We’re gonna live so God can use us

STORM LAKE, Iowa — With the Rev. CeCe Armstrong set to preach to Synod Schoolers Thursday on Mark 11:15-19, the account of Jesus driving buyers and sellers out of the temple, the Rev. Marta Pumroy-Cordero, Co-Moderator of the 227^th General Assembly, set the stage with her message to the children.

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“I have big emotions, and I bet some of you do, too,” she told the children. “We are going to practice showing our emotions,” which Pumroy-Cordero had helpfully color-coded: green for good, “how many of us feel while we’re at Synod School”; blue for when we’re “sad for good reasons and sometimes it’s a mystery”; yellow for fearful, anxious or worried, times we “need tools to get back in the green”; and red, when Pumroy-Cordero invited children to “show everybody your angry face.”

“Jesus, the one who died and rose up to go to heaven, had those same emotions, too,” she said. “One time he got so mad he flipped over some tables. He was mad for good reason.”

Pumroy-Cordero is border ministry coordinator for the Tres Rios Border Foundation in Tres Rios Presbytery. “Right now families and children who have done nothing wrong are being kept without their freedom. I know Jesus would be mad about that,” she told the children. At the Dilley Immigration Processing Center or wherever they are, supporters sing a song at 7 o’clock each evening, which is about the time she taught the song to the children: “I sing from here, you sing from there, together we sing down the walls everywhere, the love in our hearts like the waves of the sea, together we’ll sing until everyone’s free.”

“Whew! Synod School wears you out,” Armstrong said when it was time for her sermon. “Best wearing out I’ve ever had.”

Armstrong has been exploring a different biblical bird during each worship service. On Thursday, it was time for the dove to fly into the spotlight.

“The dove has maintained an association with peace and the Holy Spirit. It’s often pictured with an olive branch,” she said. “It’s an enduring symbol of God’s presence and peace.”

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In both testaments, the dove “conveys spiritual truths and divine messages,” she said, “yet in this text we find folks selling doves, or what we might view as an attempt to sell peace.”

She spelled out four qualities contained in the letters of the word “dove”: discover the calm the comes from within, offer kindness to others, value every moment and embrace hope.

Armstrong had a story on offering kindness. During the 221^st General Assembly (2014) in Detroit, Armstrong, who was a commissioner, witnessed people protesting an action that commissioners were considering. “That hurt my feelings,” she said, but then a few commissioners took water out to those who were protesting under the hot sun.

“That act alone sparked conversations that would not have happened had they not offered kindness,” Armstrong said, suggesting that Synod Schoolers “just be nice. It’ll mess them up. They won’t know if you’re crazy or not.”

Armstrong called the laden communion table in Schaller Chapel “an act of love.”

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“We are fed by the one who says, ‘I love you, and there’s nothing you can do about it,’” she said. “Amen.”

Armstrong joined the Rev. Dr. William Yoo to preside at the table, where they were assisted by more than a dozen ruling elders who served the 650 or so attendees to communion by intinction.

When the service concluded with worshipers singing “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me,” Armstrong labeled her benediction a charge. “If you sing the words,” she said, “it means you are gonna do this when you leave. God sends us to live, work, sing and pray so God can use us anywhere, anytime.”

Synod School is a ministry of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies.