Grace and peace to you in Jesus’ name. First, please allow me a moment to express my gratitude to you for your continued encouragement and support of me, our church’s leadership and staff, and our congregation. God keeps blessing our church with new people and new ministry opportunities and you keep rising to the moment. It is still a privilege to serve this church as I enter my eighth year as its Senior Minister.
I have enjoyed working on the series of sermons from the book of Ecclesiastes. This book reminds us that while it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day events of our lives, and tempting to ascribe eternal significance to the things we spend our time and energy on, in the end, the only thing that will last is God. When we spend our time and energy on the things God cares about, we get to participate in things that are purposeful and lasting. The seasons of our lives come and go, filled with ups and downs, but God is the only constant in all of them.
This series has also helped remind me to try and keep a broader perspective, especially during this time of our year as our nation enters the home stretch of a long election season. As people of faith, we can and should care about our country- its policies and the people who lead it. At the same time, we know that God’s power is greater than any political power and our ultimate trust is in God.
People of faith will disagree about people and policies, but let us make sure that our disagreements over issues do not cause us to be cut off from each other as siblings in the faith. We can continue to look for God’s divine spark in every person and not sink into behaviors that do not reflect the love and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Coming in September, I’ll share some sermons on the lessons children teach us about faith in a series called, “Keep it Simple.” For all of the ways we can complicate our faith and our lives, the simple faith of children can help us remember and focus on what is most important.
Then later this fall, our church will join The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection and dozens of other churches across the country with a series of sermons designed to help us remember the power of Jesus’ words, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” We will explore essential truths around the themes of kindness, respect, humility, compassion, and love.
I hope you will make plans to worship with us each week during this series. And I hope you will invite a friend to meet you here for worship as well. I believe the Church has a golden opportunity in the months ahead to lead our communities to be places of grace and peace, even when we do not all vote the same way. John Wesley once said, “Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may.”
I look forward to the ways we will be the Church together in the weeks and months to come. I pray that God will keep blessing us with opportunities to share our faith with a world that is longing for hope.
With love, and joy, serving as your pastor,
John McLarty