Dear Grace Community,

We are almost two months into our school year. This means we’re almost two months into our journey through the Bible together. This year, from September – May, we’re going through the Old and New Testaments together.  On Sunday mornings we focus on some of the big stories, and then during the week you’re invited to read scripture each day.

I know that many of you are doing this (or trying!), and I can feel the renewed energy around scripture.  A few weeks ago, one of you stopped me in the hallway to talk about scripture and the way I interpreted it in a sermon.

The person who stopped me did not agree with my interpretation, and we had a good, honest, and fun conversation about this. Neither of us was threatened. Instead, I was enlivened by the chance to dig into the word and its meaning.  What a gift to know that you are wrestling with the same scripture I am.

Hebrews 4:12 says that ‘the word of God is living and active,’ and it is. Our Presbyterian tradition says that it is best studied in community.  I give thanks for the opportunity to experience the living and active word with you.

In Christ,
Catherine

Dear Grace Community,

In worship on Sunday, September 8, I shared some about the Narrative Lectionary that is guiding our worship and study this year.  Below is an excerpt of what I shared.

“In worship this school year – September through May – we’re covering the Bible from Genesis to the letters, from Old to New Testaments. Our Sunday School classes for adults, youth, and older children will study these texts too.

We’re joining hundreds of other churches around the country in something called the Narrative Lectionary.  A group of Bible scholars at Luther Seminary in Minnesota created a four-year cycle of scripture that takes congregations from Old to New Testament each year.  We are jumping in on year two.

This means we’ll read and study a smattering of scripture that paints the big picture arc from Old to New Testament, but we’ll leave out a lot.  If we do this for four years, we’ll fill in more of the stories but still not the entire Bible.  So far we’re only committed to one year.

In addition to the stories we read and hear in worship, you’re encouraged to read stories that fall between Sundays.  You’ll see them listed in Grace This Week, and they’ll be posted on the Grace Facebook each Sunday afternoon.  We’re exploring an opt-in weekly email.  Next Sunday we read about Abraham and Sarah, and a lot happens between creation and their story.

As we go through this year, some of you will hear and read stories for the first time.  Others of you have some familiarity with the stories, and some of you will know these stories well.  Trust that God can, and will, use these stories to speak to you wherever you are in your Biblical knowledge and understanding.

Our theme for these nine months is ‘God’s Story, Our Story, My Story.’

When we start digging and looking at academic work, we see that the Bible isn’t all one story written by one person.  It was written by many people over many years.  It’s many stories, and yet, if we step back, we can see it as one story, God’s story, from creation – to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection – to the formation of the church.

It’s God’s story, and it’s our story.  It’s our story as Christ’s people, the church.  It forms us, re-forms us, and orders our shared life.

Then after seeing it as God’s story, and our story, I can see it as my story, and you can see it as yours.  I want you to claim this story and these stories as your own, and first you need to see them as God’s and as God’s people’s.”

I look forward to reading scripture with you.

In Christ,
Catherine

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,

I write to you in what is now the hottest week of the summer.  We’ve reached the 100’s.  It’s July so no real surprise.  Our mission trip team is home from Denver, and a group of youth and adults are at the Presbyterian Triennium.  We’re a month removed from a wonderful Vacation Bible School.  The life of the church does not slow down, but the pace changes in the summer.

Staff and volunteer leaders are looking to the 2019-20 church year with great anticipation. Your Session spent many months studying the PCUSA Vital Congregations took-kit. The concept of Vital Congregations moves the focus from church growth to church vitality.

For too long churches have chased the idea of growth. Growth is important, no doubt, but the reality of changing social trends is that almost no churches are growing. This reality can feel defeating if all we focus on is numerical growth. I appreciate the shift to thinking about vitality. Vitality is essential for us as a church.

The PCUSA study walked us through seven types of church vitality. Through our study we recognized that we have strengths and opportunities for growth in each area. The Session has identified two areas to focus on in the coming year, and I look forward to sharing more about this in the coming weeks and months.

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