Poised for the Promised Land

As Ron Simkins reminded us in his teaching “God Chose You”:  We are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives. Ephesians 2:10 This word is for us each individually and collectively. We are God’s family, God’s handiwork, God’s temple, God’s precious

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Praying with Creation

The last leaves are drifting downTurning to fire when they touch the groundWhen it comes to meOnce againWhat is this Love Our first hard freeze came last night. The leaves have been especially brilliant this fall, reminding me of one of our favorite Jim Croegaert songs. I am also appreciating the theme of loving God through

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paying attention

Bad news, Good news, Details: a different way of thinking about communication. On a personal level, as your pastor, the bad news is that I, too, sometimes doubt. I second-guess myself, my mouth gets dry, I stumble over my words. I want to serve you well. To always feel like I hear God’s message and communicate

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ministering together

When I first began as pastor in 2016, many of you asked how to support me in this new role. Remembering your encouragement brings a warm smile to my face. Now, as Melissa onboards as pastor, I hope you are asking yourselves how you can support her.  Paul, a loving and loyal servant  of the Anointed

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Being Built Up

Identity. Oxford dictionary defines identity as “the fact of being who or what a person or thing is” and as defined by “a close similarity or affinity”. How do you define your identity? Is it based on the facts of who you are as a person? Or by what others say or think about you,

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trees and songs

I appreciate our poets who articulate our experiences when words elude us. May this poem by Gale Walden, Today, speak an aspect of truth to you in this mystery. -Renée  Today Here, late, middle, age,the trees mean moreand the sky means moreand some of the peopleI need to patch up with are dead. Mystery, that forest, is

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stirred up

Restore, Renew, Reinvest. It’s happening. Projects that seemed only a dream are suddenly coming together. Tuckpointing, awning replacement, painting and carpet, a plaque about our solar panels. I was surprised yesterday to open my Bible to this proclamation: Persia’s King Cyrus says: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth.

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a fleece

I thought we were being prompted to expand the NCF stage, make it more accessible with a bigger turning radius at the top of the ramp, add railings on stairs with deeper treads, and (finally!) recarpet. I met with our wheelchair expert and talked to musicians and sound technicians. Our leadership team and finance folks agreed to

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Kintsugi

I appreciate Melissa’s metaphor of God as artist- shaping and mending us into creations of value. May her vision of our brokenness being transformed into beauty encourage us to present all the pieces of ourselves to God’s hand to be made whole. -Renée  When you break a piece of dishware, what do you do? Do

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book to practice

Meditation is not something I ever attempted. Maybe because it sounded foreign and un-Christian. Or that sitting still and doing nothing did not appeal to me. Like other practices that people find helpful but don’t seem relevant to me, meditation seemed good for others. When I began reading James Finley’s Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence

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