Word for Word 10/1/25

Hello fellow residents of the land of driftless. Pastor Buck with more wayward thoughts from a follower of Christ. A lot of events in our lives come and go without much, if any advance notification. When we do get advance notification of something coming our way, what do we tend to do with that information? For most of us we categorize it; immediate response or action required, action required but not immediate, this can wait, not my concern, and so on and so on. What influences the categorization is how much such an event will directly affect us personally, or collectively such as with a spouse or our children, or our immediate family, or close friends or neighbors.  So… where am I going with this since this is an article meant to be focused on God (His Word in our life). My focus today is on the notification we all have been given. Some of the details are not yet set in stone but enough are in place to cause each and every one of us to ponder to categorize an impact and response. No… I am not talking about the second coming of Christ.  Though that should always be on our minds and in our hearts. I am talking about the relatively long-term absence of our easy way to cross over the Mississippi at Lansing. Be aware this has nothing to do with lamenting the loss of our iconic Blackhawk Bridge which has been a sentinel across the river for 94 years and for the last 68 years has given this area nearly uninterrupted access to our neighbors to the east and them to us.  The loss of this crossing will have a large economic impact, but it will also have significant social impact as well. Think back to the COVID shutdowns. You were trapped/isolated. To venture out required extra forethought and planning. But also remember many businesses were shutdown as well. That thankfully is not the case under this event we are facing. Businesses will be open. But the peoples access to those business will be hindered. And this is where my focus is today. For many, including me, it will be easy to continue to live our lives regardless of the bridge being there or not. The relative impact of this event puts this low on my list of things to worry about.  But, and this is a big but! Should it be of low concern? Because this will have major implications on all of our lives. When God talks to us about our faith and having a relationship with Him, He speaks not only about us individually but collectively.

We call this collective, the Body of Christ or the church. In fact, the Bible is written not for new believers but to the collective, as a history book teaching us by past examples, and it is our instructional book giving us everything we need to live in this fallen world and to obtain salvation. Our very salvation is not only individual but collective as well, rooted within the Body of Christ. The greatest example is the letters to the 7 churches as recorded in Revelations chapters 1-3.  So, with this in mind, each one of us is responsible to help the collective survive.  What does that look like?  For me, living in Lansing, it means buying my weekly groceries, filling my car with gas, buying hardware, appliances, auto needs, getting my hair cut, going out to dinner or socializing, all here in Lansing. I speak from experience, having lived or been connected to numerous small rural towns that over time lost their local businesses for no other reason than people choose to go elsewhere to shop or eat. I call it the Walmart effect. Then people complain that their town is dead and ask why. My neighbor is one of our local business owners. How can I say to them, “Sorry about losing all these customers because of the bridge closure” and then I drive 35 miles to another town or order an item on-line that they have at their store. Yes, it might be more expensive but that is what a community does. It sacrifices for the common good. I challenge all of us to buy local, support local and care for one another local, because it is what the collective does when it is in need. People will say, “I cannot wait until the new bridge is open and we can get back to normal”.  My friends, if we do not do what is needed to protect what we have now, there will not be a normal to come back to. Be blessed and be a blessing to others.

Pastor James Buckhahn, United Methodist Church, Lansing