You are never too old…
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream,” according to C.S. Lewis. My dream is for the Kingdom of God to be realized at our church…within our congregation. The Kingdom of God is like the best buffet you can imagine, where everyone is cared for and nourished. I dream that our work at the church connects us with Jesus and sends us out into the world to offer hope for those who are hungry, lonely and lost. Worship is one big piece of claiming the Kingdom of God in our midst. In August we will be having ONE worship service on Sundays at 10 am. The goal is to have the whole congregation together so that we can share fellowship, build relationships and witness to our faith. It will be what
some call a ‘blended’ experience meaning that some of the weeks we will have band music and other weeks we will have more traditional music. Some weeks we will share in formal liturgy and other weeks it may be more extemporaneous. I hope you will open your heart and come be a part of the community. August is the time to try new things and meet new people. Marcia McFee, a worship coach and planner, says that ‘worship is as necessary to our lives as breathing.’ Christians are people who have received and continue to receive the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit is God realized in our time. McFee says that worship is a time to in-spire (breathe in the spirit of God), ex=pire (breathe out the hurts and pains of the week) and con-spire (breathe with the family of God). The work of God’s Spirit is active and constant and physically within us. The work of worship is a part of this Spirit Respiration we do every week. The mission of the church universal is to make disciples of Jesus and send them out into the world to do ministry. Worship is the fill-up station for disciples to be made and empowered to go out into the world. It is the Holy Oxygen center where we receive breath into our body, both individually and corporately. The journey of discipleship is learning about God and Jesus from the lessons of the Bible for today’s world. It is a challenging world we live in and we all relate to it a little differently. So different worship experiences and songs will speak differently to each of us. I invite you to come to worship in August. Come to see your faith family and experience a variety of worship. The Kingdom of God is realized when we join together, work together, and offer one another the grace of Jesus. Let us celebrate in the month of August in worship! Amen. Grace and peace to you!
Rev. Dr. Leigh Ann Shaw