Making Commitments, Keeping Promises
Dearly Beloved Friends,
On June 28, we will celebrate Confirmation Sunday at 11AM with our first in-person gathering of less than 50 people. Those 50 persons will consist of the confirmands, their immediate families, and mentors. Of course, the dream team and ushers (who will undergo training next week) will be present. Our six sixth graders have waited patiently for this day, which was originally scheduled for March 29. How fitting that we slowly and carefully resume in-person gatherings with these young leaders making a public commitment to the future of our congregation and the larger Church.
One of the questions the confirmands will have to answer is: Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?
As we have witnessed the evil, injustice, and oppression of racism brought to a new light in protests across the nation, this question and its answer carries a heavier weight. Along with our six brothers and sisters being confirmed, will we make a new commitment to become anti-racists? How will we keep the promise we are renewing with them to take action against what grieves the heart of God? Let us meditate on these questions and our responses.
In our local context, we are also making commitments and keeping promises for your safety and well being. July 5 will be the first Sunday that you will be invited to “sign up” to worship in-person. Marc Stewart has organized a user-friendly reservation system that Julie Gray will oversee. While we are starting with one service and 50 people, the hope is that we will be able to increase those numbers in the future. More information on that system will be available in the letter we are sending to you this week. Please read it carefully & in full when it arrives for more information. We will also be sharing another pastoral/congregational address to walk you through the details.
As the apostle Paul said so well in his closing blessing to the Corinthians , “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Corinthians 13:13)
all good things to each of you,
Dr. D.