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Weekly Devotional

June 16, 2008
 

Galatians 6:4-10  ⁴ All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor's work, will become a cause for pride.  ⁵ For all must carry their own loads.  ⁶ Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.  ⁷ Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.  ⁸ If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.  ⁹ So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.  ¹⁰ So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.

Greetings from (not so) Sunny California!  While I must say that it is nice to be out here celebrating with my sister-in-law Christa (She graduated yesterday from Stanford with her PhD in Education), I have not yet grown accustomed to many things out here.  First of all, it is rather cold out here (a balmy 59 degrees tonight) and the weather is pretty much overcast all the time.  However, that does not mean that it is raining.  This area of the country does not get much rain between March and September.  Second, people out here do not know how to drive.  Everything is very fast paced, and everyone also talks very funny….there are no southerners out here and therefore no one that I can understand.

            Anyway, I will have many stories for you when I get back, but for now, I want to share some exciting news with you all.  Last Tuesday, your church council met and made some very important decisions.  First, during the month of July, we are going to physically act out the “Go in peace, serve the Lord” aspect of our service.  What I mean by that is that the council is asking each of you to adopt a neighborhood and hand out flyers on Sunday afternoons.  This will not only make us more visible in the community, but will help carry the mission of spreading the good news to others.   We are going to have the flyers printed within the next two weeks so that we will have plenty to hand out.  Our main focus is going to be the neighborhoods closest to the church and the ones that you live in.  If you do not live in a neighborhood, we ask that you team up with someone and “adopt” a neighborhood.

            Second, the council has set three dates in August for cottage meetings.  It has been a year since I accepted the call to be your pastor, and a lot has changed in a year.  These cottage meetings will give us an opportunity to gather in small groups and discuss what all has happened.  In Christian love, I hope that we can talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly.  We are at a stage in our life together that we need to evaluate where we are and where we are going.  Following the three cottage meetings, the council has set a date for a church-wide supper so that we can share with all of you the conversations that happened at all the cottage meetings. 

            More about these dates will be published soon, but I ask you to go ahead and be thinking about July and what neighborhood you will adopt.  Everything that happens at the church is a team event, and we must work together if we are going to accomplish the things that we want to accomplish.  I hope you will start to pray about where we are headed and how you will be involved.

In our prayers this week:  Linwood, Gail, Gail’s mom, Deborah Steed, and Alma.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Judson