Archive for category: From the Pastor’s Desk

Dear Grace Community,

It’s fun to be your pastor.  It’s fun for a lot of reasons including the interesting and passionate people in this church and that we engage in ministries that impact both our members and people outside the church walls.  I love that Jesus is at the center of all of this.

The Session and I love serving with you, and we hope for the church to be even more vital than it is.  We spent about nine months as a Session studying areas of church vitality.  As we look to the next two years, we hope for Grace to be even more vital, to be stronger, and to be an even greater witness to Christ’s love.

There’s no big program that we think can make greater vitality happen. Instead, you’ll start to notice small initiatives related to this, and you’ll also notice some bigger things.  One area that will change for the next nine months is related to worship.

From September 8 through Pentecost in May, we participate in something called the Narrative Lectionary.  The Narrative Lectionary was developed about eight years ago by faculty at Luther Seminary in Minnesota.  It’s based on the idea that Christians benefit from knowing the stories of scripture.

Often, we jump around from Old to New Testament on Sunday mornings, and we learn and grow, but it’s easy to lose track of the broad arc of scripture.  The Narrative Lectionary takes us from the Old Testament to the New Testament throughout the year.  There is no practical way to read all the Bible on Sundays, so this pulls out major stories and themes.

In the fall we focus on the Old Testament. In the winter and leading up to Easter we read from Mark, and after Easter we read from the Epistles.  Sunday School classes focus on these same stories.

There’s only so much we can focus on during a Sunday morning, so the Session has a challenge for the congregation.  Each week we provide daily scripture readings for you. We hear and study stories together on Sunday and then throughout the week read the scripture on our own.

A congregation that knows scripture is a strong congregation.  We want to know and love God’s word as a community and hope you’ll join us in this.  We’ll share the weekly readings in Grace this Week and also through our Facebook page.

Finally, it’s August, and that means that it’s my anniversary at Grace.  I am grateful for nine years of serving God with you.

In Christ,

Catherine

Dear Grace Community,

It’s good to see you again.  I am grateful for my May Sabbatical and grateful to be back with you.  I requested the sabbatical because I reached a point where I struggled to feel renewed with my regular schedule of work and life.  This meant that my reservoir for ministry was depleted which wasn’t fair to any of us.

I’m glad to say that I came back in June feeling rested and renewed.  My life is full, with full-time ministry and full-time family, but I have a better sense of the rhythms I need in order to not get so worn out again.

During the sabbatical I thought a lot about the commandment to rest, the call to Sabbath.  I think one of the reasons God mandates it is because without rest we start to think that we need work and work needs us.  One gift of my sabbatical was being reminded that Grace doesn’t need me, and I don’t need Grace, but what a gift it is that God has called us together for this time.  It’s freeing to see our life and ministry together as a gift instead of an obligation.

The month was a lot of little gifts.  It gave me the chance for quiet, for exercise, and rest.  Tasks at home that seem daunting on a full schedule (things like cleaning out closets) became rewarding.  Our family enjoyed time together at home and on the road.  Alice and I had the chance to see cousins upon cousins, aunts, uncles, and my parents in Georgia.

All three of us traveled to Oklahoma to see John’s sister and family.  We enjoyed a day trip to the Tall Grass National Preserve near Strong City where I gave thanks to God for Grace saint Julia Hobbs who worked tirelessly on the history of that land.

We also enjoyed visiting other churches.  The month was a good time for Alice to start participating in worship, something she’s working on here at Grace.  It was interesting to experience worship in different places.  We worshiped in three different churches, all doing well and all feeling a little tired.

Now that I’m back in the office I’m giving thanks for an incredible week of Bible School.  The Halleluiah Luau was a week of joy in the Lord.

As we look to July, I invite you to join me in praying for our youth and adults who will travel to Denver for a mission trip and then another group that will travel to Purdue University for the PCUSA Triennium.

Summer means lots of people are in and out, but I hope you’ll be at worship when you’re in town.  I look forward to seeing you.

In Christ,
Catherine