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Dear Church,

Ready or not, believe it or not–this Sunday is the first day of the new year.  For generations, Christians have marked time differently.  We mark the days not by the seasons or the calendar, but by the rhythm of telling and re-telling the story of Christ.  This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent–the season where we prepare for the coming of the messiah while remembering why he came and rejoicing in anticipation that he will come again.

So while the whole world will celebrate a new year in January, we keep time differently.  This Sunday, at the very end of the calendar year, we begin again.  For us, the ending is a new beginning–that is our sacred story.

And this year, in this Advent season, we will be learning new spiritual songs–Songs of Redemption.  Because, even though it doesn’t often seem like it, all of scripture is telling one story.  The story of God and creation.  And the essence of that story is one word: Redemption.  God formed all that is out of love–and though creation has been twisted and torn, God will not abandon or destroy–God will redeem God’s own.

It’s a truth so glorious it can only be told as a song.  
Through the prophet Isaiah, God sings to us
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.
Be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating;
for I am about to create a new Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it or the cry of distress.

That’s a song of redemption, Church.  Liars will tell you that what God is doing is only for the beautiful innocent few–that it will happen somewhere else or someone else.  But God says otherwise–the beautiful new heaven and earth will be made from and for the old.  Jerusalem won’t be destroyed and forgotten, but remade and renewed.  Our relationship will be restored, not severed.

In time and truth, what looks like the end is actually the sacred beginning. 

I hope you’ll join me as we open our whole selves up to new life and new beginnings in Christ.


Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Ezekiel 47:1,8-9  &  Revelation 21:1-5

For years, the prophet Ezekiel warned his people that God’s judgment was falling upon them.  Again and again, he implored them to repent and return to God or catastrophe would overwhelm them.  But everyone ignored his fiery sermons.  They knew there was room for improvement, but no one believed it could be as bad as crazy old Ezekiel made it out to be.   And they were right–until, suddenly, they weren’t.  Disaster was swift and absolute, and nobody could say they hadn’t been warned.  

Vindicated, the prophet opened his mouth to speak–but it wasn’t to say I told you so.  From the ruins Ezekiel began to show them their future–of a new way of life, a new way of knowing God, a new way of worshipping.  He described a new temple, built with a crack in the foundation–designed so that holy water would flow out to redeem the whole earth.  A sanctuary built to leak glory that would swell from a trickle into a river surrounded by trees with unfailing fruit which would nourish and heal the nations.

Sometimes, the only way to go on in the present is to remember the future and give thanks for what has not happened yet.  People of faith have always found courage and strength and hope by trusting that God’s promises are sure.  This week as we gather for worship, we will be giving thanks for the future revealed to us by the promises of God. 

Peace,
Pastor Kate

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Here’s something you probably don’t know about me.  I went to college to be an Opera Singer–on a scholarship, no less.  No, I won’t show you.  Long story short, it wasn’t my calling.  

My Opera career was doomed from the start for two, not entirely unrelated, reasons.  First, I don’t like Opera.  Second, I hated to practice and so I practiced as little as possible.  Having the capacity–the ability and the opportunity–to do something is essential.  But it is not sufficient.  You also have to have the commitment to practice.  This is true for Opera singing–and also for gratitude.

We all have the ability and opportunity to give thanks to God.  Most of us understand that we have an infinite number of reasons to be grateful.  We also understand that the act of giving thanks is generative and life-giving.  And yet–our knowledge and ability and opportunity amount to nothing until we (forgive me) just do it.

As a community, we are giving thanks this month.  I hope you’ll join us in our Thanks Giving Challenge and in worship.  We’ll be reading some of the Apostle Paul’s letters (Philippians 4:4-7, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) aboutthe necessity and power of giving thanks, especially in times of grief and loss.  But we aren’t gathering to learn more or think more.  We are gathering to practice.  Because the only way to become the joyful grateful people we already are in Christ is just to do the thing–to give thanks… so we will be.  I hope you’ll join us.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

YouTube-Thanks Giving Challenge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHWGS2eB2R8

11/13/21 Update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WjSeuKJFzA&t=3s

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1 Samuel 7:2b-12

Dear Church,

The people were gathered together in Mizpah–called by their prophet Samuel to repent of their faithlessness and return their hearts to God.  And just as they finished their prayers of confession, they looked up and saw their greatest enemy.  The Philistines were marching toward them, ready for battle.  The people were outnumbered, they were unprepared and–most terrifyingly–they were guilty.  They’d just acknowledged how they had sinned, how they’d abandoned the covenant and betrayed God–again. And now they needed help.  They needed God to save them–again.

And God’s response was thunder from Heaven.  Not against them, but for them.  Israel was saved, not by their plans or skill, but by God’s power.

And immediately after the battle-that-wasn’t, Samuel built an altar of stones and named it Ebenezer which means the Lord helped us here.  And every time the people saw that stone they would remember that time that God saved them from danger.  Not because they were good, but because God is good.  The people would see the stone and worship at the altar giving thanks–because the stone made them remember that God helped them.

This November, we are giving thanks in worship.  Because for people of faith, thanksgiving is not a holiday.  It is a spiritual practice.  It is a habit that grounds us in God’s goodness and trustworthiness.  And this month, we are inviting you to practice thanksgiving with us.  Because knowing and understanding is the booby prize of faith–transformation happens when what we know begins to shape how we live.  

So–give thanks with us.  Literally, grab a pen and paper and make a list of how God has helped you in the past.  Will it seem awkward and artificial and fake at first?  Maybe.  But if you struggle to believe that God loves you, if you struggle to trust that God is for you, if you worry that you’ve disappointed God one too many times and you can’t turn to him anymore until you get yourself together–well, giving thanks will pull you out of that shame cycle.  Giving thanks will ground your faith in who God is, not who you are.  Giving thanks will give you peace.

I hope you’ll join me in the practice of giving thanks–not just thinking about it, but actually doing it.  And then I hope you’ll take a picture and send an email to admin@thegrovecharlotte.org.  Because giving thanks together will grow the Grove in beauty and maturity.  And, much less importantly, it will help me not lose a bet.

YouTube-Thanksgiving Challenge.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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This Sunday, we end our October worship series on servant life by gathering together to worship God and give thanks for the saints we know and love who have died.  And that connection between servanthood and sainthood is so important for us to grasp.  We do not serve God in order to become saints.  We serve God because God’s love has swept us up into the salvation story.  We serve because, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been sanctified.

And so while we cherish and celebrate the particularities of those we mourn, we do not put our trust in their goodness.  We do not fear that their human imperfections will separate them from the eternal goodness of God.  Our beloved are saints in the eyes of God, not because of their strengths, their victories or their impact on the world–but because they were and are perfectly loved by their creator.  It is the love that formed them and that carried them in life and through death–it is a love that sustains them still.

Come and see how very good the news is–your loved ones are not lost to God or to you.  This is how our story ends.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture: 1 Kings 19:19-21

The biggest stumbling block in our servant life is not our ability, but our desire.  It is not that life as a servant of God is not possible–we are absolutely able to live the life that God is calling us to live.  Jesus isn’t looking for disciples who are faster than a speeding bullet, stronger than a locomotive or able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  Those are superheroes–God is looking for servants who are willing to walk the second mile, turn the other cheek, forgive repeatedly, speak truth in love and work for the good of others.  It’s not that we can’t do these things.  We just don’t want to.  

We don’t want to be servants because we don’t want to live small, boring, insignificant, weak lives in the shadows.

And if that were the call–it would be a hard sacrifice to make.  But when you think servant of Jesus, I need you to think less Jeeves and more Elijah.  A life serving Jesus will be filled with meaning, power, adventure, growth, purpose and–most remarkably–that elusive peace that passes understanding which Jesus promises.

I hope you’ll join me as we look at the witness of the prophet Elijah–who wasn’t a superhero at all, but the kind of ordinary servant of God we all are equipped to be.

Peace,
Pastor Kate

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Dear Church,

I read an article in Relevant magazine revealing that in 2019, all but one of the most popular 20 Facebook pages for American Christians were actually created by overseas bot farms in order to spread misinformation and steal personal data.  The groups had nostalgic and sentimental names like ‘smile and shine,’ ‘be happy and enjoy life,’ ‘blessing,’ and ‘light a candle for lost loved ones.’

What this reveals to me is not a problem with an internet platform, but a problem with the Church. When we believe we’re called to build our life in Christ around privilege and pleasure, we make ourselves ripe for exploitation and abuse.  The folks building those fake platforms know us better than we know ourselves–they knew just what to promise to make us click ‘follow.’

I didn’t see any fake platforms named ‘Dying to Self,’ ‘How to Serve with Humility and Grace,’ or ‘finding the strength to bless & serve our enemies.’  But that’s what the gospel story is about–Jesus didn’t come to be blessed and served–he came to seek and save and serve the lost and wounded.  That is the narrow way Jesus opens to us, and it is still the only path to abundant life and salvation.

I hope you’ll join me for worship on Sunday as we look at the beautiful and astonishing story of those who served the Aramean general Naaman.  Here we find the rare story of sons and daughters of Israel who understood and embodied God’s covenant with Abraham, especially one little girl whose name is unknown to us who prefigures Christ himself.  Come to be inspired, come to be challenged, come to behold the awe-ful way we are called to serve one another as Jesus serves us.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Matthew 25:14-30 (?)

Dear Church,

Before leaving on a long journey, a man left work for three of his servants.  In his absence, two of the servants labored as requested, but the third servant did nothing.  When their Lord returned, he was pleased with the obedient servants and angry with the one who did nothing.  The ones who were faithful were rewarded, the one who was not faced consequences.

Usually when we think about this story (Matthew 25:14-30), we focus on the servant who did not follow instructions.  We question his motives; we evaluate his excuses, and we resolve to be nothing like him.

But this month we are focusing on a less popular aspect of Jesus’ identity–his servanthood.  So, instead of wondering what was wrong with the third guy, we’re going to focus on what was right with the first two.  Where did they find the energy, courage and wisdom that their fellow servant lacked?  What did they know and how did it empower them to live differently?  Most importantly, how did their approach to serving mirror Jesus’ own?

I hope you’ll join me as we reveal the wisdom of a servant that leads to abundant life.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Dear Church,

If I asked everyone reading this letter to complete the sentence ‘Jesus is ________,’ we’d all probably fill in that blank differently:  

Lord, Savior, Son of God, Friend, Brother, Shepherd, King, Way-maker, miracle worker, promise-keeper, light in the darkness, God-with-us, Name above all names, Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Merciful, Grace, Hope, Love, Life, God…

There are a million different glorious truth-filled ways to fill in that blank–and I hope you have first-hand knowledge of many of them.

But there is a word that belongs with all the others that we often overlook.  And really, it’s the key to understanding how and why Jesus is all those other things.  But we ignore it because it doesn’t seem glorious or holy like the rest.   It doesn’t seem like something God could be–or should be.  

That word is servant.  Jesus was and is a servant.  Jesus is the One who serves.  This is an unexpected thing for the One who is all those other things to be–it almost feels shameful.  It is hard to understand how the one who is everything on that list could also be a servant.  And really, it’s even more strange than we imagine.  Jesus isn’t just anyone’s servant.  Jesus serves us.  

The fact that we struggle to accept this shows that we deeply misunderstand both Jesus and the sacredness of serving.

So for the next month we are going to lean in and seek understanding in a new worship series called, ‘The Life of a Servant’. Because friends, if Jesus is a servant, then we who claim to follow him are servants also.  If you are too good to be a servant–then you are too good for the narrow way of Jesus (Philippians 2:1-11).  I hope you’ll join me as we deepen our understanding of the holiness of this servant life we share with Christ. 

Peace,
Pastor Kate

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Whether you join us masked-up in the sanctuary or from the livestream–we’ll rejoice in the house of the Lord, bound together by shared worship.  Worship is our gift to God–but as we give it away, we nourish and strengthen our spirits.

And in the House of the Lord we find wisdom for these days.  Jesus spoke words of peace and revelation to his first disciples–who also lived in turbulent and uncertain times.  When their spirits were overwhelmed by fear and anxiety, he did not shame or scold them.  He taught them to look around to find peace:

Consider the birds of the air–consider the Lilles of the field…neither can care for themselves but notice how extravagantly God cares for them.  Remember God cares for you even more deeply.

Look around–notice the tender intimate faithfulness of God in nature and let it bear witness to you.  

I hope you’ll be rejoicing in worship with me on Sunday as Nicole brings us a message of courage and consolation!

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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