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.

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

Dear Grace Community,

Before getting married at Grace, every couple is required to go through pre-marital counseling.  When I lead couples through this I always say at the start, “This isn’t counseling or an advice giving session.  It’s an opportunity to open up areas of conversation.”

There are some things couples haven’t thought about discussing, and other things they avoid discussing.  I name those things and invite them into conversation. Usually one person is more interested in the process than the other, but almost 100% of the time, both people end up engaged in the activities and glad for the intentional time.

We do this for couples getting married, and it turns out that couples married 5 years, 25 years, or even 55 years could use some guided conversation too.  Marriage is organic, and people and marriages change over time. It’s helpful for couples to sit down and take a 360 degree look at their relationship.

At my request the session unanimously approved offering something like this to the congregation.  It’s called Prepare/Enrich.  It’s an assessment and process with variations for couples ‘preparing’ for marriage or for couples looking to ‘enrich’ marriages that are beyond the wedding day.

I think of it as a ‘marriage check-up.’  In the same way that one goes to a yearly physical or takes a car in for a tune-up, a marriage check-up can be beneficial to any couple.

There are three trained Prepare/Enrich facilitators in our congregation: the Rev Jennifer Snook, Dr. Joyce Crane, and Alan Crane.  If you are interested in this process you will contact one of them.  They will set you and your spouse up with an online inventory that you’ll take individually.  Then you three will set up a time to go through the assessment for about an hour.  The cost for this is $200.  If cost is prohibitive please talk with me.

This is not marriage counseling.  It could lead to counseling, and I or one of these three people can refer you to a counselor.  This is different.  It’s an opportunity to take note of strengths and growth areas in your marriage.

John and I went through Prepare/Enrich as part of our pre-marital counseling and found it to be a good spring board for conversation. I still refer to elements of it today.  If you have questions about this process or offering please let me know.

In Christ,

Catherine

There is a group that meets twice a month to share ideas and to think creatively about worship.  For a couple of our meetings in April we read aloud from the book of Acts, through the first eight chapters. I shared with the group that I was considering preaching from Acts in June, on the Sundays following Pentecost (which is found in Acts 2), and this was a good way for us to explore the stories.

Reading it out loud together was a lot of fun, so much so, that I thought more people should have the opportunity to join in.  Starting on May 30 and going for five weeks, each Tuesday at noon, you are invited to join me in reading aloud from the book of Acts.  You don’t have to do any prep work (but you may).  Bring your Bible and meet me in room 101 off the Great Room.

We’ll start with chapter one and read as far as we get in an hour.  Then the next week we’ll pick up where we left off. As we read people will be free to jump in with questions or observations.  Acts tells the story of the birth of the Christian Church, and it is interesting, inspiring, and a little baffling.

While individual time with scripture is important, reading it together is important, too.  It is amazing what we can learn from each other through the work of the Holy Spirit.  I hope you’ll join me.

In Christ,

Catherine

On Palm Sunday, April 9, we received the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering. On Pentecost, June 4, we receive the Pentecost Offering. These are two of the four special offerings we receive each year as part of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). Our church leadership sees these offerings as an opportunity to be part of ministry that is much bigger than this congregation.

The PCUSA, of which Grace is a part, has over one million members. Being part of a denomination not only can mean challenges, but also opportunity. These special offerings allow us to be part of mission and ministry in the world that we might otherwise not know about. For instance, our One Great Hour of Sharing Offering goes to support mission in the United States and around the world.

In the United States, much of the money is directed to the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) program. PDA is active whenever there is a disaster such as a tornado or hurricane. As part of the initial response, PDA distributes clean up buckets and hygiene kits. Then PDA typically steps back and works with other agencies to contribute to the long-range cleanup process. After Hurricane Katrina, PDA was present in New Orleans for five years, investing in neighborhoods and working on long-term restoration.

This spring PDA granted $15,000 to communities in Southern Kansas impacted by recent wildfires. Our presbytery was able to add an additional $10,000 to this.

Here are a few examples of how the global side of the One Great Hour of Sharing offering was used in 2016:

• $10,000 went to the Mideast Evangelical Church in Iraq to provide medical supplies for refugees.
• $25,000 went to the Presbyterian Church of Rwanda for assistance with agricultural projects, water supplies, and electricity.
• $7,200 went to the Dominican Republic for an organization that seeks to improve the quality of life for people who are economically poor, by training them in technical skills, management, and education.

As one church with 400 members, we could never hope to spend five years restoring homes and hope in New Orleans, and we could never reach out to offer empowerment to people on five continents, but as part of the PCUSA we can.

The Pentecost Offering we receive on June 4 goes to ministries and mission that work with children and youth.  This particular offering allows us to keep 40% and give it locally. The mission distribution team directs our portion of the offering to the Weekend Back Pack Program at the

Kansas Food Bank, which sends home food for the weekend with kids in need.

Another giving opportunity related to the PCUSA is called the per capita.  Some people incorrectly refer to this as our church tax. It is not a tax. Each church in the PCUSA is asked to give a set amount of money per member of the church. This money is divided between the presbytery (local governing body), synod (regional governing body), and national offices.

Grace builds per capita into our budget, but some people like to give this in addition to their pledge. If you already give in a significant way, we don’t ask you to give on top of that, unless you would like to contribute in this way. The per capita for each Grace member in 2017 is $36.

I share this because sometimes we (myself included) forget that we are part of something much bigger than what happens at Grace Presbyterian. We are part of the body of Christ and particularly part of the PCUSA. This gives us an opportunity to share Christ’s love in ways we couldn’t do alone, and I am grateful for this.

In Christ,
Catherine