Kernersville Moravian Church

In recent weeks, it hasn’t been quite as important for me to share our worship resources with you here because we’ve been working to incorporate them more fully into our online worship broadcast. We hope that having everything together in one place for you to share in worship is helpful.

I know at the surface it probably seems as if not much is happening. That truly isn’t the case, there is much happening behind the scenes as we do the work of adapting to new ways of being. Most of the familiar patterns of congregational ministry are impacted in some way or another – but there are also opportunities that come in the midst of adapting. While every member of our staff still has the same basic function, how we are able to do our duties and what they look like from day to day is changing. There is also a recognition that no one solution will meet the needs of everyone – so we are working to create multiple options to keep us connected with one another during this time.

Summer is fully upon us now, so even as we prepare the way for offering some opportunities to gather at the church – and in the building of small groups – and seek new ways to meet pastoral care needs in this new reality, we are finishing up the writing and preparations for VBS and I’m getting ready to lead the first virtual camp of Laurel Ridge’s season this year beginning on June 28. None of this is what any of us could have imagined doing 3 months ago. From reimagining worship through 2 different phases of being online only to beginning the preparations for an outdoor phase alongside of an online one. All of this happening while we prepare the sanctuary to be more fully equipped to have a worship gathering and offer a streaming or recorded option.

We know you are grieving and want to return to a Sunday morning that looks and feels like the last time many of us were all together back on March 8. We can’t offer you that quite yet – this will continue to feel and look different, even as we do begin to offer a gathering in coming weeks. Not everyone is ready to come into a large gathering yet, so we ask your patience with me, with the members of your boards, and most importantly with each other as none of this is easy for any of us.

Be sure to take a few minutes and read through the latest update from the Joint Board:

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In our worship this week, we will share in the prayers and hymns of the Liturgy of Grace. This can be found in the PDF included below. I also will be talking some about prayer practice and suggest a 2 different ways that we can enter into prayer.

Sometimes we may struggle to quiet our minds and bodies enough to be in a listening posture toward God – so that we might nurture that relationship. You may have walked a labyrinth before, but there are also finger labyrinths – ones you can trace with a finger on paper or carved into different substances like wood, metal or stone. Simply search for “printable finger labyrinth” to find ones you can print at home. More info here: https://devozine.upperroom.org/spiritual-practices/praying-with-a-finger-labyrinth/

I also briefly describe a prayer practice where we draw out out prayers symbolically through a prayer map. We start with ourselves and what we are in need of or might offer as praise and then we move outward through the people and issues that are known to us. You can find examples of this form here: https://prayingincolor.com/examples

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We’ll be using the Liturgy for Reconciliation during our Sunday, May 17 worship, please use this copy of the songs and prayers to join in during the service webcast.

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Our Worship this morning includes the Liturgy for Christian Unity from our Hymnal and Litany for Mother’s Day drawn from the more recent supplemental songbook, “Sing to the Lord a New Song”. Both these liturgical pieces are included below, so that you can participate as we share in these prayers today.

Remember that everyone is also invited to call in or use the video chat link that you received by email or printed newsletter to join in an tele/video conference for our congregation to share in a time of fellowship today. Today at noon, and for all the remaining Sundays of May, you are invited to join in an opportunity to see or hear each other and have a time to visit with one another.

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Your Joint Boards began a conversation this past week,  
one we will continue in a series of upcoming weekly meetings,
to discern together answers to the questions
“What can we be doing in together in different sorts of ways now?” and
“When we are able to resume in-person gatherings, what will that look like?”

Both through gradually beginning to hold more small group or committee meetings via Zoom (a tele and video conferencing platform) and reaching out in conversation with many of you, we are seeking to find meaningful ways to connect that don’t require us to be in-person to do so.  And we are starting to think through the next steps once we have permission to gather again, which may likely be in smaller groups first.  First and foremost, we acknowledge that most of our gatherings fall into Phase 2 or Phase 3 of Governor Cooper’s plans.  There is not a firm timeline we can offer you for that in terms of dates on a calendar yet.  Please know that we will gradually be seeking and offering opportunities to be the church even if we aren’t in the church building – an important practice for any church family.

What you can do right now:

Send a card or a make a phone call to anyone else in the church family.  
I think we are all hungry for a conversation with someone
we haven’t seen or heard from in weeks.

Pray, be in prayer for those who are sick or involved in caring for the sick,
be in prayer for those experiencing job loss and economic hardship,
be in prayer for creative ideas and plans to connect us as a church family,
for volunteers ready to help implement them,
and for me and our Joint Board as they try to listen to you and God’s leading to guide us through this time.

Be in prayer for our CE committee as we reimagine our plans
for a Congregational Bible Adventure together instead of VBS this Summer –
creating another way for us to be together no matter our ages
and dreaming up projects to do good in our community
while we can’t do the usual face to face things.

If you have thoughts about something that can keep us connected or collectively do good in the community that can be done while maintaining good physically distancing, don’t just suggest an idea – think through the logistics of it (can it be done during shelter in place or when only fewer than 10 should be gathering? what would it require to happen?), reach out to others who might have interest and help to implement it, and share it with me or talk it through with a board member as a proposal for us to consider the feasibility and places where it might dovetail with other similar ideas or committee undertakings.

The first steps of a few ideas and ways that you might be able to connect, even if from a distance, will be coming in the week ahead… hopefully more will follow in the weeks ahead.

Please know you are loved and treasured, even as we cannot come together in this time.  Remember the church is not closed in this time because none of your lives are closed, WE ARE THE CHURCH, only the building in which we gather isn’t open and that is for the safely and wellbeing of us all during this time.

in Christ’s abiding presence, Pastor Christy

During today’s worship, we’ll be sharing in the prayers and hymns of the General Liturgy 1 and the Church Litany that follows it from the 1995 Moravian Book of Worship. A PDF is attached so that you can pray and sing with us. Many thanks to Harold and Debbie Young who offered their voices through the responses of today’s prayers and Matthew Hyde who reads one of our scripture texts for today.

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In our worship this week, we welcome the Rev. Dr. Nola Knouse as she offers our sermon and other leadership to this week’s virtual worship and our weekly mailing packet that goes out to those who aren’t on our email list. As many of you know, the Rev. Dr. Knouse serves as the Executive Director of the Moravian Music Foundation and was gracious and comfortable enough with the current filming format of our worship to grace us with a message this week while allowing Pastor Christy some time for both rest and to attend to other tasks for our congregation during this time. We give thanks for her assistance and leadership today.

We continue to listen to guidance being offered from both the state and denominational leaders about large group gatherings. Governor Cooper’s press briefing yesterday has extended the stay at home order through at least May 8 and, given the plan he has outlined, we might be able to resume some gatherings at the earliest by late May.  The Joint Board will be having conversations about the many questions we need to think through soon.  Please be patient and keep in mind that we are trying our best to make decisions that uphold the health and wellbeing of all members and friends of our congregation. 

If you join in our virtual worship, please share in praying and singing along with our Easter Liturgy found in the PDF embedded below.

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In this season of shelter in place and the different patterns and limitations we are presented with, we are also presented with opportunities.  We may be feeling a bit like the simple sculpture presented above – twisted wires that seem all tangled up, empty or hollow spaces to the frames of our living, or hearts that feel terribly exposed and vulnerable due to changed patterns of living.  

This little sculpture resonated with me after spending some time thinking about Thomas in the upper room and some of what we may have in common with him right now.  But Thomas’ vulnerability expressed in his demand to see Jesus for himself hits a little close to home.  We want to see each other, we want to return to normal, maybe we even want God to fix it.  

How are you finding your heart exposed, your feelings twisted up, or your frame hollow in this time?  How are you filling yourself up?

I know the depths of tired that I am feeling and the struggle to meet the different and sometimes more complex demands of ministry right now.  
Was I able to vacation and get some much needed rest this week as planned?  Not really.  A little rest, but it’s hard to navigate a substitute when you’re still the tech team and video crew… and not every pastor is ready to jump into preaching to a camera.

I’m sure some of the rest of you are feeling your own versions of this –
each different, each with their own nuances.

Remember we are asked to be gentle with each other, to recognize the different challenges each of us are faced with in this time, and walk with each other through it.  Maybe like me, this time is calling you to find a different sort of Sabbath to ground your weeks and find some rest.

in peace,
Pastor Christy

During our Easter Worship, we’ll be sharing in our Easter Liturgy – a different one than the one used in our Sunrise Service. You can share in these prayers and songs through this PDF.

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If you join in our Easter Morning liturgy offered during our Sunrise Service or the scripture reading from the Readings for Holy Week that opens the service, here are the resources you might want to have for participating…

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Here is the link to the video that I mention in today’s worship – a piece called Easter is Coming – from Karoline Lewis, one of my favorite scholars on the Gospel of John. Be sure to watch it all the way through to the end or you won’t see what she does with this, it’s worth it!

The PDF’s for the other elements of today’s service are included below…

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Our liturgy for this morning can be downloaded in its entirety so that you can join in the prayer and song today.

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One of my Moravian colleagues serving an Anglican congregation in Edmonton kindly shared her recording of the Godly Play Story – The Mystery of Easter – to accompany this week’s worship.

https://youtu.be/eSU3v2bk55U

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Based on recommendations that we have received from the Provincial Elders Conference and guidelines from our community leaders, the Joint Board has made the difficult decision to suspend all in person gatherings or activities of our congregation throughout the month of April.  We know this is incredibly difficult due to the many beloved traditions of this season in our congregation.  We make this decision out of a love for each of you and all those in our larger community.  We know this to be the best decision for the health, safety, and well-being of all.  

We will continue to offer electronic worship options, including a series of Holy Week Readings services and both an Easter Dawn Service and an Easter Morning Worship.

    These will be available via the church website –www.kernersvillemoravian.org 
or you can see them on the Kernersville Moravian Facebook Page.

Unfortunately, we need to ask that families refrain from cleaning and dressing the graves of their loved ones in God’s Acre this Easter.  This is a major gathering every year throughout those days leading up to Easter.  To take appropriate precautions this year, we ask you to hold off on doing this at this time for everyone’s health and safety.  

The church office will be minimally staffed between 8am – 12noon on weekdays, but the phone will be always be answered on weekdays between 8am – 5pm.  We encourage you to use the postal mail for contributions and tithes during this time.  Any mail that we receive or any contributions that are dropped off (in the golden box just inside the Cherry Street entry doors) will be picked up and placed under fire-safe lock and key in the church office daily around 5pm.

We want you to know that you can always find someone on the other end of the phone line here at the church during our usual office hours.  Please, if you need a friendly voice to connect with during this time, take us up on this.  Jen will be happy to talk with you and she can help you to connect with me if you need to do so.

While I will be working primarily from home during this time, I will still be creating our worship opportunities and seeking to connect with those who have expressed needs.  Bear with me if sometimes I cannot answer immediately, but given time I will follow up.

We thank you for your understanding.

In Christ’s deep and abiding peace,
Pastor Christy

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In recent days, we’ve all been wondering what next and how much more is going to be impacted by Covid-19 precautions.  We hope you are being wise and choosing to do those things out in the world that must be done while limiting extra physical contact when it is possible.  I know this feels strange and in some cases almost impossible.  

At this point, please remember that all worship and congregational activities being held at the church are suspended until further notice through the end of March.  Along with the closure of schools, as per our usual weather policy, all events are canceled.  As soon as we have more information and decisions about the month of April, we will begin sharing them with you.

For many of you, I know you can’t imagine just calling each other instead of dropping in for a visit.  Or you simply don’t consider yourselves tech savvy enough to engage in technology.  Maybe you don’t think you’re hurting anything to keep on doing your usual routines.  Or maybe you’ve already found yourselves hunkered down whether you want to or not – with kids trying to figure out new ways of experiencing school via technology.  

Here at church, we’ve been trying to figure out ways to offer encouragement toward different ways of connecting during this time.  These are ones that don’t push us to ignore or neglect the important recommendations about our entire society working together to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus.  

Even without technology:

• We can call one another.

• We can run an essential errand for someone who doesn’t need to get out while taking care of our own essential errands.  Remember, make those drop-offs on porches instead of visiting.

• We can write notes to each other.

• And if you are in regular direct contact with a family member or caregiver who has access to technology, you can ask for their help to experience some of the video worship experiences we will be making available to you.

With technology:

• We can go to the church website to view video worship clips – www.kernersvillemoravian.org or see them on the Kernersville Moravian Facebook Page

• Check out links to some online or digital content that I will be posting regularly soon.

• Email us the church office and keep us informed about your needs or prayer requests.

What’s happening with Worship?

Each Sunday we will make a new E-Worship piece available that includes music, prayers, and a sermon.  I know this isn’t the same, but it is a way for you to connect and to feel that you are a part of something bigger even from your home.

For those who request it, we will begin sending out a weekly mailing with printed copies of some of the worship materials we will use in the E-Worship posts.

What’s happening with Giving?

We invite you to remember that our sharing of our tithes and offerings is a part of our worship of God.  Just because we can’t gather together doesn’t mean that we can’t choose one of several ways to make these gifts of our selves and our resources during this time. 

How can we give?

The easiest and most impactful ways for you to contribute to the church right now are: 

• 1) By continuing to write a check, only for now we suggest you mail it in.

• 2) If you bank online, request a check be sent to us via online bill pay.

We discourage folks dropping by the church for now, but as long as we are able to maintain regular office hours, we will try to do so.  We will have a drop box available for checks to be left in and all contributions will be secured.  We do continue to have an online giving option, but we remind you that there is a credit card processing fee that comes out of credit card transactions that are made.

What can we do?

Maybe you can pick up additional shelf stable food items during your grocery run and stop by the Blessing Box by the Activity Building to drop some things off for others in need.  

What’s happening with Pastoral Care?

As always, I am listening.  Give me a call in the church office.  Call or text my cell phone (and understand if I don’t answer or respond immediately, give me time).  You can ask for it through the church office, if you don’t already have it.  For now, we will continue to keep the church office open from 8am – 5pm on Monday through Friday.  But we will not be able to remain open if we become a hub of activity (and escape), so only essential functions should be happening onsite, please.

If you have a need, even if it is just a voice on the other end of the phone, please call us and let us know what it is.  If you are under age 65, in good health, and willing to assist members that have a need let us know that too.  We will be working to connect willing callers or helpers during this time with those who need an errand run or just a regular phone call to check on you.

Psalm 139:7 reminds us, “Where can I go from your spirit?  Or where can I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.  If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your right hand shall hold me fast.”  

Even in the midst of different routines and patterns, even away from our familiar worship spaces, God is still with us.  Breathe that message in during these days.  Remember that we have embedded in our tradition times when our ancestors worshipped in house churches and lived deeply in this knowledge that God is always with us even when everything else seems to have changed.  Breathe God in as you watch the rebirthing of Spring out your windows or during time on your porch — and worship.

In Christ’s deep and abiding peace,

Pastor Christy

Sunday Morning Edit: You can access our digital at-home worship opportunity by clicking here.

Dear Brothers and Sisters of Kernersville Moravian Church,

We have been closely tracking the developments of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and listening to recommendations being made at the state and local levels for preserving the health and safety of all people in our communities.  On Thursday, March the 12th, the Provincial Elders conference shared their recommendation that our congregations consider suspending worship services and other large group gatherings through the end of March.  Their recommendation comes alongside of the similar recommendations from a number of our denominational partners that were issued yesterday and are in keeping with messages coming from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS).

Our faith and our church community are vital parts of navigating challenging times, especially times like these when we are uncertain about what to expect.  Our Joint Board has agreed that suspending our scheduled Sunday Worship Services, Sunday School, Lenten Wednesday Meals & Worship gatherings for the remainder of the month of March (March 15-31), in keeping with the recommendation of our denomination, is the wisest course of action at this time.  Given what we are seeing worldwide about the effects of this virus, taking steps to prevent the spread of the virus by limiting our physical interactions with one another may be the most impactful choice we can make to keep everyone in our community as safe as possible during this time.  By taking simple steps to limit our physical contact with each other, we can prevent those who only experience mild symptoms from unknowingly transmitting this virus to others who are at much higher risk of serious illness.

Gathering for worship remains central to our community life together, but we believe this is the most responsible decision we can make by joining with many other congregations and community organizations in seeking to slow the spread of this virus and protect our whole community from harm resulting from it.  Here are the ways that we will be adapting to this decision in the intermediate time:

• Jonathan and I will be creating and broadcasting brief, informal worship services that will be made available via the Kernersville Moravian Church Facebook Page and via our website, www.kernersvillemoravian.org, on March 15, 22, and 29 at 11am.  We’ll have the bulletin available on the website each week and you can follow along with us.
• Upon request, the weekly bulletin and a copy of my sermon will be made available to folks who do not have internet access by mail.  Call the church office to be added to a list of recipients.
• Call the church office to let us know of prayer concerns and keep us in the loop about developments in your life.  We will continue to operate even during this suspension of worship services and group gatherings and we still want to provide care and support to you via phone calls, texts messages, video chats, social media, and email.  Consider doing the same with each other.  Check-in by phone on those whom you think might need a hand or an errand run.  Take a walk with a friend.  Embrace an opportunity to slow down or to reach out to support each other in compassionate ways.  Wash your hands and stay home if you are feeling sick.
• Listen for needs that may arise in our community, share them, and listen in for ways we can creatively support those extra needs that may show up during this unusual season.  Remember that the church is not just a building, it is people loving and serving God together by sharing their resources of time, talent, and treasure.  Remember to continue sharing your tithes and offerings as we may see significant needs develop in our community during this time and in hope of our coming back together again in the near future to resume our usual gatherings.

We are still living into this decision and there will be ongoing updates in coming days.  For now, here are the additional cancelations or suspensions of activity you should be mindful of: 

• All Women’s Fellowship activities
• The Spring Chicken Pie Workshop 
• Band Practice
• Tuesday Prayer Group
• Provincial Day of Prayer programming
• The Provincial Aging Well Conference 
• The regional gatherings of the Provincial Organization Core Team (see newsletter)
• Adult Children of Aging Parents (ACAP) meeting at Knollwood Baptist Church
• Moravian Heritage Tour Information Meeting

When in doubt, call the church office first and we will advise you about what is or isn’t happening and answer your questions.  We will continue to keep our typical office hours on Monday – Friday from 8am – 5pm.

Help us get this word out quickly by reaching out to those who do not have email access or lack web savvy and update them about what is happening. 

Remember Jesus’ words, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be among them.”  He did not say this needed to happen in a church building, or whether we had to be seeing each other face to face in-person.  Let’s find creative ways to be present to each other during this time – tuning into worship via the internet, calling and connecting with each other by phone or social media, and being mindful of the needs of others.

In Christ’s deep and abiding peace,

Pastor Christy

Wait, aren’t we supposed to be in the wilderness with Jesus?  That might be more what you’d expect to find me reflecting on as we begin a Lenten journey, but…  the lectionary actually offers us two texts that ask us to consider where our focus is.  Yes, there is the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, the typical text with which to begin our Lenten journeys.  But there is also the temptation in the garden of Genesis that is another wilderness journey.

In Jesus’ wilderness, his focus always points back to God.  He trusts God will provide, so he doesn’t need the offer of food.  He doesn’t feel the need to test God’s care and he doesn’t crave power.  Jesus’ temptation and stance is unique – it’s about who Jesus is meant to be.  His focus is all on God – what God is calling him to be, what God offers that nothing else can.  But our wildernesses usually look a bit more like the wilderness of Genesis and that tree in the center of the garden.  But which tree is in the center of that garden?  In Genesis 2:9, there are 2 trees – the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But when we get to the temptation for the humans living in the garden in 3:3, we have a singular tree.  What happened to the other one?  Oh wait, God asked them not of eat of only one of those trees, the good & evil one.  The fruit of the other is fine, the fruit from the tree of life.  The focus is only on the one that is forbidden.

So the question comes to mind, what’s in the middle of your garden on this wilderness ramble we’re embarking on?  God was in the middle of Jesus’ garden.  But where is your focus, what consumes it?  That’s what’s in the middle of your garden.  Is your focus, the place where you center your garden, where you mean for it to be?  Could this be a season to re-center yourself?

We’ve arrived at this last Sunday of Epiphany, the Sunday when we are annually reminded of the moment that a handful of the disciples are witness to a change in Jesus’ appearance.  This change in Jesus’ appearance on that mountain top was about more than simply looking different, it was about recognizing something fundamental in his character and being.  It was seeing God reflected in him.

As we also happen to be lifting up the ministry of our preschool program this week, it also seemed fitting to pair this transfiguration text against another moment when Jesus is asking the disciples to transform their own way of being.  Jesus invites the disciples, after listening to two of them argue about who was the greatest along a journey, to consider who is really the greatest and how that should transform their entire conversation.  

It can be far too easy to hear of Jesus’ transfigured appearance and the mystical experience on the mountaintop and have Matthew 17 feel like something unique to Jesus being who he is.  But what if we are all invited to be transfigured as he is?  To have our appearance visibly alter in ways that are obvious to others, to be shaped into ones who can reveal God in the world.  Our journey of transformation sometimes asks us to see ourselves clearly first – to recognize how our outward ways of being would be seen by another.  Not am I dressed well-enough, am I presentable, but instead what message does our demeanor send.  How are our actions speaking louder than our words?

Are we being visibly transformed by our relationship with God?  
Or are we stuck at what is already comfortable for us?  
Do we not really want to be pushed toward a new place?
How could we enter into a transfiguration transformation of our own?

Join us on Sunday!
Pastor Christy

We pick back up with the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5 this week and we hear metaphors for the ways we are asked to magnify God’s presence in the world.  We hear about salt and light, and then there are the implications of an intensification of the commandments just given through the beatitudes that Jesus seems to be suggesting.  What does it mean for us to magnify God?

Think about it, a magnifying glass doesn’t just make the text appear bigger – that’s only the technical change.  The more important change, the adaptation that the magnifying glass offers to us, is that it enables us to see differently.  The magnification intensifies and in doing so makes something we might have overlooked become more plain to see.

Jesus is making a point here.  That it is incredibly important to really understand what God is asking of us in the beatitudes.  Not that we just need to make adherence to the law a bigger part of our faith.  Jesus isn’t throwing away any of the Old Testament, but he is raising a question about the ways that faithful people may have focused on certain aspects to the exclusion of others. The beatitudes should bring us up short for the ways that we still turn away and neglect to join in the work with and for those who seek peace, who need mercy, those who are hungry, thirsty, or struggling.  We focus on changing those who we want to be more like us.

We make the same mistakes that Jesus is highlighting in this sermon.  Instead of our being mutually transformed into beloved community, as this sermon asks us to be, we focus on (and enlarge) differences that can separate us.  Join us on Sunday, as I continue to unpack the sort of magnifiers we are asked to be in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  

–  Pastor Christy

This week we encounter Isaiah 65:17-25, where the prophet brings the word of the Lord, “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth;  …be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating.”  This scripture and many others like it remind us of the ways that God is always making new.  And we need these reminders that God is always engaged in this creative endeavor, this work of making new again and again, because we all know how hard it is to embrace newness and change.  Yet our God is a God of new things, of constant creation, and invites us to be fully invested, even rejoicing, in the possibilities of participating in this.  We are invited to be stewards, the caretakers, of God’s creative force lived out in the world.  Maybe that feels overwhelming.  I think we often feel that we are “only” small parts of God’s larger story, that God’s activity is more directed toward us.  But what if we begin to think of the ways that God’s story comes into being through us?  That God’s kingdom newness is birthed through our ability to be stewards carrying God’s shalom – God’s peace, love, and just action – in every encounter we might have.

in peace,

Pastor Christy

What does it mean for us to hear throughout scripture that God is with us?  For Moravians, this is part of what our celebration of the Chief Eldership of Christ is about.  Christ is the Chief Elder who sits among us in every Board or committee meeting, in every classroom, in every small group that gathers.  Christ sits at all the tables and gatherings of life with us.  This is the uniquely Moravian perspective on the immanence of God, the promise God that is present to us in the world.How should this knowledge that Christ sits among us in our conversations shape more clearly, or even transform, our ways of being with and for one another?  How should it be impacting everything we undertake together?This week we’ll be dropping in for the oracle of God that Haggai delivers in Haggai 1:15b-2:9, where we hear about the work of rebuilding the Temple out of its ruins.  Haggai offers the word of the Lord to the people, “Take courage,” he says, “for I am with you.”  

Jesus is trying to share a set of core values with his disciples, these are like the building blocks for the ways Jesus is teaching us and his disciples to live out the law of love.  How can this list of blessings and woes be the core values for a rule of life? How can they be building blocks for discipleship? Well maybe we need to hear them and hold them with fresh ears to the language that Jesus uses.

We generally hear the word “makarios” from the Greek translated as “blessed” or “happy”, but “unburdened” or “satisfied” are equally accurate translations.  The word “ouai” from the Greek is usually translated here as “woe”, but it truly does not mean “cursed” or “unhappy”.  A better sense of “ouai” might be expressed as “yikes” or “watch out”, it is a declaration intended as an attention getter or a way to emotionally impact our tendencies and direction.  And we have to remember, in the perspective Luke offers us on Jesus, the reign of God is among you right now and it is available for you to participate in by the setting of your heart and mind and the actions of your mouth, hands, and feet.  

If that’s the case, we are asked to reassess our lives, our actions and internal perspectives on the world that guide our actions, in light of these core values.  

• Unburdened are those who are poor because you are already relying on God’s kingdom.
• Unburdened are you who hunger, because your need will be satisfied.
• Unburdened are you who weep, because you will be surrounded by support until you can laugh again.
• Unburdened are you when people hate, reject, insult, or condemn you because of acting in Christ’s ways.
• Joy will come to you from God in different ways through this law of love.
• But, yikes, watch out if you are rich, because you are surrounded by your comfort already.
• Yikes, watch out, you who have plenty now, because you will be hungry.
• Yikes, watch out, you who laugh now, because your mourning and weeping will come.
• Yikes, watch out, when people speak well of you for that’s what was done in the past with false prophets.

How are we being asked to actively reassess our lives?  By looking at our lives alongside these core values. How do we live in relationship with God in ways that leave us unburdened? By creating these realities. How do we live in relationship with God in ways that don’t lead us to say, “Yikes, watch out!”? By catching ourselves when we are feeling a bit too satiated and comfortable.

The last segment of this passage backs up this more nuanced reading with its list of straightforward commands:  love your enemies; do good to all, but especially those who meet you with hatred; bless those who curse you, pray for those who offer mistreatment; treat people in the same way that you want to be treated.

If these core values, the building blocks, are the recipes for living that help us to be present to God, then to come in ways that allow us to unburden ourselves with God and not need, yikes, reminders that we are straying too far away from God’s hope for us, then they can offer the structure we need.  But the structure without something to help it hold together, becomes frail and fragile, easily torn apart and knocked over.  For the bricks to hold together, some mortar is needed to bind us.  And it is the cloud of witnesses that has the power to do this binding together through the years, through all the variations that life has presented us with.  These core values, these beatitudes, only work when we are in deep, meaningful, and trusting relationships with each other.  We can only come to God and be unburdened when we have each other to share the weights that we encounter in life.  We can only be in solid relationship with God and one another, when we aren’t, yikes, watch out, too comfortable in our self-reliance and separateness.

How does adding the mortar, the relationships that bind us together in the cloud of witnesses, change what we can build?

The boxes have been moved in and I’ve begun to have a few initial conversations to help me orient myself to your congregation’s patterns and traditions. I look forward to meeting many more of you very soon, with my first Sunday coming up on October 20. I understand that a single service has been planned for that morning in the Sanctuary at 10:00 a.m. with a lunch to follow in the Fellowship Hall. As I prepare to join you, I thought a little information about what to expect as I arrive might be helpful.

For my work with congregations who are in transitional times, I prefer the term Transitional Pastor to Intentional Interim Pastor. Yes, I am coming to help you take an intentional look at aspects of your life together and help you listen for where God is calling you now and into your future. I am also coming to help you capture the wonderful and ripe opportunities that a time of transition presents congregational families. I come as a shepherd for this time of journey and so “Transitional Pastor” better fits that role of looking for the treasures waiting to be discovered or finding aspects of your life together that may feel as though they have been lost along the way.

To help me get started in our transitional journey together, one of the first things I want to do is spend some time in one on one conversations with as many of you as possible, these can be individual meetings or meetings with a couple or family grouping. I have worked with Jen to create a calendar of times when I am available for these conversations and I invite you to schedule a time during the day or evening that best suits you within that calendar. When you schedule a time, please also indicate if you’d like to meet with me in the church office, at your home, or over lunch, coffee, or dinner within the times I am offering. Please call or email Jen in the church office to schedule.

I will be setting out some open office hours soon and this is a time when I welcome drop in visits with me at the church. I will also likely set a drop by “office” hours time in one of the local spaces away from the church, so that you can catch me in a more informal setting if you’d like. (I’m open to suggestions of nice spots where I can set out my laptop, work, and have members easily join me for a conversation…)

In the grace and peace of Christ,

Pastor Christy