From the Pastor’s Desk

Dear Grace Community,

January 1, 2017, was a Sunday.  We started the new year with worship, and as 2017 came to a close I looked back at the sermon from New Year’s day.  In it I shared a poem by Howard Thurrman called “The Work of Christmas.”

The Work of Christmas

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.

-Howard Thurman

The choir sang a choral version of this song at our 8 pm Christmas Eve service last month. Spoken or sung, the words are beautiful, and challenging.

Being Christians is more than celebrating Christmas, it’s doing the work of Christmas. The good news is that we don’t do this alone. As the body of Christ we are called to share God’s love and to follow Jesus wherever he may take us. We do this as a community of faith, encouraging and supporting one another.

2017 was a grace-filled year at Grace. We worshiped together, served God and neighbor, studied scripture, and played together.

I look forward to where God leads us in 2018 and to the work of Christmas that we do together.

In Christ,

Catherine

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From the Pastor’s Desk: December 2017

Dear Grace Community,

God took on flesh and entered our world many years ago.  Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the world changed forever.  Death no longer has power over us.  And yet, we see death around us.  And so, we wait for Christ’s return and the time when all of creation will be redeemed.  Every year the season before Christmas, the season of Advent, gives us a chance to name this.

Living as a Christian in this place between Christ’s resurrection and return is challenging.  On November 5 worshipers were killed in their sanctuary in Southerland Springs, TX.  A horrific event like this raises questions for us as Christians and raises practical questions for us at Grace.  We are called by God to offer hospitality and not to fear, yet we also know that we have to be responsible and safe.

At its November meeting the Board of Trustees spent time addressing security.  Earlier in the year the board appointed a sub-committee to work on policies and procedures for Grace, including security, so we were already moving in this direction.  The shootings in Southerland Springs prompted more conversation and some immediate action.  Several trustees and our Executive Pastor Martin Burch will attend a church security event put on by the United Methodist Church in early December.

At the time I’m writing this, the session has not yet met for its November meeting.  The session will also engage in conversations about safety and security here at Grace.  If you have specific questions or concerns I encourage you to talk to me or to anyone on session or trustees.  I will list their names and term years at the bottom of this letter.

Join me this Advent season in hope and prayer as we await Christ’s coming.

In Christ,

Catherine

Grace Session: Cindy Dethloff ’17, Jerry Juhnke ’17, Janet Rhoads ’17, Anne Woolsey ’17, Tom Bloxham ’18, Shelley Duncan ’18, Steve Hooper ’18, Hal Pluenneke ’18, Bruce Gealy ’19, Emily Juhnke ’19, Kelly McFall ’19, Laurie Mulford ‘19

Grace Trustees: Betsy Bloxham ’17, Jim Grannis ’17, Tom Rhoads ’17, Norman Tice ’18, Bob Ross ’18, Christy Vavra ’18, Scott Eads ’19, Francie Ekengren ’19, Betsy Sweeney ‘19

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From the Pastor’s Desk: October 2017

Dear Grace Community,

Each Sunday in worship we share joys and concerns together.  While we often give voice to concerns about upcoming knee surgeries and cancer diagnoses, we don’t often name issues of mental health.  We do on occasion, but this kind of sharing requires a different level of vulnerability.

People in our church community are impacted by mental illness, either directly in their homes or indirectly with extended family and friends. Still, we don’t often talk about it. This October we change the narrative.  For three weeks, one of our Sunday School classes focuses on youth and mental health.

Dr. Joyce Crane and some of her colleagues lead this time together. I asked Joyce to lead this because every year teenagers connected to our congregation struggle with mental health, and out of respect for their privacy, their families sometimes struggle alone. My hope for this class is that we learn more about teenagers and what they might be experiencing. I also hope that this is an opportunity for our community to start talking more openly about mental health.  No one struggling with mental health, and no one supporting someone who struggles with mental health, should do so alone.

In Christ,

Catherine

 

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From the Pastor’s Desk

Dear Grace Community,

How many of you have perfect lives? Anyone?

I don’t have a perfect life, and I know you don’t either.  None of us claim to, but there’s something funny that happens. Sometimes people who don’t go to church have the impression that we church-goers think we’re perfect.  The reality is that we know how imperfect we are, and we’re grateful for a God who loves us.

As more and more people in our Wichita community choose not to attend church, one of the things we need to communicate to them is that we worship a perfect God, but we are not perfect, and they are welcome to join us with their imperfections. Some of us use words like brokenness to describe the human condition. Another word is messy. Life is messy.

With that in mind, we’re kicking off a new worship service this fall. It’s called Messy Church.*  We know that life is messy, and we want people to know that church is for messy people.

In addition, this service is targeted at the eight and under crowd and their adults. I live with someone in the eight and under demographic, and life is literally messy. Surfaces are sticky, and pieces of banana are sometime stuck to my clothes.

At Grace our youth and older elementary ministries thrive, but our ministry to younger children and their family’s needs more focus from our congregation. Jennifer Snook does an incredible job of nurturing relationships with the families who are here, but in order for us to reach out and connect with more people, more of us need to be involved.

You can be part of this ministry, even if you don’t fit in the target audience. You can pray for this worship service. You can invite people you know to attend. We have handy postcards that you can give to neighbors, relatives, and friends.

If you want to make a commitment, we can use you on our support team. The support team handles the behind-the-scenes work of the service. It’s a ‘day of’ commitment only and takes two-three hours of your time each month.

The fall Messy Church services are on September 24, October 15, November 19, and December 17.  Worship starts at 4:30 pm.  It’s like all of our worship and includes music, scripture, prayer, sharing the good news, and the Lord’s Supper. It also includes a craft and dinner. People in the eight and under demographic move quickly, so the service does too. Everything should take about an hour.

God always meets us in the mess of our lives, and I am confident that God will meet us in Messy Church, too. I’m excited about how the Spirit moves through this worship.  Please let me know if you want to learn more or have questions.

In Christ,

Catherine

*Messy Church began in Great Britain as part of the Fresh Expressions Church Movement. Since then churches in the United States have adapted it and used the name.

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From the Pastor’s Desk

Dear Grace Community,

2017 marks 500 years since the Protestant Reformation. You’re invited to explore this anniversary and why it matters to our church during Sunday School in August. The Christian Discipleship team leads this class for all ages for four Sundays in the Great Room.

In some ways the Protestant Reformation was a perfect storm of events.  No one person set out to change the course of history for the Western world.  Martin Luther was a Catholic priest who only wanted to see changes within the church.  Others felt the same way.  The growing distrust of the church, particularly around the selling of indulgences, was like dry kindling, and Martin Luther was the person with the match. The Reformation was not one event but a series of events and movements over years.  It impacted religion, politics, economics, education, and more.

Theologian Phyllis Tickle used to say that every 500 years the church has a rummage sale and cleans out.  She pointed to the dark ages as the first rummage sale, the split between Eastern and Western Christianity as the second, and the Reformation as the third.

She went on to posit that we are in the midst of another such rummage sale right now, a cleaning out and reforming of the church.  She began making these claims about ten years ago, and I wonder if she was right.  Church landscape is changing faster than anyone can remember.  The decline in church attendance and belief in God in the United States means that we churches are asking ourselves a lot of questions.

As we ask these questions I invite you to stay connected here at Grace.  This fall there is an emphasis on getting back to the basics.  Sunday school for adults will focus on ‘Bible 101’ and the ways our faith plays out at home.  If you’re looking for more than Bible 101, I’m teaching an in-depth Bible Study that meets on Tuesday mornings or Wednesday nights.

We’re also looking to do some reforming here.  Soon you’ll hear about something called “Messy Church.”  Messy Church is a worship experience targeting young children and their families.

August marks my seventh anniversary of serving at Grace.  I continue to be grateful for the way God called me here and continues to call me here.

In Christ,

Catherine

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