From Pastor Kayla’s Desk 9/1

This Sunday we will be finishing up our 9 week sermon series on “Be the Church.” In the wake of the destruction of Hurricane Harvey, and the hateful Nashville Statement by so-called Christian leaders, I think our theme for this Sunday of “Enjoy This Life” could not be more perfect. Life is full of ups and downs, and if we never take the time to enjoy and appreciate what we have, we will have missed many of God’s good intentions for us. I trust that you know your pastor and your church do not uphold the falsehoods stated in the Nashville Statement. We believe that all people, including those in the LGBTQIA community, are created in God’s holy image. I recommend reading Pastor John Pavlovitz’s essay in response to the Nashville Statement found at this link: https://johnpavlovitz.com/2017/08/30/nashville-statement-plain-language-translation/

Blessings,
Pastor Kayla

The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
—Mary Oliver