Whew! What a whirlwind kind of month this has been! God sightings are all around us, thanksgivings abound, and I thought I’d like to share some of them.
- Pastor Erik and Sheila arrived home safely from Italy, where they found sabbath renewal, and we are beneficiaries with them of results of this fallow time with God that we all need;
- The 5th Sunday Messy Church and the Christmas in July picnic were well attended and fun was had by all in sharing a meal, Reindeer Games, Snowballs and Sno-cones, making Chrismons (a word which combines Christ + monogram; in other words, symbols representing Christ) for this year’s tree in the Sanctuary, and decorate-your-own sugar cookies for dessert.
- After a long wait for the right person for CUMC’s ministry, we welcomed and received our new Director of Children, Youth and Families, Courtney Bundy, and her husband, Connor. She hit the ground running and new programs are starting now for Fall and beyond.
- Bees and bats in the church are a proving to be a challenge to remove, yet our Trustees are persevering with this. Among their many activities, they also are partnering with a small group created to oversee the preparation and installation of lighting and visual improvements for the Sanctuary. Those not yet here and in relationship with Christ are the purpose, and we who are here are blessed to be part of Jesus’ invitational hospitality.
- The Child Development Center has a new bus! It arrived in the nick of time for before and after students enrolled at CDC. We celebrated the first day of school this week and the expansion of this outreach ministry to more elementary students in Crofton.
- What a gift of love and time was poured into planning, collecting, sorting, pricing, publicizing, and implementing the Twice is Nice Community Book Sale and Market last Saturday. It was a new idea brought to life by the partnership of the Women’s Hub and the Good Book Club. It was made possible by too many to name here, including generous support from the Book Team at Prince of Peace and the Market team at Severna Park UMC.
And, back to the God sightings…
Did you experience Him? God is here working across denominations, men and women, and seekers of all ages. Can you feel the hair stand up on the back of your neck sometimes, or a catch in your throat, or a tear of joy in your eye, or a snatch of music so meant for you?
Too often, I confess, I am grateful for a moment, then am caught by the quickly moving current toward the next anticipated good thing. Sound familiar?
As the Fall begins, maybe we could be more deliberate, more “disciplined,” and invest in deepening our relationship with God, in community, so we can appreciate His action through others in our midst. It involves the time you willingly give. It takes mindfulness, intentionality, persistence, and stillness.
We are blessed to have opportunities beyond Sunday worship to grow in knowledge with God, learning how to put Him first and to represent Him well as individuals and together, as the church, as we seek to become like God in Christ. Maybe you could join one of the several adult classes starting soon. Perhaps you are hearing a nudge from the Holy Spirit to become a member of the church, to help with the new youth worship on the first and third Wednesdays, to have a small group in your home, to support age-level Scriptural teaching on Sunday, to help with caring ministry, to take a step toward social justice, to invite a friend to church, to spend a Sunday in the nursery to encourage young families to come and worship, to be generous with resources to fund ministry, to join the prayer vine, and/or to engage in missional service to those near and far from us. Each may be your next faithful step on your life’s journey, and all are openings to the movement of God today.
Prayer is a daily discipline, too. It is not a one-sided conversation asking for others’ needs, and ours, to be met as we want them to be. It’s appropriating the wonder of One community of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (the Trinity), who loves us eternally and desires a grace-filled relationship with us now.
By Jesus’ coming into the world to be God-with-us; his upside-down, weak-made-strong and last-made- first ministry; his reconciling, restoring, and saving work for humankind by his unmerited crucifixion on a Roman cross; and, his vindication by God and raising him to life anew by his Resurrection, our salvation is come, always in the present tense of I AM. Resurrection is the way and promise of eternal life.
Our part is to respond by living every day to bring God’s presence into view for others by acting as if Jesus saved us or a purpose, which he did! Together, we are a church of individuals, made righteous by God’s grace through Jesus and by our baptism into his Body. Amazing that we can be one person and part of a local church Body of Christ, which is a part of the larger Body of Christ made up of Christians of every race, tribe, nationality… everyone, everywhere! Everything we are and do with Christ at the center, is our response to the costly love we’ve already received first and completely. We will be his hands, feet, and voices by listening in the stillness for the whispers of God to join in — becoming a part of his mission to make disciples, who will transform the world by living the Gospel, bringing reconciliation and restoration for the lost, last and least.
Not a sermon, just a wonder-full thought. Right?
We are blessed to be a blessing,
Barb Julian, Lay Leader
