Reformation

Greetings all! I hope this letter finds you well, entering the turn to fall with health and hope. We are holding our folks in prayer and continuing to serve in all the ways we know how, so thank you for being church together in these (still) strange times. Fall is here! And to me, this season has the feeling of beginnings. In part it’s because we turn some plans to thinking about the upcoming celebration of Reformation again (Sunday Oct 31st, wear red!). And also because of all the change we see in the natural world or feel in our culture. Wallace Stegner put it this way: “That old September feeling, left over from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air . .. Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.” -Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose Reformation. Being made new. An “annual autumnal beginning.” We are there. Friends, I pray you know it. I pray you feel it! Some changes in decorations have gone up around the church – fall flower colors as you enter the main doors, and our decorative board for fall quoting the hymn Come to Us, Creative Spirit, saying: “Word from God eternal springing … ” It’s a Reformation hymn and a blessing to strive in discipleship in our time and place! And a call to trust the God that is always re-forming us, re-fashioning us in living and faith. So in this unique season I invite you to a class to explore the Hebrew Scriptures’ idea of “Beginnings.” 🙂 Sundays after worship, around 10:45am, we’ll meet to ponder ancient stories from the book of Genesis. (info on page 5). It is good to sense beginnings and to ask again what it means to follow in our way, at this time to­gether. In our hopes, through this time of change, may we once again be drawn to God’s creative Spirit. Yes, the Word of God springs eternal, even now! + Pastor Shaun