Month: August 2024

Scripture:  Genesis 3:1-24

Dear Church,

This Sunday, we’re going to sin school. Because let’s be so for real, as the kids say. We have some un-learning to do.

Some of us were taught that sin was what other people did.  Some of us were taught that almost everything we did was sin.  Some of us were taught that since Jesus ‘paid our debt’ on the cross, we were incapable of sinning anymore. Or…we could sin but it didn’t matter anymore. Or that sin really meant ‘missing the mark,’ which doesn’t really sound like anything to worry about.

Healthy disciples of Christ need mature and sober wisdom about sin. We need to understand what sin is’ and what it isn’t, so that we can discover healing, wholeness and freedom in Christ. So for the next six weeks, we’re going back to class to recover the truth about sin. And here’s my promise to you:

No guilt, no shame, no condemnation.

But also–no delusion or flattery or cheap grace faux-theology that our sin is somehow acceptable or benign.

Because Jesus really did come to save us from sin and death. And we need to face our sin in order to see our salvation.

This Sunday, we’ll be learning about sin–because we have nothing to fear. Sin is real and destructive and against us. But the love of God in Christ Jesus is the most powerful force in all of realty; and it is good; and it is for us.

Come and hear the good news about sin!

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Joshua 24:1-15

Hello Grove!

I am so looking forward to sharing the message with you this Sunday. There are so many changes taking place as we wind down the summer. We are beginning to pack up our summer toys and prepare to make lunches and get bookbags ready for homework. Many of us have enjoyed this blazing hot summer while others are looking forward to jackets and cool breezes. As we look ahead to these changes, I want us to remember that seasons change but God does not. No matter what season we find ourselves in or what changes or challenges we may face God remains our consistent provider and protector and redeemer.

Last week, Pastor Kate wrapped up the sermon series, A Season of Astonishment: Reviling in the Ordinary Goodness of God, and this week we will build on that foundation. We will look at the goodness of God and ask ourselves what are we doing with it? I pray that we may be able to challenge action out of ourselves and each other as a community- in love, to recognize the gift of goodness and rest in its benefits.

I look forward to seeing you Sunday,

Nicole

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Scripture:  Psalm 8, Psalm 13

Dear Church,

We’ve just wrapped up an astonishingly good week of Camp Wonder (VBS, if you’re old school!) with children and youth at the Grove.  Each morning we played and sang and worshipped, told stories, made art, created friendships and feasted at the breakfast and lunch tables. We pounded flowers (you had to be there) and even learned to play disc golf!

And in the midst of all the holy chaos, we focused on wonder.  The incredible truth that each one of us is made in the image of a wonderful wonder-making God.  And we leaned into the blessed freedom we have to ask questions, express our doubts, get curious and wonder.  Every single one of us is wonderful and made to wonder.  Wonderful and wonder-full.

On Sunday, we’ll gather around two of King David’s prayers.  Psalm 8, extolling the wonders of creation and our place in it. And Psalm 13, where David vulnerably wonders where God is in his life.

I’ll leave you with a few lines from the original songs our children learned and will be sharing with you in worship. Our friend Elizabeth Bridges placed this line in the chorus of the song she wrote for them about the prodigal son: “You can never get away from how much God loves you.”  And these lines from the bridge of our theme song: “I am full of wonder and wonderful” and “I’ll wonder as I wander this great big world.”

God is better than we imagine.

The truth about God’s love is astonishingly beautiful. It is a holy gift to plant seeds of the goodness of God in the hearts of our little ones. How wonderful it will be Sunday to allow them to sing that truth back into our hearts. I hope you’ll come and be blessed.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Exodus 25:1-9, Exodus 31:1-11

Dear Church,

We come to the Grove from a lot of different places and backgrounds. We like different foods and root for different teams and celebrate with different foods and traditions. Other than Jesus, we have very little in common.

But over the years, I have discovered one other place of passionate agreement.  Something that unites us across generations, genders and cultures:

Everybody hates group work.

Almost every person has a story to tell about a school assignment or work project that went left because other people were bossy or lazy or incompetent. Most of us would prefer to do important work on our own, without depending on–or being sabotaged–by anyone else.

But that is not God’s will for us.  God calls us to life, to ministry, to work…together.  I hope you’ll join me as we look at the story of what is perhaps the very first group project–the time God asked the people to build a tabernacle-sanctuary in the middle of camp–together.

Because Jesus is our friend, but he does not want to be our only friend. God calls us to life with Jesus, together.  Come and see!

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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