From the Pastor's Desk
September 2026
Welcome Home! I can't think of a more wonderful salutation. People open opine, "home is where the heart is" and I do believe that to be true. In our lifetime, we may experience many different expressions of home. I have heard people say longingly that church is their spiritual home and that church people are their family. I have seen the ways you care for each other; check in, make meals, send cards, rush to someone's bedside. That is what church is all about.
We will celebrate homecoming on the second Sunday of September. This year we will gather around table during coffee hour to share a potluck brunch. This is a wonderful way to reconnect with folks we haven't seen in a while and to get excited about the wonderful ministry opportunities that are before us in the coming months.
We experience homecoming in a variety of ways . When I think of homecoming I envision Thanksgiving dinner where relatives we don't see often enough gather around the table not only to share a special meal but to share and reshare those poignant stories of our shared lives. That is how it has been in my family. We revisit the stories of our youth, the high and lower moments of growing up and receive them with much more grace than when the event happened. We laugh and smile and reconnect.
We will invite you this fall to events where we will get to know one another better. Knowing one another's story creates deeper and richer community. As part of our Open and Affirming discernment process, we will gather to receive the stories of folks in our community that have experienced both the trauma and the joys of being part of the LGBTQIA+ community. This kind of honest sharing helps us understand the fullness of one another's humanity.
The women of the church are invited to gather for retreat this fall. Getting to know you will be part of the theme for the gathering. Storytelling is a rich gift andone that we can cultivate with one another. When we hear each other's stories, we come to recognize how we are richly connected as integral parts of the body of Christ. More information will be forthcoming about this gathering of women. Feel free to mark your calendar for October 24 and think about inviting a friend.
In October we will experience worship in a slightly different way. We will utilize the resources created by the Worship Design Studio founded by Rev. Dr. MArcia McFee. The theme for the month will center around "Love One Another." Loving one another is a core Christian principle however, we know how easily we can slip away from Jesus' commandment to love one another as he has loved us. When we become suspicious of one another it is easy to slip from loving into othering.
In preparing this worship material Rev. McFee writes "Fear is the trigger for 'othering.' Self-preservation kicks in and because resources appear limited in a time of fear, we tend to limit our output of everything. . .including the one think that Jesus insisted was never-ending: LOVE. As long as we are connected as branches to The Vine, love is always flowing. Never runs out. And love is calling us to a different way of preserving our humanity: 'neighboring.'
These terms ("othering" and "neighboring") are written-and-researched concepts about how we interact with each other and how we perceive one another. But they are also concrete ways we act--ways we treat one another. Do we pull back and make assumptions or do we lean in and ask questions? Do we avoid contact or do we risk proximity? Do we contract or extend ourselves?"
These are some of the questions we will consider as we worship together in the month of October. The worship series will help us consider love as action not just love as a concept or feeling. Sometimes we may find it impossible to understand a neighbor's point of view, but we can still engage in loving actions sharing a meal, tools, a ride. If we only interacted with those whose viewpoints were identical to ours, we would become more and more isolated.
The anchor image for the series is a table and more specifically a picnic table. What would it be like to have a picnic table on the front lawn of the church where people could sit and rest, perhaps inscribe their hopes, fears or dreams into it and remind us what gifts we receive as we sit around the table, sharing good food of every variety.
I am excited to reconnect, revision, and celebrate together the vision and ministries that God has placed on our hearts. Welcome home, beloved. There is a place at the table for you and whomever you might like to invite!
In Christ's love,
Rev. Lynne
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