It was at Easter that men and women were received into membership in the early years of the church. In the formative centuries, the ritual for membership was elaborate, generally involving three years of study culminating in a two-step process beginning with baptism followed by reception as a member.
Those who went through the process were called “Catechumens”, a word from the Greek for “instruction”. The Catechumens spent three years learning Scripture, theology, and creeds. At the end of the instructional period, the Catechumens were examined by the bishop, who would decide whether a person was ready to join the church, or whether he or she might need more instruction.
Things are much simpler for Inquirers now: instead of three years, we ask those who feel called to membership to participate in three classes on Sunday mornings. We are especially eager to help our Inquirers understand Presbyterian history and theology, since most new members come to us from other denominations and faith communities. We teach them about Reformed theology, as well as the Book of Order and our Book of Confessions, which together make up the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Here’s what the Book of Order teaches us about membership in the church: “A faithful member accepts Christ’s call to be involved responsibly in the ministry of his Church. Such involvement includes:
a. Proclaiming the good news,
b. taking part in the common life and worship of the church,
c. praying and studying Scripture and the faith of the Christian Church,
d. supporting the work of the church through the giving of money, time, and talents,
e. participating in the governing responsibilities of the church,
f. demonstrating a new quality of life with and through the church,
g. responding to God’s activity in the world through service to others,
h. living responsibly in the personal, family, vocational, political, cultural, and social relationship of life,
i. and working in the world for peace, justice, freedom, and human fulfillment.
As we welcome our newest members on Palm Sunday, I invite you to reflect on how you are doing with this list. No bishop – or pastor – will examine you! But the list provides a helpful reminder that Jesus, who is the Head of the Church, calls us to active membership, serving one another, serving the church, and serving all the world as we proclaim the gospel, and especially the joyous news of Easter: He is Risen!
He is Risen indeed!
Pastor Skip
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
"It's Not My Fault"
“It’s not my fault.” “I am not to blame.” “I didn’t do it.” We have a difficult time saying, “It is my fault”; “I am to blame”; “I did it”; “There is no one to blame but myself”. We have trouble taking responsibility for own actions. We are quick to look for excuses or blame someone else.
A few years ago I wrote a prayer for a magazine article to point out the dangerous direction in which we seemed to be headed where we no longer take responsibility for our actions: Almighty God, I may or may not need your mercy, for I am neither admitting nor denying that I have transgressed. For I would come to you with a penitent and contrite heart if I were guilty of sin, which I am not saying I am, and I am not saying that I am not. For all my sins which I may or may not have committed, forgive me, even as I deny any specific need for forgiveness. Amen
This is not a prayer we should lift up to God! We read in the first letter of John the familiar words, “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) Lent is the ideal time for introspection, for looking deep within ourselves, looking honestly, so we can acknowledge where we have made mistakes and gone wrong, where we are to blame, and where we have failed to take responsibility.
This can be a very hard thing to do, but we cannot hope to be washed clean unless we first acknowledge our missteps and mistakes. As the letter goes on to say, “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Where have you broken relationships? Where have you been selfish and self centered? Where have you been greedy? Where have you been angry? Where have you been judgmental? Where have you been to blame? Where have you been at fault? Where have you failed to take responsibility?
This is not an exercise in guilt; it is an exercise in rebirth and renewal -- that’s God’s promise to us in the grace given us in Jesus Christ. That’s the promise of Lent. Don’t make the 40 days of Lent a time for giving up ice cream or French fries; make it a time for taking on new habits and disciplines so you can fully embrace God’s grace and love.
You’ve heard me say that Lent is the time to get out the broom and do some “spiritual housecleaning”. Getting out the broom assumes that we are in need of a sweeping, dusting, and scrubbing. Start there this Lenten season. Start with the words of the Psalmist: “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me”. Start there, and then you will know the joy and deep peace of being forgiven and washed clean by the grace of God given to us in Jesus Christ.
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
A few years ago I wrote a prayer for a magazine article to point out the dangerous direction in which we seemed to be headed where we no longer take responsibility for our actions: Almighty God, I may or may not need your mercy, for I am neither admitting nor denying that I have transgressed. For I would come to you with a penitent and contrite heart if I were guilty of sin, which I am not saying I am, and I am not saying that I am not. For all my sins which I may or may not have committed, forgive me, even as I deny any specific need for forgiveness. Amen
This is not a prayer we should lift up to God! We read in the first letter of John the familiar words, “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) Lent is the ideal time for introspection, for looking deep within ourselves, looking honestly, so we can acknowledge where we have made mistakes and gone wrong, where we are to blame, and where we have failed to take responsibility.
This can be a very hard thing to do, but we cannot hope to be washed clean unless we first acknowledge our missteps and mistakes. As the letter goes on to say, “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Where have you broken relationships? Where have you been selfish and self centered? Where have you been greedy? Where have you been angry? Where have you been judgmental? Where have you been to blame? Where have you been at fault? Where have you failed to take responsibility?
This is not an exercise in guilt; it is an exercise in rebirth and renewal -- that’s God’s promise to us in the grace given us in Jesus Christ. That’s the promise of Lent. Don’t make the 40 days of Lent a time for giving up ice cream or French fries; make it a time for taking on new habits and disciplines so you can fully embrace God’s grace and love.
You’ve heard me say that Lent is the time to get out the broom and do some “spiritual housecleaning”. Getting out the broom assumes that we are in need of a sweeping, dusting, and scrubbing. Start there this Lenten season. Start with the words of the Psalmist: “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me”. Start there, and then you will know the joy and deep peace of being forgiven and washed clean by the grace of God given to us in Jesus Christ.
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Annual Officers' Retreat
Massanetta Springs Conference Center in Harrisonburg is an ideal place for our annual Officers’ Retreat. The setting is idyllic, tranquil and lovely. The Lodge building, where we stay, provides the simple comforts of a hotel, with a large conference room where we can gather as we do our work throughout the weekend. At mealtime we walk down the hill to the main building where the dining room is located and join groups from other churches.
The weekend provides us with a time for learning, worship, fellowship, and renewal. This year we spent much of our time together reading and wrestling with biblical texts. It seemed a fitting theme to complement our Year of the Bible program. Our principal focus was looking at what the Bible teaches -- and does not teach -- about our call to share our resources. Are we each called to tithe? What does the Bible teach us about sharing resources through our Mission giving within the church? We learned that the answers are not as clear as we might have thought. All of our discussions were rich and lively.
As important as the learning, fellowship, and renewal times are, the highlight of the weekend is when we gather on Sunday morning to worship. I create the service to encourage everyone to participate. One person writes and offers the Call to Worship, another writes and offers the Prayer of Confession. Still others read and interpret texts for us. Before we gather at the Lord’s Table we all participate in a Responsive Covenant to remind us of the promises we all make to God, the church, and one another as officers of the church.
The final part of the service is Communion. We gather in a circle as everyone offers a part of the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving. Then the loaf and the cup go around the circle, each person receiving the bread and wine, and then in turn offering the bread and wine. We truly feed each other in the service. It is a wonderful way to close our time together.
Every time we gather as officers at Massanetta Springs, or gather as a group for Bible Study, or as a team of volunteers planning an activity, we gather as the Body of Christ, each of us responding to Jesus’ call to service and discipleship, each of us part of the “fragrance of Christ”, as Paul calls us. As we begin a new year, I encourage you to find your place to respond; perhaps in a new way, or perhaps building on work you’ve already been doing. If you are waiting to be asked, your wait is over: Jesus is asking you now. It’s that tap on the shoulder you’ve been feeling, that voice in the wind you’ve been trying to hear. “Come and serve”, says our Lord. “Come build the Body of Christ.”
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
The weekend provides us with a time for learning, worship, fellowship, and renewal. This year we spent much of our time together reading and wrestling with biblical texts. It seemed a fitting theme to complement our Year of the Bible program. Our principal focus was looking at what the Bible teaches -- and does not teach -- about our call to share our resources. Are we each called to tithe? What does the Bible teach us about sharing resources through our Mission giving within the church? We learned that the answers are not as clear as we might have thought. All of our discussions were rich and lively.
As important as the learning, fellowship, and renewal times are, the highlight of the weekend is when we gather on Sunday morning to worship. I create the service to encourage everyone to participate. One person writes and offers the Call to Worship, another writes and offers the Prayer of Confession. Still others read and interpret texts for us. Before we gather at the Lord’s Table we all participate in a Responsive Covenant to remind us of the promises we all make to God, the church, and one another as officers of the church.
The final part of the service is Communion. We gather in a circle as everyone offers a part of the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving. Then the loaf and the cup go around the circle, each person receiving the bread and wine, and then in turn offering the bread and wine. We truly feed each other in the service. It is a wonderful way to close our time together.
Every time we gather as officers at Massanetta Springs, or gather as a group for Bible Study, or as a team of volunteers planning an activity, we gather as the Body of Christ, each of us responding to Jesus’ call to service and discipleship, each of us part of the “fragrance of Christ”, as Paul calls us. As we begin a new year, I encourage you to find your place to respond; perhaps in a new way, or perhaps building on work you’ve already been doing. If you are waiting to be asked, your wait is over: Jesus is asking you now. It’s that tap on the shoulder you’ve been feeling, that voice in the wind you’ve been trying to hear. “Come and serve”, says our Lord. “Come build the Body of Christ.”
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
Monday, November 24, 2008
No Presents Under the Tree?
It starts in early November, slowly, quietly. I am hardly aware of the fact that I have tuned my iPod exclusively to John Rutter’s Christmas music. Then it’s on to the DVDs that have been hibernating the past 11 months, usually starting with Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven in “The Bishop’s Wife”, followed by “Miracle on 34th Street”, and then my newest favorite “The Polar Express”. By the third week in November the plastic tubs that hold our Christmas decorations begin to grow restless in the basement. Is it my imagination, or could those be voices coming from the storeroom calling, “Christmas is coming – let me out!”
And then it’s here: the first Sunday of Advent, the start of the Christmas season. Retailers launch into the season right after Halloween, of course, but even I will admit that’s too soon. As soon as Thanksgiving is past, though, it’s time. Time to get ready for Advent; time to get ready for Christmas; time to prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord.
Christmas brings with it the push to buy gifts for everyone on our lists. Advertisements fill newspapers and catalogs overflow in our mailboxes, all screaming for attention: BUY! For some months I have been trying to slow the torrent of catalogs that come to our house using the catalogchoice.com website. It was when I entered the one-hundredth catalog that I realized how absurd our consumerism has become.
So this year, Pat and I will give no gifts to each other. Instead, we will do as my sisters and I have been doing the past few years: we’ll make donations in one another’s name to various charitable organizations. It was the 13th century German theologian Meister Eckhart who put it so simply when he said, “To be full of things is to be empty of God.” With more than 100 catalog merchants knocking on our door, and endless choices in local stores, still, they are only things.
Which charities to choose, that’s the difficult part. There are so many to choose from and the needs are so great. Feeding hungry children or providing much-needed medicine or health supplies leads to, among others, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, the American Cancer Society, or Capital Hospice. Caring for our environment and the creatures who all came from God’s hand: the Natural Resources Defense Council, Nature Conservancy, or the Humane Society. Make a donation to the World Wildlife Fund’s gift center and in return you can choose to receive the best re-usable shopping bag we’ve found. Education and learning have always been at the top of my list.
This Christmas why not give back as you give? Choices are as unique as each individual on your gift list, so you are sure to find the perfect match. This Christmas set aside gifts that are empty of God, and instead find gifts that shout out, “Glory to God in highest heaven!”
Grace & peace in this joyous Season,
Pastor Skip
And then it’s here: the first Sunday of Advent, the start of the Christmas season. Retailers launch into the season right after Halloween, of course, but even I will admit that’s too soon. As soon as Thanksgiving is past, though, it’s time. Time to get ready for Advent; time to get ready for Christmas; time to prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord.
Christmas brings with it the push to buy gifts for everyone on our lists. Advertisements fill newspapers and catalogs overflow in our mailboxes, all screaming for attention: BUY! For some months I have been trying to slow the torrent of catalogs that come to our house using the catalogchoice.com website. It was when I entered the one-hundredth catalog that I realized how absurd our consumerism has become.
So this year, Pat and I will give no gifts to each other. Instead, we will do as my sisters and I have been doing the past few years: we’ll make donations in one another’s name to various charitable organizations. It was the 13th century German theologian Meister Eckhart who put it so simply when he said, “To be full of things is to be empty of God.” With more than 100 catalog merchants knocking on our door, and endless choices in local stores, still, they are only things.
Which charities to choose, that’s the difficult part. There are so many to choose from and the needs are so great. Feeding hungry children or providing much-needed medicine or health supplies leads to, among others, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, the American Cancer Society, or Capital Hospice. Caring for our environment and the creatures who all came from God’s hand: the Natural Resources Defense Council, Nature Conservancy, or the Humane Society. Make a donation to the World Wildlife Fund’s gift center and in return you can choose to receive the best re-usable shopping bag we’ve found. Education and learning have always been at the top of my list.
This Christmas why not give back as you give? Choices are as unique as each individual on your gift list, so you are sure to find the perfect match. This Christmas set aside gifts that are empty of God, and instead find gifts that shout out, “Glory to God in highest heaven!”
Grace & peace in this joyous Season,
Pastor Skip
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
A Dream Come True?
It was in 1963 that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and told the world that he had a dream, a dream that his children would “one day live in nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Dr. King did not survive to see whether his dream would come true, but if he were alive today, he might well conclude that the day he dreamed of for his children had still not yet come.
Forty-five years after that historic speech and it is clear that we still do judge people by the color of their skin, by their country of origin, and by their ethnic background, long before we ever get to the content of their character, if we get there at all. The political campaign has often brought out the worst as racial epithets have become a disturbing part of the conversation. At times comments have been blatant and overt, but more frequently and more insidiously, they have been veneered in respectability. What would Jesus think?
Judea in Jesus’ time was the crossroads of the world that surrounded the Mediterranean Sea. Romans, Greeks, and Jews lived together, crowded into a small country, but the diversity in Judea was even richer and wider, with men and women coming from every point on the compass. And Jesus reached out in compassion to all, teaching us that there is no limitation on or boundaries around the word “neighbor”. Everyone is our neighbor, and we are called to love our neighbor.
In his 1964 acceptance speech for the Noble Prize for Peace Dr. King argued that humanity “must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” For Dr. King, a follower of Jesus Christ just like you and me, that love is the love that Christ teaches us and calls us to share.
We have invited the Reverend Dr. Kenyatta Gilbert, assistant professor at Howard University’s Divinity School, to be our guest preacher in worship on November 9th to help us address these concerns. Professor Gilbert is an old friend from Princeton Seminary, where, in addition to his Master of Divinity degree, he also earned his Ph.D. I am delighted that he’ll be with us to help us explore such a persistently difficult issue.
When we look at a garden, we thank God for creating beauty in so many varieties. How dull a forest would be if all the trees were oaks. God has blessed us with richness in diversity in all life. In this time of year when the word “thanksgiving” is very much in our minds and on our lips, we should thank God for the diversity in all God’s creation, including humanity, and remember that in every face we see the image of God.
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
Forty-five years after that historic speech and it is clear that we still do judge people by the color of their skin, by their country of origin, and by their ethnic background, long before we ever get to the content of their character, if we get there at all. The political campaign has often brought out the worst as racial epithets have become a disturbing part of the conversation. At times comments have been blatant and overt, but more frequently and more insidiously, they have been veneered in respectability. What would Jesus think?
Judea in Jesus’ time was the crossroads of the world that surrounded the Mediterranean Sea. Romans, Greeks, and Jews lived together, crowded into a small country, but the diversity in Judea was even richer and wider, with men and women coming from every point on the compass. And Jesus reached out in compassion to all, teaching us that there is no limitation on or boundaries around the word “neighbor”. Everyone is our neighbor, and we are called to love our neighbor.
In his 1964 acceptance speech for the Noble Prize for Peace Dr. King argued that humanity “must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” For Dr. King, a follower of Jesus Christ just like you and me, that love is the love that Christ teaches us and calls us to share.
We have invited the Reverend Dr. Kenyatta Gilbert, assistant professor at Howard University’s Divinity School, to be our guest preacher in worship on November 9th to help us address these concerns. Professor Gilbert is an old friend from Princeton Seminary, where, in addition to his Master of Divinity degree, he also earned his Ph.D. I am delighted that he’ll be with us to help us explore such a persistently difficult issue.
When we look at a garden, we thank God for creating beauty in so many varieties. How dull a forest would be if all the trees were oaks. God has blessed us with richness in diversity in all life. In this time of year when the word “thanksgiving” is very much in our minds and on our lips, we should thank God for the diversity in all God’s creation, including humanity, and remember that in every face we see the image of God.
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
Monday, September 29, 2008
Responding Joyfully
At the top of my list of things to do before I left for vacation in August was “Return Stewardship Pledge Card”. The Stewardship Ministry Team met with our Elders and Deacons in early August and asked that the officers lead our Stewardship 2009 campaign by returning pledge cards even before the start of the Fall Stewardship campaign.
I filled out my pledge card joyfully, gratefully, and eagerly, happy to have the opportunity to make my pledge of support to the work God calls us to do through this Body of Christ that is the Manassas Presbyterian Church. There are so many wonderful ministries we do together all in the name of Jesus Christ. And, there is so much more we could and should be doing.
Each Sunday throughout the Fall we are focusing on the work of our 9 different Ministry Teams. We’ve already heard from Christian Education, the Early Learning Center, and the Worship & Music ministry teams. Over the next few weeks we will hear from Mission, Personnel, and, of course, Stewardship. Property, Membership, and Finance & Administration will share their ministries with us in November.
Our Ministry Teams are eager to share both the work they do and the challenges they face as they try to respond faithfully to their respective calls to ministry. A few Sundays ago we learned from Christian Education that we spend only about $30 per child per year on their Sunday School education! The Early Learning Center shared with us that over the past 40 years, more than 6,000 children have walked through our classroom doors to learn, sing, play, and be nurtured and loved. Our Worship & Music Team shared with us how many people are needed and how many little details go into planning even the simplest worship service each week.
Every ministry is important to our church, and every ministry we do is a response to God’s call to service. And, for as much as we do, God always calls us to new, different, and expanded ministries. We are particularly eager to expand the ministry we offer our youth, and we also want to expand our education ministry to our adults – and we can provide both vital ministries by restoring the Associate Pastor’s position.
Our Stewardship Ministry Team has put in countless hours to make this Fall’s Stewardship campaign successful and fun in the process. When the saddlebag comes to your home, I hope you will fill out your pledge card as I did: eagerly, gratefully, and joyfully. Henri Nouwen captures perfectly the opportunity we each are given through our pledge cards, “to invest yourself through the resources that God has given you -- your energy, your prayers, and your money --- in this work to which God has called us." Everything we do is ministry and the way we live our lives is stewardship, all as we follow the one who came to serve, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
I filled out my pledge card joyfully, gratefully, and eagerly, happy to have the opportunity to make my pledge of support to the work God calls us to do through this Body of Christ that is the Manassas Presbyterian Church. There are so many wonderful ministries we do together all in the name of Jesus Christ. And, there is so much more we could and should be doing.
Each Sunday throughout the Fall we are focusing on the work of our 9 different Ministry Teams. We’ve already heard from Christian Education, the Early Learning Center, and the Worship & Music ministry teams. Over the next few weeks we will hear from Mission, Personnel, and, of course, Stewardship. Property, Membership, and Finance & Administration will share their ministries with us in November.
Our Ministry Teams are eager to share both the work they do and the challenges they face as they try to respond faithfully to their respective calls to ministry. A few Sundays ago we learned from Christian Education that we spend only about $30 per child per year on their Sunday School education! The Early Learning Center shared with us that over the past 40 years, more than 6,000 children have walked through our classroom doors to learn, sing, play, and be nurtured and loved. Our Worship & Music Team shared with us how many people are needed and how many little details go into planning even the simplest worship service each week.
Every ministry is important to our church, and every ministry we do is a response to God’s call to service. And, for as much as we do, God always calls us to new, different, and expanded ministries. We are particularly eager to expand the ministry we offer our youth, and we also want to expand our education ministry to our adults – and we can provide both vital ministries by restoring the Associate Pastor’s position.
Our Stewardship Ministry Team has put in countless hours to make this Fall’s Stewardship campaign successful and fun in the process. When the saddlebag comes to your home, I hope you will fill out your pledge card as I did: eagerly, gratefully, and joyfully. Henri Nouwen captures perfectly the opportunity we each are given through our pledge cards, “to invest yourself through the resources that God has given you -- your energy, your prayers, and your money --- in this work to which God has called us." Everything we do is ministry and the way we live our lives is stewardship, all as we follow the one who came to serve, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
Monday, August 25, 2008
See You In September
It is mid-August as I write this, but the signs of September are everywhere: school buses practicing their routes, stores in full “Back-to-School Sale” mode, college-bound students packing suitcases and trunks, and the temperatures at night cooler and dry.
September always brings a feeling of renewal that is as refreshing as an autumn breeze. With September comes a new year in Sunday School, the return of the choirs, the switch back to worship at 8:30 and 11:00, and all the activities that keep our building humming. I enjoy the slightly slower pace of Summer, but I miss the activity and the liveliness of Fall, Winter, and Spring.
Things don’t stop in Summer, of course, and many Ministry Teams were hard at work even on the steamiest days. We are still searching for a new director for our Early Learning Center to succeed Linda Lindamood. The ELC Board has been working diligently and faithfully to discern whom God has chosen for the position. We hope to have a candidate by mid-Fall, but we also know that we are working on God’s schedule, not our own.
It’s almost impossible not to see the results of the never-ending work our Property Ministry Team does all year-round maintaining our property: a new parking lot in front (I love the speed bump!), fresh paint on the cross on the steeple, and freshly painted offices, just to point out the more obvious changes.
Our Finance Ministry Team also had a busy summer working with the accounting firm we hired last spring to help us review our finances and provide better reporting not only for our Session, but for the whole congregation. Lisa Faust, our Financial Administrator, has been a wonderful addition to our staff as she updates reports, systems, and how we manage our finances. The accounting firm will provide a detailed report and presentation to our Session in October.
Perhaps the Ministry Team that was busiest over the Summer was Stewardship, which has been planning for what is sure to be an exciting Fall Stewardship campaign. The Team didn’t even wait for Labor Day to get started, meeting with the Elders and Deacons over lunch in early August to share their ideas and sign up volunteers. If you are asked to be a “Station Agent” or a “Trail Boss”, say “yes”!
The Stewardship Ministry Team conducted two “Focus Groups” at the beginning of the summer to learn how we can do a better job with our Stewardship campaign. One of the things we learned is that we need to do a better job communicating information about our Ministry Teams. So, beginning in mid-September, every Ministry Team will have a Sunday to participate in worship leadership and share with all of us how they serve God and our church through their work.
God is always at work in us and through us, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring, renewing us, transforming us, and guiding us, as follow our Lord Jesus Christ. The page on the calendar turns to a new month, but God’s abiding presence remains constant, God’s love for us unwavering. That’s reason to celebrate all year round.
See you on Genesis Sunday!
Pastor Skip
September always brings a feeling of renewal that is as refreshing as an autumn breeze. With September comes a new year in Sunday School, the return of the choirs, the switch back to worship at 8:30 and 11:00, and all the activities that keep our building humming. I enjoy the slightly slower pace of Summer, but I miss the activity and the liveliness of Fall, Winter, and Spring.
Things don’t stop in Summer, of course, and many Ministry Teams were hard at work even on the steamiest days. We are still searching for a new director for our Early Learning Center to succeed Linda Lindamood. The ELC Board has been working diligently and faithfully to discern whom God has chosen for the position. We hope to have a candidate by mid-Fall, but we also know that we are working on God’s schedule, not our own.
It’s almost impossible not to see the results of the never-ending work our Property Ministry Team does all year-round maintaining our property: a new parking lot in front (I love the speed bump!), fresh paint on the cross on the steeple, and freshly painted offices, just to point out the more obvious changes.
Our Finance Ministry Team also had a busy summer working with the accounting firm we hired last spring to help us review our finances and provide better reporting not only for our Session, but for the whole congregation. Lisa Faust, our Financial Administrator, has been a wonderful addition to our staff as she updates reports, systems, and how we manage our finances. The accounting firm will provide a detailed report and presentation to our Session in October.
Perhaps the Ministry Team that was busiest over the Summer was Stewardship, which has been planning for what is sure to be an exciting Fall Stewardship campaign. The Team didn’t even wait for Labor Day to get started, meeting with the Elders and Deacons over lunch in early August to share their ideas and sign up volunteers. If you are asked to be a “Station Agent” or a “Trail Boss”, say “yes”!
The Stewardship Ministry Team conducted two “Focus Groups” at the beginning of the summer to learn how we can do a better job with our Stewardship campaign. One of the things we learned is that we need to do a better job communicating information about our Ministry Teams. So, beginning in mid-September, every Ministry Team will have a Sunday to participate in worship leadership and share with all of us how they serve God and our church through their work.
God is always at work in us and through us, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring, renewing us, transforming us, and guiding us, as follow our Lord Jesus Christ. The page on the calendar turns to a new month, but God’s abiding presence remains constant, God’s love for us unwavering. That’s reason to celebrate all year round.
See you on Genesis Sunday!
Pastor Skip
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