Dear HBIC Family, 

So, years ago, I worked for a social work agency in Philadelphia whose primary aim was ensuring that students were getting the services and support they needed for success. Over the course of my time there, I was privileged to serve in many different roles, all aimed at fulfilling this objective. However perhaps my favorite role was being the reader during Story Corner with Mrs. Sanders 1st Grade class. 

Reading is a gift. It expands our world and our thinking, our knowledge and vocabulary, and it helps us grow our imagination. As a child, imagination is a place we get to explore, and reading more enhances that. Sometimes though, as we get older, we stop chasing dreams. We start only seeing the world as is instead of the world as it could be. This is where stories help us, this is why legends still inspire us into adulthood. 

I still remember that day during Story Corner in Mrs. Sanders class when I got to read to the students the legend of John Henry. This story is about an African-American legend who outraced and outclassed a steam powered rock drilling machine in the building of a tunnel. There are so many lessons we learned together – we can do the impossible, the impossible is not meant for one person but for the group together, and we can learn to work smarter and not harder. 

The thing about John Henry is that much of his folklore is now left to the imagination – and we’re not even sure the person ever existed. He lives now only in imagination. I fear sometimes this is how most of us relate to Scripture, or even to God. The people we encounter and meet, and our God that promises and stays with us, all just now live on in our imagination. This is why I’m excited this week, to tell the story, The Legend of Ebed-Melek. 

As you prepare for this week’s services, I would like to invite you to read and meditate on Jeremiah 38:1-13, 39:15-18. As you reflect, I would like to ask you to focus on the following questions: 

• What is the boldest thing that God has called you to speak? Did you listen? Have you ever been falsely accused? How did God see you through? 
• What is one time you have received mercy and love from strangers? 
• How are you growing as a servant leader today? 
• How confident are you in God’s promises? And why? 

Each Sunday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we like to intentionally remember his witness and testimony to us, in our work for racial reconciliation and justice here. God has called us here, to these people and in this time, to be shalom makers. We love Harrisburg and seek to join the light God is already shining here. We love our people for they are neighbors, and sisters and

brothers together in God’s family. And we love God’s kingdom, and actively join with the Holy Spirit to do God’s work together, here. 

The Legend of Ebed-Melek is a story of an outsider who finds home among the people of God. It is a story about God’s family made richer by others finding their place, using their gifts, and being faithful to the Spirit’s leading, here. It is a story of God fulfilling promises. We are blessed to serve a God who welcomes us all home. 

May our God who was so faithful to the prophets, be ever so faithful to us. May our God who was so welcoming of the stranger, call us to be as welcoming to others. And may our God who blesses us to bless others, inspire us to lovingly serve one another. 

God bless you all, and take care. 

Love in Christ, 

Pastor Hank (Jeremiah 39:17-18)