Faces on Faith: The mysterious ways the Lord enters our lives
Every year the downtown Presbyterian Church in Tulsa (where I served for 32 years) ends the Easter service with Charles-Marie Widor’s famous Tocatta in F Major. To my mind it serves as a stunning musical exclamation mark, a fitting close to the glorious mystery of Jesus getting up on that third day — and all that it means for the world he loves.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Let’s go back to Charles-Marie Widor for a moment: my favorite story about him involves his hiring as the church organist of the Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris — the most prominent organ position in France. It was 1870; Widor was only 25 years old.
Perhaps that’s why his contract identified him as the “provisional” organist (we might say, “interim”) of Saint-Sulpice. As he grew older, Widor enjoyed telling people that his contract was never changed. When he retired in 1934, 64 years (64!) later, his contract still identified him as “interim”!
So, Diane and I arrive on Captiva this November, blessed to serve as new pastor of the community that worships within (and outside!) the remarkable Chapel by the Sea. And there’s no question but that we’re interim! If the Lord wills, we’ll be serving here from November to April over the next three years.
There’s an important truth in that, I think. And a humbling reminder. No matter who we are and where we’re called to serve, we’re all interim. As a dad, a husband, a grandfather, a pastor, I’m interim. Whatever our season of life, whatever position we hold, amid all the changes, we’re called to give of our best to the master as “interim” stewards — no matter how brief or limited the time.
Diane and I have heard the question many times in the last year. It usually goes something like this: “Captiva? Chapel by the Sea? From November to April? Hmmmm. What prompts you to do that?”
When I was younger, serving pastorally at the First Church in Tulsa, I received a call to an administrative position at a Presbyterian seminary. Diane and I wrestled with that call. I actually spent a day in a local Tulsa hotel room praying and calling folks in who knew me well, asking for their insight.
I called Dr. Bryant Kirkland, who at that time was serving the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. When I told him the details, he offered this response: “I’ve always waited for both a “‘push’ and a ‘pull’ when I weigh opportunities like this. I ask these questions: do I feel drawn to the position? If so, why — and how strong is the pull? And is there any sense of a ‘push’ away from the position that I currently hold. Any reason(s) why I should consider another call?”
I did not want to retire from First Church, but a cancer diagnosis was the push that made retirement necessary. After radiation and hormone therapy addressed the cancer, Diane and I began to pray that the Lord would “reassign” us. And that’s when the pull came.
In 2025, a couple from First Church, John and Diane McCormick, worshipped with the Chapel at the Sea community one weekend and noticed that a pastoral rotation was about to occur in November of this year. They sent me an email.
That opened the door to conversation with the search committee and led to two weekend stays connecting us to the worshipping community at the chapel.
Diane and I both were amazed at the remarkable mission and ministries supported by the Chapel of the Sea. We were taken by the extraordinary dedication of the volunteer leadership, who clearly serve with joy, caring for every aspect of both congregational need and facility requirements. We loved the seriousness with which they follow their online prayer-chain.
Most of all, we sensed a community that seeks to deepen their relationship to the Lord of the church, serve his purposes faithfully, and wrap his arms around every person that steps onto the chapel grounds.
We come as “interim” stewards of this miracle of God’s composing. We are humbled to be among you, and eager to walk alongside those whom the Lord brings into our care.
George MacDonald, Scottish pastor and author of many books (including brilliant children’s stories), describes the mysterious ways the Lord enters our lives through what he calls: “His own secret stairway.”
What I’ve learned in 50 years of pastoral ministry is that every Christian has stories of God stepping into their lives through his “secret stairway.” I wonder what “secret stairways” the Lord has used to enter your life?
Diane and I can’t wait to find out!
One thing’s for sure: the more stories we hear of the Lord’s in-breaking presence, the more we realize that the Lord Jesus is always at work redemptively: now, forever and always!
The Rev. Dr. Jim Miller is the pastor at the Captiva Chapel by the Sea.