June, 2013

Stephen Fowl, a professor of theology at Loyola College in Maryland, writes that as Christians have to "shift our notions of love away from the overly romantic and sentimentalized versions of love so common in our current culture.  Instead we should see love as a 'habit.'  Love needs to become an established disposition within us."  I think this is good guidance from Professor Fowl.  A prevalent assumption in our day is that love is a matter of the heart.  But, all the more, love is a matter of the will;  love is first and foremost about active commitment.  Only secondarily is it about passive feelings.

Colleen and I are grateful to LBC for making our arrival and welcome a warm and joyful experience.  When we pulled into the parsonage driveway for the first time with our U-Haul, we found ourselves stepping out into the unfamiliar.  But the unfamiliar began to be driven out when many from the church soon pulled in behind us and with smiles and greetings helped us unpack the whole truck.  Throughout our first month here the unfamiliar has continued to recede with our involvement in the church community and by meeting others in the Lamoine community.  We are thankful for the love of God we have found here, a love which is active, which is caring; a love that causes us now to pull into the parsonage driveway and say, "We're home"

Yours,
Brooks and Colleen Linde