Interregnum
- Vicar Junkin
- Jul 8
- 3 min read
By Pastor Jacob Eichers
Interregnum, noun, an interval or pause between two periods of office or other things.
Vicar Josiah Junkin has moved out, and Vicar Josh Bieri doesn't move in until late July. I have been trying my best to keep things moving knowing I'm a substitute. To this end, I've made a point to stop by Viroqua once a week during the month of July to be visible in the community: getting coffee at Wonderstate, eating my pack lunch at our office space break room, and checking in on Vicar Bieri's rental that is currently under construction.
Our planting team is currently meeting once every two weeks to continue preparations for the fall. We are going to have a booth at the Vernon County Fair. We are going to resume our Bible Study. We are going to start a simple worship service late in September. Additionally, there are other nuts and bolts decisions to make that might bore you to read.
My short visits have not been without fruit. The rental is making progress and is on track to be completed on time. At the coffee shop, I had the chance to have a brief conversation with a friend of the church who just happened to be there, also. I'm building relationships with other tenants at the office. A lady even stopped by the office to visit another business, and we talked for a bit about her job and what we're hoping to do with Hill Country Lutheran Church.
This interregnum makes me think of the transition from Moses to Joshua as it was eventually Joshua who led the people out of the wilderness into the promised land. Moses recounts this transition in Deuteronomy 3:25–28 "Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again. Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.’"
As we work to plant a church in "that good hill country" of Viroqua and Vernon County, I can't help but notice the coincidence that the successor to Vicar Josiah Junkin is Vicar Joshua Bieri. Joshua is moving to Viroqua to plant Hill Country Lutheran Church.
But the Psalmist writes, "Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation" (Psalm 146:3). More important than any leader or pastor or pastor in training, we are confident because our Joshua, Jesus Christ, whose name means Joshua, goes before us as we go about this work of planting a church. Ultimately, it is the Lord who saves, and we plant Hill Country with the hopes that more people in Vernon County can hear that saving message of hope.
Prayer Requests
For Vicar Bieri's rental property, that construction may finish in time for his moving in later this month.
For our planting team as we look for a place to conduct worship.
To guide our planting team's decisions.
To bring others to our group who are interested in volunteering in the planting efforts.
For myself, Pastor Eichers, as I do "double duty" watching over a local congregation in La Crosse and take the wheel on planting efforts.
For the Bieri family as they get ready to move, and that the transition from Indiana goes smoothly.
Comments