friend re-telling that friend what Christ had done for him.

This very simple topic carries with it the reality that a simple point like this is actually the most important point of life. It would be folly to think that what Christ had done for Paul ended with the encounter we see in the book of Acts on the Damascus Road. Jesus met Paul, yes, but Paul’s salvation offered in this meeting was a beginning not the end of the story. Paul realized the role of God’s Chosen Servant because he understood what that salvation meant. Paul’s salvation released him to a transformation that changed the thrust and purpose of his life.

Likewise, what Christ has done for me ought to be a release into a transformation that will/is change/ing my thrust and purpose in life. I place that sentence in the present and future tense because sometimes it feels like this transformation in me is happening much slower than it happened in Paul, but that comparison is not helpful as the key is asking the question, am I being transformed?

The transformation we see in the Letter to Philemon is the transformation that leads to a hunger and thirst for right relationship, relationship that is predicated on surrendering what is deserved from the standards of culture. Paul sacrifices in order to present the love of Christ to others, and he is able to do this because he understands what Christ has done for him. He is secure enough to sacrifice everything, and this security comes from the knowledge that in Christ he HAS everything.

All of this because my kid is growing up and I am stuck in a South Dakota hotel room.

Adam Greenwell
Pastor
Billings Vineyard Church