That little idiom perhaps isn’t used much any more. Some may hear it and think it refers to a woman taking a break in the midst of giving birth (as if!).
But it actually means a moment of silence filled not with emptiness, but with expectancy, with anticipation, with hope and meaning.
I think we’re in just such a pregnant pause this August. Not two months ago, our congregation voted for a trial partnership with West Blue Mounds Lutheran Church, and a couple weeks ago we held a signing at both churches. But the formal beginning comes with Kick Off Sunday Sept. 12, and until then . . . a pregnant pause.
Not that we’re just sitting around. Just like expectant parents make all sorts of arrangements well before the arrival of their little one, there’ve been meetings and planning sessions behind the scenes through these past weeks. Still, also like expectant parents, there is only so much we can do. We can make many preparations, but the new life that is forming, the mystery of gestation and birth itself is beyond our power.
So with the formation of this new, shared life of the West Blue Mounds and Springdale parishes, let us assuredly place ourselves in the hands of the One whose power gives life. Included in all our preparations now, let there especially be prayers – that God bless this new creation between us, that Christ’s love forge strong links among us, that the Holy Spirit guide us into productive ministries together.
And may this month of “pregnant pause” be one of waiting and yearning with expectant hopes, as the Psalmist wrote:
I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord. (Ps 27:14)
Yours in Faith,
Pastor Jeff Jacobs
