Transforming Struggle

Our fall "Kickoff Sunday" is set for September 11th, which means that's the week we start our new "fall" schedule. I have to put fall in quotes because I'm pretty sure it's still going to feel like summer... And boy has it been hot!

That said, we can still be confident that fall, and then winter, and then spring, and then summer again, are all on their way... Transformation of our seasons continues whether we feel like it's coming or not.

People are a little different. God is constantly encouraging followers of Christ to be transformed by God's love into someone more and more like Jesus. But we fight it.

Yep. Kinda crazy. But it seems like it's just our humanity showing.

Sometimes we fight God's loving transformation. Sometimes our pain, our fear, our schedule, our exhaustion, our denial or confusion are just so overwhelming, we get stuck...Or we deform instead of transform.

I don't believe that God causes our pain, but I do believe God will make something useful and possibly beautiful from our pain somehow, if we are willing to BE transformed.

If you have experienced (or are currently experiencing) tragedy or stress or difficulty or struggle— whatever you want to call it—that feels just a little too close all the time...That keeps you from breathing, from moving, from being transformed by our loving God...I encourage you to be part of this discussion group that Linda Pottorff will be facilitating, looking at the book, "Breaking Open" by Jacob Armstrong.

If we order books as a group through Church Source before August is over, we can get them for half price ($9.50 ea. YAY!), plus get a deal on shipping (double YAY). Linda would like everyone to have read the introduction before the first meeting on September 11th so the discussion part can happen. I believe it will be money and time well-spent for everyone who participates. :-)

Please let the church office, Linda or me (Pastor Michele) know if you'd like to participate by Monday, August 29th.

I hope to sit in on it too, if we can find enough people to help Shelby in our Children's Ministry. We want to be sure to be following the standards of "Safe Sanctuary" which requires two adults on hand in the classroom... So if the adult study doesn't sound like something you need right now, but you'd love to hang out with Shelby and our young ones, please let us know about that, too.

Thank you! And yes, the ukelele story will have to wait for another time...

So blessed to be your pastor,
~ Michele Slott

Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash