A lot has happened since the last newsletter. I will mention only two: VBS and Churchwide Assembly.

 For Vacation Bible School we ‘went’ to the Great Bible Reef. There were so many powerful things about the week. We were happy to welcome a number of new kids, and delighted that so many we already knew were able to share the week with us. I was so proud – the week we offer truly is high quality. The high quality comes from so many adults doing the hard work of preparing, and then coming every night that they can.

Thank you all.

 Among the powerful things were the worship that ended each morning session, and the Bible Studies that started each afternoon. We celebrated Holy Communion every day, and I can honestly say that this formed us into a new community shaped by God’s grace.

We became the church. As Bishop Mark Hanson later wrote, “want it to be that the living Word of God was at the heart of the tenth ELCA Churchwide Assembly.”

Looking ahead: Our recent Leadership Training with MOSES, which is all about reaching in and reaching out.

 This is a step toward developing a more fruitful relationship with our community. We’re learning and using tools that have worked in many kinds of places.

 Why?

We do not exist just for ourselves. We exist because God called us into being, gathered us together, nurtures us with Word, meal, and fellowship, and now sends us out.

 Why?

Because ‘out there’ is where people are. Not people that “we can get”, but people who need the life, the healing, the experience of being set free which Jesus brings. We are entrusted with this treasure. It is not a treasure to be hoarded. When God fed the people of Israel manna in the wilderness, God taught them not to hoard. Jesus had all kinds of parables revealing the fruitlessness of hoarding. Whether it is hoarding wealth or things or the Gospel, hoarding is not faithful.

 So we are sent. And now we have an opportunity to learn how to go.

 These things are different. You might occasionally feel uncomfortable, unsure of just what exactly we’re doing. But I believe that all we learn will only strengthen our congregation – within our congregation, and with people “on the outside”. Those are exactly the ones Jesus sought out. We can do no less.

 
In Christ,

 Pastor Julianne Smeck