Dear Grace Community,

I hope to see you at Grace on Sunday morning. We begin a new sermon series at 9 am and 11 am and a fresh approach to Sunday school at 10 am. For the next three Sundays I preach from Mark’s Gospel, chapters 8 and 9, where Jesus has some hard conversations with the disciples. The series is called, “Straight Talk with Jesus.”

The Sunday School hour might sound the same, after all, it’s Sunday School at 10 am, but it’s actually quite different for adults. For over fifty years adult Sunday School at Grace was driven by the Mariner system, and it worked really well for a long time.

This meant that individuals joined classes (or ships) and stayed together forever. The ships arranged for their own Sunday School classes, and the system ran itself. Over the last five years all but one of these ships has stopped meeting as a Sunday School class. I am grateful that the Steamers continue to meet and plan their own classes as well as fellowship events. All are welcome to join them.

In light of the reality that there is only one Mariner class left, the Christian Discipleship Team put together a brand new approach to the fall. Starting this Sunday there are three new options for adults at 10 am. These classes meet for four weeks. There is no long-term commitment. We have excellent teachers and topics lined up, and I’m sure there is one that you’ll find interesting.

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After this four weeks Sunday School won’t meet on October 11, and then we start a new series on October 18. As always, our children and youth classes look to be excellent. Kirk Anderson and Jennifer Snook worked hard to recruit and equip teachers, and I look forward to the ways our young people will encounter Jesus this fall.

In Christ,

Catherine

Dear Grace Community,

On August 17, I shared with the Session that I am expecting a child. John and I are excited about this and glad to share this news with you. You were part of our wedding three years ago, and we look forward to you being part of our child’s life.

While pregnancy is a fairly personal matter, I have a pretty public life in this congregation. So, you might think of this letter as, “What to Expect When Your Pastor is Expecting: Part I.”

Our approximate due date is February 21. This is during Lent, not a particularly slow season at Grace. The personnel team and I are meeting to begin conversation about how things are covered while I’m on maternity leave.

My first trimester was fair. I was fortunate not to be horribly sick, but I’ve been quite tired and haven’t felt too hot. My general practitioner told me that one of the great things about pregnancy is that you can do most anything during pregnancy that you did before. She should have said, “in theory,” you can do anything you did before, as my evening trips to the Y have been replaced by much earlier bedtimes and naps. With that said, other than taking the occasional nap here at church I haven’t found pregnancy to impact my work too much. Perhaps you’ve noticed me yawning a bit more since I’ve cut back on the caffeine.

Pregnancy is a whole new world for me, and a pregnant pastor is a whole new world for you. I’m sure we’ll figure it out together. For now I ask for your prayers for me and John and for a healthy pregnancy.

In Christ,

Catherine

“How are things going with the Laundry Project, Catherine?”

That’s a question I get from time to time. People aren’t wondering about my home laundry (which is fine), but instead they’re wondering about Laundry Love.

What is Laundry Love?

Last fall the presbytery was offering “evangelism grants.” A church could submit a proposal for an evangelism project and might be granted some money. Our evangelism team talked, and most of our ideas had to do with getting people to Grace. This is not a bad thing at all, but we started to wonder what evangelism in the community might look like. What would it look for us to share the love of Jesus with the community? That’s when we landed on Laundry Love.

Laundry Love is a national grass roots effort. The idea is that a group (maybe a church) takes over a laundromat the same time each month and pays for everyone’s laundry. Laundry Love was born from a conversation with a man who noted that if he had clean clothes people might treat him like a human.

Our evangelism team saw this as an opportunity to offer a blessing to the community, as a chance to help make life a little bit easier for some people, and as a way for us to enact the love we know in Jesus. We applied for and received a grant to fund Laundry Love for one year.

We identified a laundromat that would have us, College Town Laundry on 17^th St by Wichita State, and we began in March. We are there each month on the second Sunday from 3-5:30 pm. The first month no one expected us, and it was fun to surprise people and offer to pay for their laundry. The next month was more of the same, and we brought snacks, and a board game to play with the children there. The slow easy rhythm continued until June. In June, things got wild.

In June the word was out, and the place was packed when we arrived. People had claimed machines, and we had no idea where to begin helping people and taking names. It was hot and humid, and not everyone was cheerful. On that day I had to acknowledge the shadow-side of my motivation for this project.

You see, I’d put on a good face about how we were doing this to offer a blessing, how we were doing this to share Jesus’ love, and all of that was true, but deep down I was hoping for some good publicity for our church and an infusion of new members who thought this was a great thing.

That’s the shadow-side, the side I don’t like to talk about. We all have one, and the shadow-side made it harder for me to show Christ’s love that day. Instead I found myself grumpy with the man who claimed too many machines and grumpy with the woman who was impatient about waiting for a dryer. I had to be honest that I was in this as much for myself as I was for those we were serving, and that was painful to acknowledge.

As we prepared for July’s Laundry Love, it was evident that we needed a better plan to deal with high numbers. There are about 20 people who’ve helped with Laundry Love, and some of us got together and came up with a strategy.

We came up with a basic sign-in plan that actually worked, and while the numbers were again high, we were better equipped to serve. Not only that, but I went in with a different approach. I went into July’s Laundry Love aware of my shadow-side, and because of that, I was intentional about the way I treated people -with kindness, and with the love of Christ. I still have plenty of room to grow, and I’m grateful for the chance to serve in this ministry with you.

In Christ,

Catherine

Best Years is a ministry of Grace Presbyterian that provides spiritual, missionary, educational, and social opportunities to people in our community. And, after many years of faithful ministry, Best Years is ending.

I am so proud of this ministry and grateful for the countless volunteers who’ve made it run for so many years. In recent years the programs were opened to all people, but older adults remained a special part of Best Years, and I am humbled by the ways people drove all over town to make sure anyone who wanted a ride could get here. I’ve been amazed at the faithful planning team that put together programs, went to great lengths to decorate tables, and planned thoughtful mission projects.

Even with all of this, the reality is that numbers have dwindled in recent years, and the work required to manage this program is too great. This should not diminish what this ministry has meant to this church and to the individuals who’ve led and participated in it. Instead, I hope you’ll join me in celebrating Best Years and thanking God for this incredible ministry.

The final Best Years is on Thursday, August 6. As always, the group gathers at 10 am for mission project. (This group has created countless neck pillows for the Veterans Administration, stuffed animals for the Police force, knitted hats for Cloud Elementary, and many other creations.) There is a program at 11 am and lunch at noon. There’s still time to join in the fun and come to the last meeting. RSVP if you want to eat – otherwise come and join us.

In Christ,

Catherine