From the Pastor's Desk...
I have begun each day with what I am now calling “The New Beginnings Prayer" since I returned from our Mission Trip the beginning of August. It is the same prayer that is on the back cover of our bulletins and the same prayer that is said at the beginning of each Cottage Meeting. It has become a familiar mantra and yet I am struck by how the different phrases mean something different to me each time I pray it or I hear it prayed. “In the gift of this day never given before, may we be open to new beginnings. … may our eyes be open to new ways of seeing … may our hearts be to open to laughter and stillness.”
I keep looking for the ways that we are open to new beginnings even as we celebrate with joy who and whose we are right now. I keep looking for new ways of seeing - seeing the God given abundance with which we have been blessed when it is so much easier to grumble and to see what the world calls scarcity. I keep looking for ways to be open to joy and laughter and delight as well as stillness and meditation and the Divine. I do see all of these wonderful, image filled words as a call to find balance between what was, what is and what can be.
The prayer concludes with an inspirational doxology which asks for this Triune God of ours to guide us. Guide us. I get stuck here every once in a while. I am not always sure I want God to guide us, to guide this New Beginnings process that we are in the middle of. I would rather do the guiding, thank you very much! Maybe it is a good thing that the conversations are lead by someone other than ―guiding pastors.‖
Of the three concluding statements is it the last that I wrestle with the most. “Guide us, Spirit of New Birth, that in the matter of our lives we may be bearers of hope.‖ You have heard my struggles voiced in my Sunday morning sermons recently. The story of the Exodus, which is the story of a new beginning for the people of God, provides a fertile background for asking questions even as we engage in this process called ―New Beginnings‖ here at the church. As we meet in small groups for sacred conversations, as we deal with the reality of where we are and what we do as the Fairgreen Church, it is easy to stand with the Israelites complaining as we wonder, “Is God with us or not in the midst of yet another new beginning?‖
It is easy to grumble even as we wonder about what provisions God will give in response to our cries for help? We are not so different from those who walked into their wilderness of deliverance some 3,000 years ago.
We should know that God will provide just as God provided for the Israelites. We not only have their story we have the Jesus story – Jesus was God’s ultimate provision for our deliverance from the bondage of sin. We also know that we are the bearers of hope because we have our story. Each of us and all of us together has experienced God’s provision and deliverance in our lives individually and in the life of this church. What I don’t know is if we know how to be the bearers of hope in our community. That is one of the big questions put before us as we go through this process and ask the question, ―Are we a membership or a missional church?‖ It is a good question and I am anxious to hear just what kind of answers you all came up with. I do know that we have so much spirit here; we are blessed in so many ways; how do we get the word out so that others will want to hear the message of hope that we have experienced in the love and the grace and the promises of this God of ours?
To find the answers we start just where we have started – with prayer. And we continue with the sacred conversations as we dream and explore visions. We let those dreams and visions bubble up as we share just what we are passionate about. And then we trust, just as those who have gone before us in this place, trusted. We trust God’s provision. God’s plans for us will unfold and we will continue to be the bearers of hope this year and in the years ahead. God has been with us; God is with us; and God will be with us in all of our new beginnings. May we be open to that.
Blessings, Rev. Pat
I keep looking for the ways that we are open to new beginnings even as we celebrate with joy who and whose we are right now. I keep looking for new ways of seeing - seeing the God given abundance with which we have been blessed when it is so much easier to grumble and to see what the world calls scarcity. I keep looking for ways to be open to joy and laughter and delight as well as stillness and meditation and the Divine. I do see all of these wonderful, image filled words as a call to find balance between what was, what is and what can be.
The prayer concludes with an inspirational doxology which asks for this Triune God of ours to guide us. Guide us. I get stuck here every once in a while. I am not always sure I want God to guide us, to guide this New Beginnings process that we are in the middle of. I would rather do the guiding, thank you very much! Maybe it is a good thing that the conversations are lead by someone other than ―guiding pastors.‖
Of the three concluding statements is it the last that I wrestle with the most. “Guide us, Spirit of New Birth, that in the matter of our lives we may be bearers of hope.‖ You have heard my struggles voiced in my Sunday morning sermons recently. The story of the Exodus, which is the story of a new beginning for the people of God, provides a fertile background for asking questions even as we engage in this process called ―New Beginnings‖ here at the church. As we meet in small groups for sacred conversations, as we deal with the reality of where we are and what we do as the Fairgreen Church, it is easy to stand with the Israelites complaining as we wonder, “Is God with us or not in the midst of yet another new beginning?‖
It is easy to grumble even as we wonder about what provisions God will give in response to our cries for help? We are not so different from those who walked into their wilderness of deliverance some 3,000 years ago.
We should know that God will provide just as God provided for the Israelites. We not only have their story we have the Jesus story – Jesus was God’s ultimate provision for our deliverance from the bondage of sin. We also know that we are the bearers of hope because we have our story. Each of us and all of us together has experienced God’s provision and deliverance in our lives individually and in the life of this church. What I don’t know is if we know how to be the bearers of hope in our community. That is one of the big questions put before us as we go through this process and ask the question, ―Are we a membership or a missional church?‖ It is a good question and I am anxious to hear just what kind of answers you all came up with. I do know that we have so much spirit here; we are blessed in so many ways; how do we get the word out so that others will want to hear the message of hope that we have experienced in the love and the grace and the promises of this God of ours?
To find the answers we start just where we have started – with prayer. And we continue with the sacred conversations as we dream and explore visions. We let those dreams and visions bubble up as we share just what we are passionate about. And then we trust, just as those who have gone before us in this place, trusted. We trust God’s provision. God’s plans for us will unfold and we will continue to be the bearers of hope this year and in the years ahead. God has been with us; God is with us; and God will be with us in all of our new beginnings. May we be open to that.
Blessings, Rev. Pat
