August 30, 2024
Dear Church,
As I was driving into church this week, I noticed some leaves already beginning to change to a brilliant orange and red. We live in a cycle of creation – formed from the earth, we tend to the earth while we are alive, and return to the earth, and to God, when we die. God is in every aspect of Creation, from sunbeams to bacteria to each of us. We are made in the image of Creator God, and we are not separate from any part of God’s creation.
During the first three weeks of September, we will be shaping worship around the Season of Creation, a newer liturgical season that gives us space to reflect on our interconnectedness with all the earth, to lament the ways we have failed to steward God’s creation, and to ground ourselves in the truth of God’s outpouring love for all that God has made good. We are interwoven with Creation, and with each other.
Later this fall, we will be celebrating Grace Lutheran’s 60th anniversary! 60 years of lives and stories woven together, with each other and with God. Leading up to that celebratory worship service on October 13th, we will be doing a community weave, beginning this week.
A community weave is a project where a community comes together in creative expression, making together a piece of functional art that will adorn our altar. This is truly a project for the whole community – whether you consider yourself an artist or not, whether or not you’ve ever tried textile craft, you are encouraged to participate, by writing a prayer or a hope for this community on a strip of fabric, and then weaving it into the loom.
There are detailed instructions by the loom in the Narthex, and I pray that this time of creating together deepens your connection to this community, and to God.
In Christ,
Pastor Reed
Every Friday, we send an email to the congregation and any others who would like to learn more about the Grace community. The last four Friday emails are posted below.