Central United Methodist Church

I recently heard about an intriguing state of mind known as “Imposter’s Syndrome” which is exhibited when people, despite external evidence of their competence, remain convinced that they are frauds and do not deserve the success they have achieved. Proof of success is dismissed as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be.

When I heard about this I was fascinated because I think that most Christians suffer from this syndrome. What I mean is that over the years in pastoral ministry I have found person after person who thinks that they are basically a Christian fraud. These people say things like, “I don’t pray enough” or “I don’t have enough faith” or even “I’m not really sure I believe.”

Somewhere along the line we have found ourselves trapped in an understanding of the Christian life as meeting some invisible standards to which we will never measure up. Because we feel this way in our heart of hearts many of us feel as if we are Christian imposters—never living up to that which Jesus demands.

The truth is that the Christian life is not about meeting some strange standard in regard to “effectiveness” or “success.” The Christian life is about our lives being more like the way Jesus lived his; loving, forgiving, standing up for what’s right and living deeply in a relationship with God. None of that happens overnight and none of it is ultimately very measureable. Instead I like the way John the Baptist describes how we might live: “I must decrease, he (Jesus) must increase.” (John 3: 30).
As we near the celebration of Christmas, my hope is that we will stop being Christian frauds, afraid to believe that God has graced us with all that we need to make the decisions necessary to be like Jesus and that we will mark each day by a willingness to follow Christ more closely and love him more dearly.

Blessings,

Scott

Each year we have a meeting with our District Superintendent known as Church Conference.  This meeting, which is mandated by the Book of Discipline, requires us to submit several reports, take official votes and minutes and approve various reports of the Church.  One of the reports presented is the Report of the Pastor.  Below you will find the report that I filed at Church Conference last week.

 REPORT OF THE PASTOR

Earlier this year the results of an intensive study of The United Methodist Church were released under the title “A Call to Action.”  This in depth study of our denomination pointed to both healthy signs of the church and places where disease had set in.  The overall tenor of the report was that the flow of energy and resources needs to be redirected back to the local church rather than trusting our current “trickle down” model in which resources and energy are sent to the denominational level before it influences the local church thereafter.  At General Conference in April there are some resolutions that will be voted on that will address this very issue. 

 More importantly were the signs of life that the Call to Action study identified in local churches that make for vital congregations:

• Effective pastoral leadership including inspirational preaching, mentoring laity, and effective management

• Multiple small groups and programs for children and youth

• A mix of traditional and contemporary worship services

• A high percentage of spiritually engaged laity who assume leadership roles

 For our purposes of Church Conference allow me to use these categories to organize my own reflections around 2011 and Central United Methodist Church. 

 Part 1: Effective pastoral leadership including inspirational preaching, mentoring laity and effective management

The truth is that I have to look at this aspect of what vital congregations look like with a lot of humility and a healthy dose of reality which allows me to say a few things about the Pastoral Team at Central. 

 John is the wise and seasoned sailor who helps the congregation navigate through life as he leads our congregation in prayer, ministers with the homebound and the ill and provides a deep sense of consolation and hope.  John’s wonderful stories and timely sense of humor allow us to laugh at ourselves in the best of ways. 

 Greg continues to lead our congregation in the way that we reach out to others as we try to meet the high demands of Jesus to minister with the poor, the outcast and the lonely while all along preaching sermons that instruct us to apply the teachings of the Bible to our every day lives, leading our Tuesday Taize worship service that invites us to pause for a moment and rest in God’s grace and providing leadership for our New Day contemporary worship service.   We celebrate along with Greg that, with the Board of Ordained Ministry’s approval, he will be ordained next spring as a full Elder in The United Methodist Church.

 My job as part of the pastoral staff is to be the chief cultural architect.  Through my work with the Administrative Committees of the church, as the preacher in our Classic worship services, as Head of Staff and as the person who ultimately has to say “This is where we are going…” my goal is to be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in terms of where God is guiding us to go and serve as well as who God is calling us to be as a community of faith. 

 I will be the first to admit that I do not always get everything right.  I will be the first to admit that I make mistakes and there are things that I wish I would have done differently in my tenure here at Central.  I also believe that we are moving in the right direction and that we are taking the steps necessary to align the elements of the church properly so that we can work together in ministry. 

 One very important step in this alignment process has to do with the passing on of wisdom and experience of those at Central who have served this church for many years to younger generations of leaders.  Our congregation is rich with people who consistently demonstrate ability, faithfulness and discipleship and it is important that we develop opportunities for people to lead and learn from one another across the generations.  This important work will begin this year as we experience a big turnover in our administrative committees.  It is my hope that we can engage more and more people in ministry so that we can all both grow as we learn and pass along something to someone else. 

 Part 2: Multiple small groups and programs for children and youth

This fall we began our Wednesday Nights @ Central program that features a meal, short time of prayer and worship and then studies, choir, activities and opportunities for people of all ages to get involved.  This is but one example of the many small groups that exist at Central.  Of course there are also our many Sunday school classes, prayer groups and other Bible studies that provide people a place to connect to Central outside of worship. 

 Central is a church wherein most of our visitors and guests come for worship before checking out anything else that we offer and provide.  One of the important tasks that we are working on right now, with the help of Debra Alba, is to provide a clear map for people of how they can get involved at Central.   Soon we want to be able to put in a new person’s hand an overview of our congregation that describes every ministry, Bible study, activity and opportunity that exists in our church.  Having this map will make an enormous difference in the way we invite new people to get involved at Central. 

 Part 3: A mix of traditional and contemporary worship services

Worship is the strongest element of ministry at Central United Methodist Church!  Each Sunday morning people choose to come to Central to participate in word, song, prayer and inspiration.  Between our two Classic services and our New Day contemporary worship service about 500 people celebrate God’s grace each week in worship. 

 Because worship is what we do best I am extremely interested in making our worship services even better.  As many of you know this means that for the Classic services I am recommending that we continue forward with our multi-media upgrade project that will allow us to incorporate visual enhancements in worship.  For New Day I will be bringing recommendation to the church that we give the Social Hall a major face-lift that will allow us to continue to use the space for the many programs that go on there but will also be clearly recognizable as a worship space.

 I am extremely grateful for the many people who commit so much time and energy to making our worship services so good.  As the pastor, I will never be able to express clearly enough my gratitude and thanks.

 Part 4: A high percentage of spiritually engaged laity who assume leadership roles

We live in a time when our church structure exists in the institutional model of leadership and ministry while many people simply want to “do” ministry and “get involved” beyond working on a committee.  The truth is that both aspects of ministry are important.  We need people to lead through work on committees that helps set the vision of the church, guide us with policy and make decisions based on analysis and information. 

 At the same time there are needs that have to be met today, there are ministries that take life outside of committees and we need people who are ready to jump in and make things happen. 

 Leadership happens in both cases and it is a gift of God that we are blessed as a congregation with so many people who are willing to serve God and the church in these ways. 

 What we are lacking is a global understanding of all of the ways that people can get involved and ways that people can make new ministries take shape and start.  We are currently working on this but without a schematic of all of the ministries of the church we will not really know how well we are doing in terms of getting more people into leadership. 

 I’m grateful that Debra Alba is working on this picture of Central and I can’t wait for us all to see it!

 Summary

Central is a strong church built on a strong history; this is important for us to recognize, remember, honor and celebrate.  At the same time we must pay clear attention to the way that God is leading us through the Holy Spirit to meet the spiritual and physical needs that people in our mission field face today.  These two absolute necessities sometimes feel like they are in tension and they probably are which demands that we remember who we are called to be and what we are called to do:

Our Vision: to be a CENTRAL presence in Albuquerque where the grace of Jesus Christ is CENTRAL to life with         God,  self and our neighbors.

Our MISSION: to make the unconditional love of Jesus Christ CENTRAL to life.

We were awoken early Friday morning by loud booming sounds outside our window.  Looking out our window and across the street we saw our neighbor’s garage engulfed in flames.  We ran outside to make sure that everyone was safe, which they were, and then we sat powerless as the fire grew around the house destroying it and our neighbors vehicles which were parked in their drive way. 

 Later, as the firefighters were cleaning up their equipment and as we looked at the charred skeleton of a house our neighbor’s young son remarked that he had been so ungrateful for all of his belongings and now they were all gone. 

 Ironically, the next morning Tracy and I began moving our belongings across town to our new home.  Over the course of the weekend I unloaded box after box of our stuff realizing with each transfer from the trailer to the garage that my neighbors had lost everything except what mattered; their lives.

 We all have stuff; some of it memorable and other parts not at all.  Given the perspective of the fire in my neighborhood I realize that much of what I have doesn’t matter at all. 

 What does matter?  My family matters to me.  Helping my neighbors in need matters to me.  Living a life of faith matters to me. 

 This reminds me that in reality what I own is not ultimately mine anyway.  Instead, I am a temporary steward of stuff, a part-time holder of things and an interim manager of material.  This is true not only because my life here is only as long as it is long and much of my “stuff” will outlast me, but more importantly, as a person of faith I believe that everything is ultimately God’s who has entrusted me with the care of a few things.  In this way, caring for my stuff has to do with what I believe about God. 

 Perhaps this serves as a moment of confession in that many times I have put my stuff before my service of God, I have thought more about getting more stuff than about the quality of my relationship with my family and I have put my own wants before the needs of others. 

 This is a season of Thanksgiving.  My neighbors are thankful that they are all alive and that no one was injured in the fire at their home.  I am thankful for many things but today I am especially thankful that God is still working on me!

Last spring one of the roads on which I ride my bike a lot was resurfaced.  This repaving job has sure made riding on the road a lot nicer and it also made riding there safer as the shoulder was widened a bit. 

 Over the past few months I have been watching an amazing thing happen as I ride out west of town.  In a couple of places where the road was repaved some cracks developed.  That is neither surprising nor necessarily interesting in and of itself.  What is interesting and fascinating has been the slow and steady growth of plants which have found their way from the ground to the surface through these cracks. 

 This morning I rode on this rode and I saw that the plants have now fully developed even though they are surrounded by asphalt.  Somehow these plants found just enough room to see the sun, wiggle through and find life. 

 My guess is that sometimes this is the way God’s grace through the Holy Spirit has to work in our lives.  We get busy, we get distracted, or we choose intentionally to try and keep God out of our lives for whatever reason but God finds a way to wiggle in!  This persistent act of grace seems to be the very nature of God and for this I am very thankful. 

 Some of my friends are marking the days of November by naming one thing that they are thankful each day of the month.  I think that is a great exercise and I’m glad that so many people are participating in that spiritual exercise.  Today, and tomorrow and the next day I will be thankful that God acted on my behalf and refused to stop wiggling into my life until I finally woke up and embraced the amazing love of Jesus Christ.  Thanksgiving comes early for me this year!

Many of you know that I spent part of my 20s working as an apprentice bricklayer. Every day I rode to work with my father and worked alongside him as he ran the jobs as a foreman and I did all the jobs that no one else wanted to do. This was an incredibly valuable time in my life as I really got the chance to know my father in a totally different way. I learned a lot by working with my dad both about a trade, about life and about my own search for God.

My father has been dead now since 1998 and I miss him a great deal. I am sad that he never got to know my children, to hold them in his massive arms and to let them feel his work worn hands. I hope that in some way I will pass along to my children something of what my father taught me and what I learned from him.

I reflect on these things today because today is my daughter’s fifth birthday and it is also All Saints’ Day wherein the church remembers the lives of those who have gone before us in life and in death. All Saints’ Day invites the living to remember and look forward into a future defined by God.

This coming Sunday we will celebrate All Saints’ Day in worship as we read the names of those from our congregation who have died in this last year. This will give us moment for pause and reflection and will also invite us to consider our own lives of faith and how we are living our lives in God’s light.

Additionally each of us will also have the opportunity to make a financial commitment to Central UMC for 2012 by placing our pledge card on the altar. This act of faith has several dimensions.

First, it is an act of faith. Giving is the most tangible way that we express our belief that God will provide that which we really need. By giving our very best to God we honor God’s very best gift for us and we stake a claim that what God provides is indeed enough.

Second it is a sign of hope. Giving states to the world that we believe that God has worked in the world before us and God will work in the world after us. Hope has everything to do with what happens when we are no longer around. Our giving builds hope that this church will continue to change people’s lives for generations.

Third it is an investment. Giving says in a powerful way that the programs that we focus on children, youth, adults, the poor and those in need will make a difference. Giving allows us to have children’s choirs that inspire us and make us smile. Giving creates the environment in which eleven young people make a public commitment to Christ. Giving provides funds that help people in need. Giving allows for worship and Bible study and meals shared together.

On this All Saints’ Day I hope you will consider the people who have made an investment in you over the years and who have helped you become the person that you are. This weekend I hope you will honor them through worship and honor God as you give.

I lost my temper.  Two kids were crying, another was being demanding and I was on the phone looking for some back-up.  As I ended the phone call I was annoyed and agitated and instead of gently placing my phone down I hurled it toward the couch where it could come to rest on some pillows.  In other words I acted foolishly by losing my temper and throwing a phone. 

 Later that afternoon while my oldest child and I were looking for something of hers in the car she threw one of her toys.  I asked her not to do that and she said quite matter of factly, “You threw your phone.”

 She was right.  I told her she was right and then I explained that I was not happy that I had acted that way and that I was going to try very hard not to act that way again. 

 Moments like that are humbling.  I much prefer the moments when my children model all the brilliant and generous ways I live instead of the childish, selfish ways I react when things don’t go my way. 

 Over the next few weeks in worship you will hear the words “For Future Generations” spoken quite a bit because we are asking each of the members and friends of the congregation to make a financial contribution to Central UMC in 2012.  It is my hope that in our giving we will be modeling for our children a life of generosity that comes from our faith in Jesus Christ.  I also hope that in doing this we too will experience the gift of love that comes by investing in the future of Central for our children and grandchildren down the line. 

 We all know that giving is difficult.  As a matter of fact just this morning I was talking with our five year old about giving some of her money to the church rather than spending it some toys that she wants to buy.  As we talked she said, “But Daddy, I will be giving the money away when I get these toys.”  There is a difference between giving and buying and the most significant difference is that in buying we will never be satisfied but in giving we will. 

 Have a great week!

At our September Church Council meeting the following statements were adopted to help guide our congregation in our ministry future:

Our VISION is to be a CENTRAL presence in Albuquerque where the grace of Jesus Christ is CENTRAL to life with God, self and our neighbors.

Our MISSION is to make the unconditional love of Jesus Christ CENTRAL to life.

The last two weeks I have preached on these statements in both our Classic and New Day worship services. Below are some thoughts about these statements that were a part of the sermons.

Our VISION has to do with three things:
1. Presence and Place
2. Our Message is United Methodist
3. Central to Life

Presence and Place
One of the things that we know about Jesus is that when he said “Come unto me” he didn’t mean “come to my building.” Instead he meant come unto me—into my life and into my way of life. In much the same way our Vision Statement emphasizes this same thing: Central United Methodist Church, while being a building, is more than that because we are a church as a body of believers and therefore wherever we are we are Central United Methodist Church.

At the same time, our building, our geography and the scattering of our membership around Albuquerque enables us to be a Central presence all over Albuquerque. In this way our church building occupies a prominent location in “central” Albuquerque and because we live all over the city we are a central presence in the valley, on the East side, the West side and even into Rio Rancho and Bernalillo, the East Mountains and Placitas.

Our Vision reminds us that Presence and Place go together for Central United Methodist Church.

Our Message is United Methodist
People often ask, “Why are there so many churches and denominations, don’t they all have the same message about Jesus?” The short answer to that question is simply “No.” In truth the message is not always the same and United Methodists have a distinct way of sharing the message of Jesus Christ and that is indicated in our Vision Statement when we say:

…where the grace of Jesus Christ is Central to life…

An identifying feature of United Methodists is that we lead with grace. In other words, we believe that God is for us, that God loves us before we know how to love God. This is made most evident and most clear in the life of Jesus Christ who lived in a way that demonstrated God’s grace to people in his ministry of healing, transformation and redemption. In many ways this is summed up in what we heard from Jesus today:

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Jesus didn’t demand that people who came to him had everything all worked out, all figured out. Instead Jesus welcomed people as they were and then asked them to become as God wanted them to be.

Central United Methodist Church’s vision is to welcome people by the grace of Jesus Christ through our “Open hearts. Open doors. Open minds.

Central to Life
When I was in college I took several classes with a history professor who liked to sum up the various units of class by asking “So what?” In other words, why do we study all of this if not for it to make a difference in our lives?

The same is true of our faith. Christianity is a lived faith and at Central UMC our Vision is that faithful people’s lives will revolve around the grace of Jesus Christ that makes a difference in the way they live with God, themselves and with their neighbors.

At Central UMC we believe that our faith should not rest on the periphery of life but instead should be at the center of our life, and when we say life we mean our life with ourselves, our families and our life with our neighbors and the plumb line that helps us know what this means is God’s golden rule as articulated by Jesus:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

Our MISSION can be lived out in five ways as indicated by Bishop Robert Schnase:
1. Radical Hospitality
2. Passionate Worship
3. Extravagant Generosity
4. Intentional Faith Development
5. Risk-Taking Mission

Radical Hospitality
The mission of Central United Methodist Church is to make the unconditional love of Jesus Christ Central to life through the practice of Radical Hospitality is all about practicing the unconditional love of Jesus Christ because in this practice our actions communicate that everyone is accepted and welcomed. Furthermore, and maybe more importantly, welcoming the stranger means that we have as much to learn from them as they do from us. Radical hospitality means that we are transformed by the presence of the stranger in as much as they are transformed by our presence. The practice of Radical Hospitality makes the unconditional love of Jesus Christ Central to life by allowing us to see God’s grace in every face that we meet and thus we see our own.

Passionate Worship
The Mission of Central UMC is to make the unconditional love of Jesus Christ Central to life through Passionate Worship. Worship is the door through which most people enter the church. At the heart of our worship at Central is the belief in the unconditional love of Jesus Christ but sadly it seems that too often our expression of this wonderful gift is more like “eh” than “Hurray!” On an individual level, the practice of worship takes some effort. We need to be in prayer individually before worship seeking out that which God has to offer us. From my end, I have to be sure that the worship services that we present allow and invite people to connect with God through heart, head and hands. Worship should be the place that most clearly and effectively communicates the unconditional love of Jesus Christ.

Extravagant Generosity
The Mission of Central UMC is to make the unconditional love of Jesus Christ Central to life through Extravagant Generosity. If we believe that God loves us unconditionally then it follows that we should thank God. We do this by giving. Some of us are blessed with money so we give money. Others are blessed with time so we give time. Some are blessed with talent and so we give our talent. Whatever it is you have been blessed with by the God who loves you—make an offering and make an extravagant offering. The way we give tells us a lot about how much we really believe this unconditional love stuff.

Intentional Faith Development
The Mission of Central UMC is to make the unconditional love of Jesus Christ Central to life through Intentional Faith Development. The concept of God’s unconditional love through Jesus Christ is so big and so all-encompassing that there is a danger of getting lost in it. Therefore it is important that our church develops a strategic way of inviting people not only into understanding this big and amazing truth about God but as a way of living into it and living it out. Yes, Jesus loves us unconditionally, now here’s how we take steps to make that real in our lives.

Risk-Taking Mission
The Mission of Central UMC is to make the unconditional love of Jesus Christ Central to life through Risk-Taking Mission. If we know anything about Jesus through the Gospels his life in ministry was spent with people who lived on the margins. Friends Central UMC has a unique opportunity to mirror the unconditional love of Jesus Christ to some of the most marginalized people in Albuquerque. We have the chance to really look like Jesus and we need your help to do it.

This is a snapshot of how I see Central UMC living out this Vision and Mission. In the end we will know if we are meeting our VISION and MISSION if we are living out the Great Commission of Matthew 28: 16-20 and we are baptizing people every week in worship and teaching those who are hungry to learn more about Jesus Christ.

Have a great week!

I will be spending some of next week at our United Methodist Campgroup—Sacramento Methodist Assembly—in the Sacramento mountains as I attend our Conference’s annual Clergy Retreat. This event features a special speaker, time for worship, Bible study and fellowship as well as time to do nothing in particular which means that I will be riding my bike.

Clergy Retreat is an important time for me because in many ways my clergy colleagues are the consistent faces in my life. Because of the way our church works where the Bishop assigns pastors for their ministry, we pastors move around quite a bit and therefore the faces and the people that we meet, work with and minister alongside change as often as our address does. The constant in this life of itinerant ministry is the group of pastors that are doing the same thing.

This coming week I will see Steve McElroy, who I followed as the Senior Pastor here at Central. I will also see Lyle Reece who followed me at Covenant. We will catch one another up on the people that we once served and we will give thanks that the church moves on in faithfulness no matter who the pastor might be. That last part is always a bit humbling and reminds us pastors that it really is about God and not so much about us.

As I said, I am looking forward to being at Clergy Retreat and I am sure that it will help “recharge my batteries” and bring me back to Albuquerque refreshed once again.

Last weekend my wife Tracy and I had the opportunity to take a little time away as we celebrated our anniversary.  Looking for a place where we could “do nothing” and just “be” for a while we decided to go to the panhandle of Florida and sit on one of the gulf coast beaches near Destin, FL.  Let me say, the white sand beaches, blue water and palm trees did the trick as we relaxed without doing very much at all.

 One thing that we did do, a lot, was eat!  One of the restaurants we found was a breakfast place named “Another Broken Egg.”  Take my advice: order the Cinnamon Roll French Toast; it was amazing.  The second day we went to Another Broken Egg to indulge again in the Cinnamon Roll French Toast I read this about the restaurant chain:

“The success of the Another Broken Egg can be directly linked to our philosophy that ‘Nothing Short of  Right is Right’.  Each site is managed by hands-on, on site Owners who believe that every detail is important to make the customer happy.  Our belief is from the time a customer enters the front door, to the time they leave the Café, they should feel like being ‘on holiday’ and as comfortable as being in their own home.  The attention to detail from a clean entrance, to ample and quality food, to high cleanliness standards from the Front of the House to the kitchen are just as important as great, friendly ‘down home’ service. With that in mind, it is our never ending goal to earn guests for life.”

When I read this I was struck by the intentionality demonstrated by this company in making people feel welcome from the moment they enter the restaurant until the time they leave.  This “mission statement” also got me thinking about life in the church, and especially at Central.  If a restaurant goes to this much trouble to make a person feel as if they are “on holiday” when they go out to eat some eggs, then what degree should we go to in order to help people “be with God” when they come to church?  We have so much more to offer than Cinnamon Roll French Toast and yet sometimes we almost act apologetically about who we are and what we do. 

 The good news is that there are several ways that each of us can get involved in making our church the most inviting church around.  First, everyone is invited to a “hospitality” training event on September 25 from 12:00 to 1:30pm in the Youth Lounge on the 3^rd floor.  This training will give practical examples of how to make our church more hospitable to guests and members alike.

 The second thing that we can do is to remember the adage from the restaurant that “Nothing Short of Right is Right.”  As your pastor this statement reminds me that I had better give my prayerful best on Sunday; every Sunday.  That happens through solid preparation during the week, being open to the Holy Spirit and a deep life of prayer that pays attention to God’s love. 

 As members of the congregation “nothing short of right is right” means that we prepare ourselves to come to worship through prayer, some sort of devotional life and a commitment of service to others.  These actions prepare us and open us to the movement of the Holy Spirit in worship and in Bible study. 

 Central United Methodist Church is such a vibrant place and we have such great ministries to offer those who are seeking God.  Thanks so much for being part of this congregation and thanks for helping making “guests for life.”

September 6, 2011

Today my wife Tracy and I celebrate 13 years of marriage. That works out to:

156 Months
624 Weeks
4745 days
113880 hours
6832800 minutes…
…and all of the moments that make up our days second by second.

Anniversaries are important as they help us mark time, call us to remember and invite us to reflect on how we have changed since. As I mark the time of our 13 year marriage Tracy and I have lived in five different homes in four cities in two states. We have had two dogs, one cat, many fish, eight cars and three children.

Remembering the day of our wedding almost makes me sweat because it was so hot on that Labor Day weekend in Oklahoma! I can remember the glow of the candles, the songs we sang, the moment I saw Tracy in her gown and all of our friends and family. I also remember the distinct absence of my parents who had died not long before we got married. I also remember that we honeymooned in New Mexico: who would have thought that we would be living here in the not so distant future?

Today, I have to admit that I don’t look as young as I did in 1998. I hope to say that 13 years later I am something of what Tracy wanted in a husband despite my long list of failures. I know that we have worked well together as a couple especially in the way that our differences tend to compliment the other.

Anniversaries and their natural call for us to mark time, remember and reflect are a good exercise. As a nation we will be doing a bit of this work this coming weekend with the ten year anniversary of September 11. What has changed for us in these past 10 years, what do you remember about that day and who are we now that these years have gone by?

My hope is that each of us will take a look at these questions through the lens of worship this weekend as we explore a moment in time that changed so much for us. I am excited that Pastor Greg will be preaching this weekend as he as a very unique perspective on the events of September 11 and will be sharing those in worship.

May your week be blessed with many opportunities to remember not only the events of September 11, 2001 but more importantly that God is always faithful; no matter what.