by Stephen Melton | February 26, 2010
Final Annual Report - 2010
Associate Pastor: Rev. Dr. Stephen Melton
As I prepare to leave Silver Spring, I have been receiving all kinds of wonderful and tender messages. I have not even been able to read them all because there have been so many. I plan to take time to read them when I settle into my new home. I know I will miss you and I will need reminders of God’s grace. So, if I do not acknowledge you immediately, please understand, it is because I am keeping these notes and letters to read that first month I am in West Virginia. I will need something to assist me with my grief.
One of the things which occurs to me as I read these messages is how much your words reflect your heart and soul. In the Gospel of Matthew (6:22-23), Jesus says, "The eye is lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness." I believe what Jesus means is this:
If we see the world as a loving place, full of God, beauty and wonder - in other words, if we see health in the world, our souls will be healthy. However, if we see the world as a cruel place, a dog-eat-dog world, a place God is absent - in other words, if we see the world, and the people in it, as basically unhealthy, our souls will be unhealthy, or, as Jesus might say, "full of darkness."
When people have said loving things to me, I believe that says more about THEM than it does me. You are loving and kind people. Thus, you say and do loving and kind things. Whenever we do something kind or loving, it is because at that, we have given God permission for God to act through our lives.
I am pleased for the times I have done something in which God shown through me, but I know it is God’s initiation and only my consent, that allowed this "good" to happen.
As I look back on my work at Silver Spring this last year, I am most pleased with the start of our small group ministry. As I write this note, I don’t know how it will develop, but I am pleased with the initial response we have received - over 170 people expressed interest - and we have the blessings of wonderful leadership to get it off the ground: Candy Harm, Sally McGaffin and Stephen Rexford. If the small group ministry takes off, it will be unique not only to our presbytery, but to our denomination. We can be proud.
I pray we can keep in touch as time and grace allows. Thank you for the honor of serving you these last ten years. Here is my new address if you care to keep in touch:
Rev. Dr. Stephen Melton
Interim Executive Presbyter
520 Second Ave.
South Charleston, W.V. 25303
717-571-6787
