The following is Kent’s article in this month’s issue of The Shorelines.
I am writing this on one of my favorite days of the year. Tonight we will hold the confirmation final retreat for this year’s 10th Graders. It is 18 hours of intense listening to each other that we hope will make for lifelong friendships and strong Christian faith, too. What I particularly like is the honest sharing of lives and the total appreciation of the gifts that each youth brings to life. This is the acceptance and encouragement we see Jesus bring to his relationships in the Bible. And this is the mission we have taken on as a congregation; connecting faith journeys to life’s journey. We become community together.
Our mission trip this summer to Pocahontas, Iowa was particularly rewarding because of this Faith Journey aspect, too. Because we showed up to help just a few months after the tornado, people were still telling their stories. They were still finding personal healing in the fact that we took time to listen to them, look at their pictures and do some volunteer work in the hot sun. An Iowa farmer and some suburban kids turned from strangers to community members as we responded to the blows a tornado struck on a farm.
I think this is the reason for all of us to attend these first few weeks of Welcoming Sundays or Rally Sundays. It is the time to find a fellowship group or study group or service group that can give us the opportunity to listen to each other and make real community. As much as anything we do in the church, connecting our lives moves us from strangers to community. In doing that we experience how a Faith Journey makes for a happier and more meaning-filled Life Journey.
On the journey,
Kent
