We  strive to be a safe place, a sanctuary where people are accepted, included, and cared for as they are. We have been called to be agents of God’s transforming power, aligning ourselves with the Holy Spirit as we pray, worship, learn, gather for fellowship and serve together.  

Dear Friends,

It is amazing to me how fast 2019 passed by! I’ve been told the older you get the faster time passes. Maybe that is true, but I also think when we keep involved in activities and our are minds active, time passes quicker. I do remember when I was at work with the military if we were just waiting for the next training ~ time went slowly, yet if we were busy ~ time flew by. Possibly the same principle applies to whole years and decades? Anyway we find ourselves on the threshold of 2020 ~ amazing!

To begin the year, I started reading a new book. It is called As Kingfishers Catch Fire by Eugene Peterson. (Be warned it is not about bird watching, but is titled after the poem of the same name by Gerard Manley Hopkins.) If you aren’t familiar with Eugene Peterson, he is a retired Presbyterian minister who died in 2019. He started and served a church in Maryland for 30 years, but is most noted for being the translator of The Message version of the Bible. He knew As Kingfisher Catch Fire would be his last work and wanted to make sure Presbyterian pastors got complimentary copies. I received mine as I attended a conference at Whitworth College (Presbyterian school) in Spokane. His son, Eric, was speaking at this conference and made sure we each received a copy of his dad’s book. (Certainly a generous gift to given a hardback book and someone secured the funds for this to happen ~ thank you!)

The book is a collection of Rev. Peterson’s sermons from his years in the pastorate. The theme (glue) that hangs all of these sermons together is the concept of congruence. His desire was to assist his fellow disciples of Jesus in his congregation to live a life of congruence. He says, “A life of congruence (is a life) with no slippage between what a person is saying and the way they are living.” As modern day disciples of Jesus, as apprentices of Jesus, this should be our goal. Think about it. I ask myself a lot about congruence in my life ~ is what you see what is really within me, if not what needs changed?

May our New Year together be one of personal growth and enjoying the adventure of following God with our lives.

Grace and Peace, Bob