#thejourneycontinues

This past Sunday was a wonderful day of celebration and renewal for our church family. As I reflect upon all that we experienced I am reminded of the steps that brought the vision of the Stewardship Celebration into reality.

*Team meetings, conversations, emails, and texts

*Brainstorming, discussing, bringing different preferences, ideas, and curiosities into one conversation

*Being willing to listen and ponder together

*Inviting and recruiting others to use gifts, talents, and resources

*Staying accountable to one another and to the tasks

*Asking for help when we needed it

Psalm 121 was our guide in worship, and honestly, the Psalm has a refreshed meaning and call on my life.

Think about the progression!

*Name the journey - the obstacle, task, struggle, uncertainty.

*Invite God into the journey

*Once we do that we experience the encouragement of others!

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.

4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

I look forward to worshipping with you this Sunday! Certainly our journey continues!

Pastor Jo

October 17, 2022

Be Still and Know

“I go among trees and sit still.

All my stirring becomes quiet

around me like circles on water.

My tasks lie in their places

where I left them, asleep like cattle.”

--Wendell Berry

I love this imagery… chances are you can also see it in your mind… a time to relax, feel the breeze, and breathe deeply. But the truth is rarely do we find ourselves near a patch of trees so we trudge on, dismissing the time to sit still. In Jewish tradition a person would take their prayer shawl and place it over their head. This was their way of “shutting out the world” and allowing the True Light to shine and to speak.

So what if today you set your timer for 15 minutes, 5 minutes, or even 3 minutes and shut out the noise, put down your to-do list and simply said, “God, I love you. God, I do not come with a fix-it list. I only come because I love you.” And what if you simply sat still and let come what may?

Would you find a moment to reconnect to what is important? Would you find the direction to help settle the conflict in your schedule or your heart? Would you sense God’s love for you? Would you sense a call to embrace that love?

There’s only one way to find out.

Pastor Jo

October 4, 2022

A Day Full of Choices

Sunday we had the opportunity to see how our church’s core values intersect with scripture and with our individual choices. As I pondered that experience in my morning prayer time I thought of the temptations Jesus encountered during his 40 days in the wilderness.

Like those 40 days and numerous times afterwards, Jesus made choices. And isn’t that what temptations are for us — choices?

Today you and I are free to choose gossip and harsh judgment of others. We are free to choose selfishness and self-serving motives. We are free to choose complaining and neglecting others. We also have the freedom to choose to resist the aforementioned options that do nothing to prove our love for Jesus or Jesus’ love for us.

This day offers us the opportunity to choose honor, faith, compassion, unity, and engagement. It is important to know that each choice we make will be a testimony to God and to one another what is truly important to us in the moment.

The choices sound simple enough, yet I am also reminded of Paul who confesses that at times he choses to do things he doesn’t want to do and ignores the things he wants to do. Saint Paul was a follower of Jesus who wanted nothing more than to bring God glory… and yet — even St. Paul struggled with choices. Paul also chose not to lean into excuses but to learn and grow in God’s love.

What will we do with our day full of choices?

Pastor Jo

September 12, 2022