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Looking Toward Sunday
January 24, 2025
Dear Rumple Family,
It looks like we will have our first Sunday in over a month when we are not worrying about the weather. Ray’s weather says the high on Sunday is a balmy 39. It seems hard to believe! But, as I look toward Sunday it is not simply the weather that I am thinking about.
This Sunday we will have the great joy of all of us reaffirming the promises made at our baptisms and we will ordain and install four new elders into service as spiritual leaders for Rumple. As I say each year, this is a highlight of our time in worship for me. I love the visual image of the laying on of hands. It is this beautiful representation of what we believe: that the same Holy Spirit is present when we are all ordained, and each one who is ordained is connected, by that Spirit, to the generations of those who have served the church before us. Those of us who commit to follow Jesus, through baptism and ordination, are joined to a great communion of disciples throughout 2000 years!
We’ll look at a challenging and moving scripture passage from Luke 4:14-21, considered the inaugural sermon of Jesus in the Gospel According to Luke. In the sermon, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah and, through it, explains what the focus of his earthly ministry will be like. As his followers today, these instructions are also for us and our lives as followers of Jesus.
In addition to sharing in the reaffirmation of our baptisms and the ordination of elders, this Sunday is also the final Sunday of January, so we will receive our monthly Pennies for Hunger offering. All of the funds received for this offering go to help feed hungry people within our presbytery and in Kenya. This is one tangible way that we show we are followers of Jesus as we care for our hungry neighbors.
If you plan to come to worship in the sanctuary on Sunday you may want to leave yourself a little extra time. Construction has begun for a water retention system in our lower parking lot, taking all of those parking spaces offline for one to two months! This is a requirement for us to comply with Town of Blowing Rock building code before we can begin construction of our new fellowship hall. Yes, it is inconvenient, but it is another step in completing our campus construction. So, I like to see it more as progress than inconvenience!
Two final things: First, Sarah Parker’s last official day with Rumple is today, Friday, January 24. I know you join me in giving thanks to God for her ministry among us and her many gifts. We wish her every blessing as she begins as the full time pastor of the High Country UCC congregation. She will not be a stranger, as she has agreed to help us in the transition and to train a new Director of Operations when that person comes on board. Second, as we welcome four new elders into service at Rumple, it means that four others have finished their service among us as elders: Kim Rogers, Alice Salthouse, Gary Scott, and Jeff Stewart. These folks have served Rumple faithfully and the church of Jesus Christ and our Salem Presbytery. If you see them, please join me in thanking them for serving the church in this way. We are so fortunate at Rumple to have so many capable and willing leaders.
Enjoy the warmer weather, Winter Fest, and I hope to see you in the sanctuary or online this Sunday.
Grace and Peace,
Kathy
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