11 Aug Connect-Grow-Serve
Connect ~ Grow ~ Serve
Coming soon to an inbox—and a pulpit—near you!
Hello Friends,
It has been a beautiful day in the neighborhood as we have pondered the wisdom and life lessons of Mister Rogers through the lens of Scripture over the past month. It seems Mister Rogers continues to speak to our lives in powerfully relevant ways which is just what I would expect from a Presbyterian minister turned children’s television producer and host! This sermon series will continue through the end of August. Then, as we turn the calendar to September, we will also turn our attention to Calvary’s fall theme: Connect ~ Grow ~ Serve.
You’re going to be seeing this theme everywhere. In the e-letter, on the bulletin cover, in the hallway, in the children’s Sunday school curriculum, in worship and in a new sermon series. I hope you will join me in embracing this theme not merely as words that make for an attractive new logo but as words that convey a profound truth about who we are and what we are about as a community of faith.
With great regularity I am hearing folks in our community articulate a longing for us to connect and reconnect to one another in deeply meaningful ways. Covid wrought havoc with our normal practices of connecting and even though we have been “open for business” over the past seventeen months, it still hasn’t felt or been the same. There seems to be a collective desire to “turn a new page,” so to speak, which doesn’t mean we can automatically go back to all the old ways. It does mean continuing to seek significant and consequential opportunities to be present with and for each other.
For much of the pandemic, “survival” was the name of the game. In fact, surviving was no small accomplishment, and we should not take for granted that God continued to bless us and people continued to be faithful during a very trying 2 ½ years. But surviving is not the same as growing, and alongside our desire to connect I am hearing a desire for us to return to a trajectory of growth—a trajectory which Covid rudely interrupted. We want to grow spiritually, to feel the vibrant life of God’s Spirit filling our hearts and minds. We want to grow in our relationships and how we apply the truths of our faith to interacting with our families and co-workers and neighbors. We want to grow numerically, to share our special community with others and invite them to be part of us and of what God is doing here.
As we connect and grow, service will naturally follow, and sure enough, I’m hearing a longing for us to deepen our impact to neighbors near and far.
Our longings to connect and grow and serve are good signs! They speak to our belief that God is actively moving among us, renewing our energy, and preparing us for the new work that awaits us. As school starts and August turns to September, I invite you to consider what you can do to prepare yourself to be a dynamic participant in Connect ~ Grow ~ Serve. If we do nothing, these words will remain simply that—words. But if we prepare to live into them, they will come alive in our words and actions—and that, my friends, can change everything.
Yours for the Kingdom,
Michelle
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