Looking for Good News

   My first Sunday at the new church went very well. I was extremely nervous about standing up front and leading worship to be familiar to the church, without every having seen what happens there myself. But there is joy in going on a journey when finding someone who has been where you are and can give you some encouragement and some good advice. I had a person give me excellent advice and a cast of characters who knew I was new with them, whispered help along the way. Thank you all for sharing in what we all should do, help people on their spiritual journey by sharing what we have already learned.

   A funny moment, in my own mind anyway, was before I said a word in front of the whole church to begin the service and welcome people, someone stepped into the pulpit ahead of me and removed the microphone from the pulpit. Here is what I was thinking at that moment. Oh great! I haven't said a word and they are taking the microphone away from me. It was funny to me, and maybe helped me to relax a moment before beginning. Now I knew I had a microphone on me, but the sight of their moving the microphone out of the pulpit just struck me as something to tell people about my first Sunday. We had some trouble with my microphone too, the gain wasn't up as much as it should have been. There are some things you just don't know until you are actually there. I think next week will go better.

   I have really enjoyed the meet and greet the new pastor groups this week. I preached on Sunday from Luke's gospel where Jesus is starting his ministry with the reading of the passage from Isaiah 61, that the Spirit of The Lord is upon me to proclaim good news. I thought all of us could be reminded that God wants us to be a source of good news for someone else, especially when they need it. The meet and greet sessions have been good news to me. I've learned a lot about those who attend. We have shared who we are, what we do or did during the day, and what brought us to this church and why did we stay. Almost everyone testifies to the fact that this church made them feel very welcomed and accepted into the fellowship of the congregation right away. I'm seeing that for myself as well.

   I've met Charter Members, who were the first to join the church back when it was just starting in 1956. I've met those who have just come on board recently. I've met people from South Africa, and Zambia and places like Arizona and Mississippi and Washington DC. Some of the people who attend here worked in other parts of the world for a while as well. This is a very talented and dynamic congregation. They are truly looking forward to continuing to be so as we look to find ways to invite and include new people in our congregation. And we are like many other congregations, looking for ways to invite and welcome younger generations of our neighbors.

   These meet and greet times will help me get to know the story of the people of the church so that my preaching and teaching and writing will be in tuned to the ongoing stories already here, and they are working. Thank you for your kind welcome to Elaine and I.

   This week I'm going to share the story of the Welcoming Father, often callled the Prodigal Son, to remind us of how welcoming to others we can be. I welcome you to join us. Summer time worship is at 10 am. And there is coffee and juice and conversations to follow. Come and Join us.

Blessings

Pastor Jeff