In June there were high profile stories in our country and community about suicide. These tragedies cause an uptick in conversations about mental health, conversations that need to be had, but this is not the way we want to get to them.

In these conversations I’m reminded that there are some Christian Communities where the answer to all mental health problems is to pray. And not only that, there are some Christian Communities where anything other than prayer is considered a failure of faith.

This is not one of those communities.

If you’ve ever talked privately with me you know that I encourage counseling as well as medical treatment for mental health. I do not see this as a lack of faith, and I forget that there are churches where that is the message.

The message I want you to hear from this pastor is that mental health and mental illness are not failings of faith, and there are many ways to seek help including faith-based and medicine-based. If you receive treatment, this is not something you need to feel shame about. If you think you may need help, and you don’t know where to turn, I am glad to refer you. I am not a trained counselor. My policy is to listen and refer, recognizing that sometimes what is most needed at first, is someone to listen. I am always glad to listen and pray with you.

In Christ,
Catherine

Dear Grace Community,

Last spring Jennifer Snook, our Director of Children’s Ministries, and I began to talk about and pray about Messy Church. Messy Church is not an original idea at Grace. It started in churches in Great Britain and churches all over the world have adopted and adapted it. The idea behind Messy Church is to engage people of all ages in hands on worship experiences including art, song, play, Bible story, and a shared meal.

I had an idea of what Messy Church might look like at Grace, and I hoped it would be a way to connect children and their families to God, to each other, and to our church. We spent the summer planning and recruiting, and we kicked off Grace Messy Church in September 2017. By following the lead of the Holy Spirit and our incredible planning team, what I originally imagined as Messy Church ended up becoming something much different, and I’m so glad for what it became and continues to become.

Throughout the year we engaged a growing number of families both from within our congregation and from the community. All of this was possible because of the support of the congregation. We were blessed with a committed planning team and with many willing volunteers, and we were blessed with the financial resources to make this happen.

We’re excited about what God will do through Messy Church at Grace during the next school year, and we would love to connect more of our congregation to this growing ministry. If you want to be involved in an active way, contact me or Jennifer Snook. Also know that you are welcome to attend Messy Church any time.  We’d love for you to come and join us.

In Christ,

Catherine

Dear Grace Community,

I write with good news!

Late last year, knowing that Donna Hetrick would leave this summer, a team was formed to find leadership for our music ministry staff. Members of this team include Bruce Gealy, Charlene Randle, Janet Rhoads, Randy Routsong, and Bill Vavra. I staff the team.

Donna currently performs three functions: Director of Music, Director of Music – 9 am Service, and Organist. The team and I are excited to announce that we have selected a person to fill the roles of Director of Music and Director of Music – 9 am Service, and that the Session enthusiastically supports our decision.

The team followed a consistent and thorough process with all the candidates and exercised due diligence in our selection activity.

We first reviewed and revised the existing job descriptions to bring them up to date. We posted job notices for these positions with ‘Indeed’, WSU, Friends, Newman, KU, PC-USA, and some others. We received about 10 resumes, and we interviewed six people. Five interviews were done in person and one by Skype. Finally, we selected two candidates for a second interview and contacted their references prior to the interview.

The name of the person we selected is Sean Foster. Sean is not new to Grace having served as our Choir Accompanist for the past seven years and having played in the band. Sean is a graduate of Wichita State with a degree in Vocal Performance. In addition to his work at Grace, he works at Goddard High School as the Choir Accompanist and teaches voice lessons.

Sean is tentatively scheduled to start the week of July 15 and overlaps with Donna Hetrick for two weeks. We are still searching for an organist and accompanist, who ideally would be the same person. Sean will be involved in this search. We welcome your prayers and your referrals. As we get closer to Sean’s start date you will hear from me and the search team about ways to welcome him to his new position.

In Christ,
Catherine

Dear Grace Community,

As a pastor in the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), I am not a member of a church and instead am a member of a presbytery.  This means that in addition to serving at Grace, I also serve the PCUSA in different ways.  I realize that you don’t often see or hear about this, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to share some of this with you.

Grace is part of the Presbytery of Southern Kansas. The presbytery is made up of churches in the southern part of the state as far east as Coffeyville and as far west as Colorado. Our presbytery meets quarterly and meets at Grace on May 8, 2018. This gathering of pastors and elders is designed to strengthen our ministry networks.

In addition to attending presbytery meetings, I serve on the Presbytery Governance Team. This team functions as the finance and human resources team for the presbytery. It’s been an interesting six months on this team as we’ve worked to separate funds between the presbytery and the Westminster Woods Camp.

I also serve the PCUSA at the synod level. Each geographical region of presbyteries is part of a synod. We are part of the Synod of Mid America which includes all of Kansas and Missouri. This year I began a three-year term as a synod commissioner. I’m still not entirely sure what this will consist of. My first meeting was a conference call, and in October I go to the Kansas City area for a daylong meeting.

The idea of denominational structures is to create more opportunities for ministry and collaboration. The PCUSA is as imperfect as any system designed by humans, but it also provides many opportunities for us to serve Jesus as individuals and as a church. If you are interested in serving the church outside of Grace through our presbytery, synod, or at the national level, please let me know, and I will help connect you.

In Christ,
Catherine

Dear Grace Community,

Every year Grace holds a Good Friday Prayer Vigil, and every year I ask myself, “Do I want to sign up?’”

The vigil begins at 12:30 pm at the end of our Good Friday worship service, and it ends at midnight. The time of the vigil is symbolic of the time of Jesus’ trial, beating, crucifixion, and death. Good Friday is a holy and hard day, and it is all too easy to skip over it, but spending time focusing on Good Friday is an important part of Christianity.

I know all of this, and yet I still ask myself, “Do I want to sign up for the vigil?”  It may surprise you to hear your pastor say this but praying in the chapel for 45 minutes on Good Friday isn’t the easiest thing for me. Long periods of extended prayer at an assigned time are not my greatest spiritual gift. So last year at the vigil I tried something else.

After about ten minutes of prayer I picked up the Bible and read through Jesus’ betrayal, trial, and crucifixion in each gospel. These stories are found in Matthew 26-27, Mark 14-15, Luke 22-23, and John 18-19. Verse after verse, gospel after gospel, I was deeply moved by the scripture. Before I knew it my vigil time was complete, but I wasn’t ready to leave. On that holy day, reading those holy words, I experienced Good Friday in a new and powerful way.

As we approach Good Friday and Easter I encourage you to find a way to experience all of it. Come to Good Friday worship. Attend the vigil. And if you can’t do either of those things, sit down at home and read the gospel accounts of that day. Witnessing to the depth of sorrow and pain Jesus knew that day makes Easter Sunday all the more powerful. And do come celebrate with us on Easter.

In Christ,

Catherine