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Summer Mode
Dear Parish Family,
Last week, we began to share about our “Summer Schedule” or “Summer Mode” and I asked that you “stay tuned.” As a parish staff, we feel like we have been going full speed since last fall and now it is time to make some breathing space, to pare down our weekly duties, to recuperate from the fullness of the year, but also to plan for the year ahead. Summer is a wonderful time to recharge, to take stock, and to look forward. We already look forward to new programs and efforts as people return from their holidays, and the children return to school.
This rhythm has always been part of our reality as people go on vacations and kids are out of school. But adopting this intentional rhythm of life comes to us through the group coaching effort we began last fall. As a team we have learned a great deal and continue to adopt proven strategies for the development and rejuvenation of our parish life (like the message series and small groups.) In fact, last week we took an entire day as a team to pray, to dream, to share and to listen. Our first time doing something that many organizations do at least once a year, but often quarterly. We really enjoyed the time to step away from the daily grind in order to think bigger, to listen to each other’s hopes, and to cast vision for our future together. The day was wonderfully full of growth as a parish team. And we still have some homework to accomplish as a result of our team development day.
The Newness of Creation
Dear Friends,
Since the empty tomb and the remarkable question, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?” (Lk 24:5) we have been set firmly on the path of newness. Over the course of this Easter season, God has promised a new mind, a new spirit, a new heart, and finally a new creation. This is the last week of our series Brand New, and our reading from Revelation provides a fitting culmination! Jesus will wipe away the tears from our eyes. The Lord will destroy death forever. “Behold, I make all things new!” says the Son of God (Rev 21:5). Not just minds or hearts, but the whole of creation will be refashioned. The old order having passed away, behold the new has come. Can’t get much newer than that!
The Apostle John received a vision of heaven that he shared with us in the Book of Revelation. Not all of his vision is plain. Some is quite challenging to understand. Typically, we can think of heaven as the place of eternal happiness with God. After the judgment, if God’s love is found in us, we are moved there not by our own powers but by the strength and grip of God’s love. And once we or our loved ones “arrive”... end of story.
A New Heart
Dear Parish Family,
During the Easter Season, we are focused on the new, the Brand New. Namely, the new work that God seeks to do in and through us, as new creations in Christ. Easter is the season of newness, so it is very fitting to focus on this deeply Christian theme. Many passages from Scripture could be employed to highlight this new work. Not all of them appear in lectionary for the Sundays in church.
Today I would like to dig into one such passage. Paul writes to the Colossians 3:1-17:
(The translation I am using is slightly different from what we hear on Sundays.)
