November 8, 2023 Weekly Update
Have you seen them? They are already here! Hard to believe, but it feels like it’s happening everywhere – stores, offices, neighborhoods. The Christmas decorations have arrived! I love to see it, but I really love to see it AFTER Thanksgiving (yes, I am the stickler in my family!). Someone said to me, “Can’t we be thankful first and then do Christmas!?” I agree.
This Sunday is our Consecration Sunday. We will gather for worship and give thanks to God. We will express our gratitude for all the ministry that’s occurred in the last year, and re-commit ourselves and our gifts for ministry in the year to come. We will ask God to bless our pledges, and our plans, and guide our congregation in 2024 and beyond. Remember to bring your pledge card! Can’t make it, send your cards in by mail, drop them off, or fill out the confidential online pledge form using this link: https://forms.gle/omErYqX6trueXPYv9
As a pastor, it’s one of the most precarious and exciting moments of being part of a local church. We are called to lean into God’s abundance with gratitude and hope, trusting that God will continue to be with us in the year ahead.
God has done so much through our shared ministry over the last year. We began our year focused on the Good News Challenge. We tried to stay away from negative news. Instead, we read the good news of the world alongside the Good News of Scripture, reframing our understanding of God’s Spirit at work in the world. In February, we focused on Kindness again, offering kindness seed gifts and encouragement cards to spread joy and compassion to our neighbors near and far.
In Lent, we stretched ourselves by recalling how ordinary objects like oil, sandals, and coins remind us of the teachings of Jesus on our journey of discipleship. Remember the smell of fresh bread in the sanctuary? Yum!
On Easter morning, we gathered with Veterans and Veteran’s Home staff members to witness the sun rise and sing “Alleluia” that Christ had risen! Then we gathered back at church to continue the celebration, taking a stone home to remember that God has removed any obstacle between humans and salvation.
Just a few weeks later, our Flathead Valley United Methodist churches gathered to share music and raise funds and awareness for our East Angola Mission Trip in July. Together we raised over $2000 to help launch a protein and poultry project at the Quessua Mission Farm.
May and June were busy with fellowship gatherings in homes, sharing our witness of God’s inclusive love at the Flathead Pride in the Park, and Kid’s Camp with Our Savior’s Lutheran. For the second year in a row, over 20 children and their families gathered for dinner, worship, fun, and discipleship.
In July, I went to East Angola for 18 days and represented our church and annual conference on our conference’s mission trip. We renewed our connection with Missionary Ken Koome, Missionary Kutela Katembo, Bishop Quipungo, and the many pastors and lay people doing God’s work in East Angola. I’m grateful to my family and so many church friends for enabling that trip and supporting our shared international mission work.
On a smoke-free Sunday morning in August, we celebrated outdoor worship at the Veteran’s Home with Our Savior’s Lutheran church, singing, chiming, and communing with over 100 folks, including veterans and staff. And in September, we reflected on beginning or beginning again on the journey of Discipleship through the stories of Jesus and Moses.
Through it all, many hands and hearts have contributed to God’s work among us. As we wrap up our series “Living Gratitude,” we have so many moments and relationships for which to be grateful. A new affordable daycare in our building is helping families in Columbia Falls. We prayed over prayer quilts each month and served with children and neighbors at Canyon Dinners and at the Boys and Girls Club. We’ve shared meals, delivered meals, and raised money for folks near and far to have meals, from the Food Bank to East Angola. We welcomed new faces and said goodbye to others – some to life in new communities, and some very dear friends to eternal life with God. We’ve grieved together. We’ve celebrated together.
The church always seems to be sending and receiving – sending care, gifts, and energy – receiving new friends, receiving answered prayers, and receiving news of new needs or concerns. As Christ’s Body, the church is a reflection of God’s unfathomable love, being poured out for the world, but receiving so much more back in return. We are called to sustain this work, and your prayers, gifts, time, and energy are a blessing to God, to one another, to me, and our world. May God continue to bless and guide us in the year ahead.
See you Sunday!
Blessings,
Pastor Jared