Pastoral letter, from Randy
“Jesus is calling us to a new kind of community where our task will not be to pour out our riches on others but rather to reveal others’ riches to them, where my power of self-esteem and my fullness of human being will come to me as yours comes to you.”
— Robert Raines, To Kiss the Joy
There are as many types and varieties of churches as there are people who founded and populate them. In our own community, we need not look far to find everything from superstar pastors and staff to authoritarian proclaimers to political powerhouses to we-have-an-answer-for-absolutely-everything to those who celebrate the mystery of worship and faith.
San Antonio is home to theologies from one end of the spectrum to the other … from the exotic to the boring, from the exciting to the mundane, from the know-it-all to the to the skeptical, from the liturgical to show biz.
When I arrived at Woodland a number of years ago, I saw something different from anything I had heretofore experienced as a church musician. What I found here was a weekly worship hour that was, indeed, totally dedicated to worship. During our Sunday worship hours, the focus was/is upon God, scripture, prayer, meditation, listening, singing, responding, and becoming centered upon God. There was/is no space given to program promotion, endless lists of verbal announcements, or anything else to interrupt or distract us from the presence of God. To say this was/is refreshing is an understatement!
Then, there are the ministries which take place beyond the hours of worship and as an extension of our worship: food packages prepared weekly for the homeless, ESL ministry provided for our neighbors who will likely never join our church, the mentoring program at Larkspur Elementary School, the bed ministry serving children all across San Antonio, the San Antonio Youth Chorale, mission trips to work at the Texas-Mexico border, the Woodland Choral Scholars program … these are to name only a few of the ways Woodland impacts the community around us.
Our worship is about more than just the dedicated on Sundays. It is also a calling to take the love, joy, friendship, and compassion of Christ into our community and world. Yes, there will always be many ways we can have a broader and deeper reach, and I am confident Woodland will always rise to that challenge.
We are a community of faith which takes seriously the call of Christ to engage with our community, revealing others’ riches to them and building the lives of those around us. And as we faithfully serve in these ways, something miraculous occurs. We soon discover that, by helping others build their lives, we are building and enriching our own, as well.
Randy Edwards