Our Summer of Manifesting Christ (Acts 2:42-47)

In the summer and fall months of our church year we celebrate the longest season of the church year. Some call it “Kingdomtide,” while others simply count the Sunday after “Pentecost,” but either way it is the time when we look for signs of the reign of Christ in our world, and we make those signs larger and more visible.  We manifest in our own lives what Christ is doing in His church and in the world around us.

That’s what is so special about the projects we undertake in the summer!  To start things off, we participated in the Relay for Life last Saturday.  Where was Christ in a fundraiser?, you might ask.  Well, you have to have eyes to see, but many of us saw Christ in the teamwork that helped build the team booths from which walkers ventured out to walk the track in honor of survivors of cancer and in memory of those who have gone to be with God.  And many saw the Holy Spirit in the lighting of hundreds of “luminaria” – paper bags filled with sand and a candle that by nightfall surrounded the drive and walking path. The space was transformed into a circle of common prayer where, as all the flames rose skyward, we all were drawn closer to the ones we love and closer to our God.  And many of us saw God in the hands that were held tight as cancer survivors and their caregivers bore silent witness to the love they share with each other as they walked the “Caregivers Lap.”  We weren’t in church, but for all of us ”Daring Disciples” and for so many others that night, Christ was alive in us.

This is what we brought to other events of our “Summer of Manifesting Christ.”  Volunteers prepared snacks, helped with crafts and games and taught Bible lessons to young children at our ecumenical Vacation Bible School on July 9 through 13, and other volunteers brought laughter, encouragement and greater faith to campers at our summer church camps at Crowder State Park!  We invited friends and neighbors to our Ice Cream Social on July 15 and to a special meal with a missionary, Dr. Anil Henry, on August 15.  And yesterday morning, August 19, we once again blessed the backpacks of our children and youth, and blessed the briefcases and shoulder bags of those who work with our younger generation.

You see: it’s all about reframing the conversation, to reveal that Jesus Christ is present through His Holy Spirit, in everything we do.  I look forward to meeting you in all the places where we share this ministry together,

Pastor Paul

Are You an Outie or an Innie?

¹⁶So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away,

our inner nature is being renewed day by day.   — 2 Corinthians 4:16

I celebrated the 37^th anniversary of my ordination to the ministry this past June 1^st.  I was only a young twenty-four-year-old, and fresh out of seminary, when I knelt in the sanctuary of the First Church of Christ in Woodbridge, Connecticut for the laying on of hands and for prayer.  I was full of a sense of God’s Call but I had much to learn.  For nearly four decades, beginning while I was still in school, I have had a connection to a particular congregation with whom I worshiped and for whom I preached, prayed, planned and practiced ministry.  The faithful people of those congregations have taught me so much about life and ministry, about service and witness, and about getting up every day and giving God your very best, no matter what.

I have seen many people struggle daily with chronic pain who nevertheless came to church and participated in the life of the congregation.  One woman, well into her nineties, still drove herself to church to attend Bible study.  Another, with chronic leg pain, still served in the kitchen preparing meals for the church and the community.  Others, while in fragile health themselves, would visit shut-in members and bring good cheer in the form of flowers, cards or cookies.  Their outer nature may have been wasting away, but it was clear that their inner nature was being renewed every day.

It calls to mind a question my kids used to ask each other and sometimes their Dad: “Are you an innie or an outie?”  I soon caught on to the joke: it had to do with whether your belly button was recessed or protruding.  The kids would lift their shirts, laughing, to prove the veracity of their status as an “innie” or an “outie.”

Pastor Lillian Daniels, of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, recently posed this children’s question in a spiritual devotional blog, suggesting that those who are “outies” in a spiritual sense are concerned most about their bodies: how they look and what others think.  “Innies,” on the other hand, were people who drew upon that inner nature and followed pathways of service, having little regard for appearances.

I still strive, after all these years, to be an “innie!”  How about you: “outie” or “innie”?

I look forward to greeting you at the church door or in the places where we renew our inner natures in service to our King,

Pastor Paul