Pastor’s Corner October 2020

Pastor’s Corner October 2020

Welcome October! My holy month.

I am really excited by the response to our last worship series, REWRITE. Many of you have taken the

time to write emails, letters, and social media messages of what you found meaningful. Jan Linn wrote

about The Times REWRITE from the Summer in the 60s, “Just listened to yesterday’s sermon. I came of age in the 60s while in college and my first year in seminary. It was a turbulent time and we survived many traumas, which is why I have not lost hope today. Thanks for the memories and challenge.” Thank you all for the feedback.

Our next worship series is our Stewardship series entitled, Congregational Story Project. This series will have interviews from 4 families from the congregation. Our children will present the scriptures for us in creative ways. And you will have the chance to answer the following questions:

October 4: Genesis 6:5-8, God chooses Noah What originally led you and your family to our church?
October 11: Genesis 6:9-16
Build the Ark
What is your most cherished memory about our church?
October 18: Genesis 6:18-22 Animals 2×2 What do you see in the future of our church?
October 25: Genesis 8:1-12. The Waters Subside How have you given of your time at church?
November 1: Genesis 9:12-17 Rainbow Covenant What were/are you involved in?
November 8: Mark 8:1-10 Feeding of the 4,000 What Will You Do? Stewardship Sunday, pledges due.

 

The church is never the building, the budget, or the denomination. The church is the people. I hope this will remind us of the miraculous way God has woven us together. May it strengthen the ties that bind and inspire to provide our time, talent, and treasure to our work together as we dream a new world into being.

Part of dreaming that new world into being, is hiring Karen Brocco-Kish as our visitation pastor. Karen brings so many gifts to our congregation on so many levels. Her real gift is her listening presence. She will visit and maintain our visitation list as well as head up our Circle of Caring. The Circle of Caring is our visitation team of the church visiting the church, reaching out with phone calls, craft-deliveries and sending cards. All we need to provide Karen is an office space and to cover her mileage. I am so thankful for God for sending Karen to us and putting this call on her heart.

A great way to welcome Karen to the role is to sign up for the Circle of Caring! Or send her a welcome card by mailing the office.

October also marks the official start of my Doctoral project with council. The idea is to turn council from a round-robin group that reports on the past into a future-oriented leadership team. We’ve already done this! The Property and Grounds Team found that our bell needed a lot of work done. Finance Team needed to close out our mortgage. It was the Caring Team that came up with the idea that if we raised the needed funds, then I would have to sleep in the bell tower. We called this “The Rev. In the Rafters.” Evangelism Team made up t-shirts and Stewardship set up a campaign. It was wildly successful and fun and energizing! Not just council and the church were talking about it, but the whole town! There is great power in unity and connectedness.

That’s the idea. So your prayers will be appreciated as we experiment with purpose!

That’s our October! We have lots of fun things happening beyond this so make sure to keep reading all the great things in the Messenger and on our various social media platforms.

Yours in Christ,

-Pastor Luke

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