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Dear Friends,
Thank you for the prayers, the well-wishes, and the beautiful flowers shared while I recover from surgery. I am looking forward to being with you in worship on Sunday sporting a stylish black sling. Until my recovery is further along though, other than being in the building on Sundays I will be working from home at a reduced schedule.
I am so grateful to Steve Wall-Smith for preaching and leading worship. What a blessing! Thank you to all of the faithful leaders who always keep worship and all of the life of the church moving forward! I am eager to see the refinished floors in the lower level as well as the reorganized office space. I know tonight’s Community Unity international Dinner will be great!
We will continue with the Freed-2-Lead sermon series this Sunday focusing on Spiritual Gifts--what they are and why God gives them to us. In this newsletter there is a link to an online assessment will help you identify your spiritual gifts and a link that will lead you to find more information about Spiritual Gifts.
When I think about Spiritual gifts, it reminds me of writing thank you notes for wedding gifts. Steve, happened to read a note thanking someone for the trivet as it was on its way to the envelope. He turned to me with a puzzled look on his face and asked “What is a trivet?!”
I knew that a trivet was something you put hot dishes on so they don’t scorch your table or counter, but at the time it was more fun to make something up. I told him that “trivet” is the standard word you use in thank you notes when you don’t really know what to call the gift you received. I came clean shortly after I shared this false information, but for a moment he believed me, probably because there were a few gifts, lovingly given, whose function and purpose required some real thought.
I think this can, and sadly too often does happen, when we identify our spiritual gifts. We can perhaps name them, but we don’t know what to do with them! So, this Sunday we will talk about what we might do with these gifts once we identify them. Not only does the Spirit give us gifts. The Spirit also helps us determine how these gifts and our passions intersect with the world’s needs.
As with last Sunday there will be a bulletin insert with additional resources, but for those of you who prefer to have more time to think, I invite you to consider these questions as Sunday approaches. The questions you will be invited to consider on Sunday have to do with identifying your passions and your perception of the world’s needs:
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· What brings you to life? What is your deep gladness?
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· What breaks your heart when you look at the world?
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· What do you see in the world that makes you angry?
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· What life experiences have you had that could help you address those issues?
The gifts given to us by God through the Holy Spirit are not “trivets” or trivial. They are given to you for fulfilling a purpose that is important to God. I hope you will take time to think about these questions and take part in worship either in-person or online. I look forward to worshiping with you and discovering with you on Sunday.
God’s grace and peace be with you,
Pastor Kim
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