Pastor Frank

Dear Friends at Temple Shalom,

Thank you for inviting me to attend the dedication of the People’s Justice Garden last month. Unfortunately I was unable to attend because of a family matter. I was so moved by the vision of the garden’s purpose that I recommended our congregation support it as a Christmas Eve love offering. Enclosed you will find a check for the funds we received that night. We hope it will enable the community to experience divine love through the garden even more.

The Friday before Christmas Eve, December 22, I joined the Shabbat service on Facebook. The service was lovely, and I was very touched by the prayers for peace and well-being for Israel, but also, as it was said, all the descendants of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. Know that our congregation stands with you in those prayers.

When I first arrived at Spring Valley last summer, I invited the congregation to “Bless this Neighborhood” by frequenting neighboring businesses, building relationships, and finding ways divine love was already being shared through various partnerships and organizations. I hope in 2024 and beyond we have the opportunity to build such relationships with Temple Shalom.

Shalom to you,

Rev Dr Frank Drenner, Senior Pastor

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

A season for everything

3 There’s a season for everything

    and a time for every matter under the heavens:

2     a time for giving birth and a time for dying,

    a time for planting and a time for uprooting what was planted,

3     a time for killing and a time for healing,

    a time for tearing down and a time for building up,

4     a time for crying and a time for laughing,

    a time for mourning and a time for dancing,

5     a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,

    a time for embracing and a time for avoiding embraces,

6     a time for searching and a time for losing,

    a time for keeping and a time for throwing away,

7     a time for tearing and a time for repairing,

    a time for keeping silent and a time for speaking,

8     a time for loving and a time for hating,

    a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What do workers gain from all their hard work? 10 I have observed the task that God has given human beings. 11 God has made everything fitting in its time, but has also placed eternity in their hearts, without enabling them to discover what God has done from beginning to end.

• Hebrews 10:35-11:1

35 So don’t throw away your confidence—it brings a great reward. 36 You need to endure so that you can receive the promises after you do God’s will.

37 In a little while longer,

    the one who is coming will come and won’t delay;

38 but my righteous one will live by faith,

    and my whole being won’t be pleased with anyone who shrinks back.

39 But we aren’t the sort of people who timidly draw back and end up being destroyed. We’re the sort of people who have faith so that our whole beings are preserved.

11 Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see.

A few years ago I ordered some candles in glass jars for a project at church. When they arrived, a few of them were broken. Thanks to modern technology, I was able to quickly order replacements at no charge. I even got to keep the broken ones! What a deal! Speaking of broken jars, did you know that we are broken jars ourselves? Instead of glass, we are made of clay:

“But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.” – 2 Corinthians 4:7-10

The clay jars are our bodies, and inside there is a candle. Every time we face a challenge, either in our own life or our life as a society, a new crack is formed. The cracks don’t vanish on their own, and they cannot be wished away. Instead, they reveal the image of God in each of us– that’s the flame inside the broken jar. We do not just move on from our suffering or grief or anxiety or depression. Everything, good and bad, has its season. The extraordinary power of God helps us endure the difficult seasons, holding each other up in love, never losing sight of the light shining brightly from the cracks into our present darkness.

A few mouse clicks was all it took to replace my broken candles in glass jars, but it’s not that easy to move on from the pain we are feeling tonight. It’s tempting to move on too quickly from weeping, mourning, and losing. We’re ready for laughing, dancing, and embracing. We may be guilty of consciously or accidentally pushing a loved one to move on from their pain before they were ready. One of the great stories of the Bible, the story of Job, includes friends who came to offer comfort but soon lose patience with their friend’s suffering. 

We are in the season of mourning. For God’s part, God brings us comfort, peace, and consolation. It doesn’t remove the pain and grief–only time can do that–but it gives us the opportunity to be consoled and offer consolation to others. We will not stay in this place forever. As the writer of Ecclesiastes proclaimed many centuries ago, everything has its season and rightful time under heaven: giving birth and dying, planting and uprooting, tearing down and building up, mourning and dancing. Whatever season we are living through- our faith carries us from building to tearing down, from crying to laughing, from searching to losing, from keeping silence to speaking, and yes, from mourning to dancing. The Holy Spirit carries us through our time of grief. 

On this longest night of the year, may we boldly embrace the darkness of our pain. Our faith will give us the strength to endure, and the courage to rise in response to challenges. The good news is this: while tonight’s darkness lasts longer than any other night of the year, tomorrow night, and Saturday night, even the nights of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, are shorter. The light and warmth will return. And the darkness will never overcome it.

Hear these words, a sort of affirmation of faith, from Prayers and Litanies for the Christian Seasons by Sharland Sledge:

We find our faith in Jesus,

Who lives among us,

Who calls us together to understand

Life and love as radical commitment to others.

We have faith in one God,

Who created and claimed all creatures,

Who enters our lives with hope and

Redemption and courage to act on our beliefs.

We know that God’s presence

Comes to us in community,

Wherever we seek to know God

By doing justice and loving mercy.

Once we were no people,

But now we are God’s people.

Once we had not received mercy,

but now we have received mercy.

Because all things are possible through God’s love,

We proclaim the gospel in this world

Where God is still creating and redeeming

And making things whole.

Even our broken selves. As the Lord says in the window behind me, “Behold I am making all things new.” All things. Even you and me.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. – Romans 12:15

Stay with me, remain here with me, watch and pray, watch and pray. 

– The Faith We Sing, 2198

The next two Sundays are going to amazing, powerful, joyful, inspiring: This week the Chancel Choir and orchestra offer their cantata at 10:00. The following Sunday is Christmas Eve! The 10:00 service will be a family, kids-first service- including singing from a Children’s Ensemble and the sermon time will be a real-life journey to Bethlehem, as I will share pictures and stories from my trip there last year. At 5:00 Pastor Rosedanny will lead a Spanish language Christmas Eve service- another way to bless this neighborhood- and at 7:00 will be a traditional service with full choir and candlelight. I can’t wait.

But inbetween those Sunday services, on the longest, darkness night of the year, we will offer a Longest Night worship service: Thursday, December 21, 6:00 p.m. This is a quiet, reflective service, designed for those who find the holidays challenging. Some have lost loved ones; some have difficult times at work or home. For some, the season isn’t full of joy and happiness, and they feel left out- even abandoned. Do you know someone feeling that way? Do you? My prayer is that this service is a blessing and reminder of the great promise of our faith: nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Many years ago, my mom gifted me a book of poems by Ann Weems called Kneeling in Jerusalem. Here are a couple of prayers that struck me today.

Yesterday’s Pain

Some of us walk into Advent

Tethered to our unresolved yesterdays

The pain still stabbing

The hurt still throbbing.

It’s not that we don’t know better;

It’s just that we can’t stand up by ourselves anymore by ourselves.

On the way to Bethlehem, 

Will you give us a hand?

(more…)

Frank Edward Drenner, Jr, 12/14/1946 – 11/28/2023

“The sun always shines for the cool.”

This was the mantra of my dad, the coolest man I ever knew. Always wearing his signature Ray Ban Wayfarers, even when it was dark outside, Dad carried himself with confidence and style. Frank Edward Drenner, Jr grew up in Wharton, Texas, then joined the US Navy following the lead of his father Frank Edward Drenner, Sr, and his brother Donald. Always a gifted storyteller, Dad’s younger days in Wharton and his service in the Navy were bottomless pools where hilarious memories were drawn and shared over and over. 

As a young adult Dad married my mother Pat Guffey in March of 1970. My sister Julie and I joined soon thereafter. Eventually we both contributed three grandsons to the family. Dad considered it his most important duty to provide for Mom and all of us, and she returned his devotion by loving him unconditionally for 53 years of marriage.

Dad was the epitome of an entrepreneur, starting multiple businesses throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He brought a creativity and fearlessness I always admired. He was never afraid to take risks- learning, adapting, moving on from failures, building on successes. Playing anything safe and easy was not in his character. I saw in him a desire for perfection few could achieve. His need to do things- everything- the right, correct way was evident in his gardening, cooking, even shooting pool. He did it all with a chip on his shoulder, a need to achieve and succeed, and a life-long goal to be the best. He overcame much, loved much, created and discovered much.

My favorite memories of Dad were going to the movies in Houston, speeding down the backroads, Bob Seger or the Eagles blasting on the stereo, both of us singing along as loud as we could. We did this from my adolescence right through my middle age years. When we were separated by distance I kept in touch by sending him photos of great meals I enjoyed in Dallas- his reactions were the best part. I would even send him pictures of my own cooking, both of us knowing and accepting it would never compete with his. I will miss asking is advice about what trees to plant where and hearing about the latest toy he purchased to make his cooking even better. I will miss trying to impress him with phrases in sermons or showing off my newest pair of shoes. The last thing I said to Dad was how proud I was to have him as my father. 

I have a tradition of writing haikus for my sons when they graduate high school. Now that Dad has graduated from earthly life to a heavenly one, here is one in his honor:

Pepaw, Dad, Darling, Frank

Rocking down the road, jamming

Sun always shining

– Rev Dr Frank Drenner, III