I have a confession to make this morning...I absolutely love Fall! And as an ex-schoolteacher, I still get goosebumps watching my granddaughter get on the bus for the first day of school. It has been so fun for me to see the joy on the faces of all of our Bear Creek “littles” on their first day!
Newsflash: Those “littles” aren’t so little anymore. Grady is driving! Emerson is 4 feet tall! Hailey is in 9th grade. Owen looks like he’s taller than I am. I mean I could go on and on here! Our “littles” are growing up! And when I look at their faces, I almost feel like I’m looking at them again for the first time! How do I say this, there is a joy, an anticipated joy in this for me. It’s like I’m getting a chance to meet 15 new people again this Fall. People who I’ve known, but who are now somehow “new”! My curiosity is peeking. I can’t wait to see how each one of these “littles” has changed! How cool is that!
Fall is a joyous time for me as a pastor because it means we are ready to roll into a new year! Our choir is meeting up again, we are marching into the Fall with a new theme (“Telling our Story”), we have new book studies and small groups forming, and we are starting to see new people find their way “back to church”. Last Sunday, while I was vacationing (let’s give our own, Rev. David Orendorff, a hand for filing in for me last Sunday) we had a new family come to worship! And on Wednesday at our first “Fall” choir rehearsal, we had 2 new singers...and, get this, one of them was the mom from this new family! Great job, Bear Creek, in welcoming this new family in and inviting them to choir! How cool is that!
One of the things I am loving as we roll into Fall is the spirit and energy, I am catching from our new Director of Music at Bear Creek! Bathsheba joined us this summer, but she is in full our “forward” gear heading into this Fall. I came back from my vacation and her first words to me were, “I want to set up a meeting with you right away, because I’m so excited to be picking our Christmas music this year. I have found so much great music for that season!” How cool is that!
If you don’t know much about Bathsheba, one thing you ought to know is that she is new to this “church” thing. Bathsheba is a classically trained piano player and teacher. And really good at it! And so, she’s familiar with some Christian music, but has never been a part of a church. All this is new to her! And with that newness comes a contagious joy that just fills the room! She is really loving this part of her “new” life! She’s taking on the challenge of this newness with an enthusiasm that you can’t help but want to join. Again, as Fall approaches, there seems to be a “joyous nature” to what we are doing! The old is falling away, and the new is emerging! How cool is that!
This week, the clergy from the Puget Sound district, met to do something new for us. Something we hadn’t done since the beginnings of “the pandemic”. We actually gathered together as one at Camp Indianola for a “day away”! And what was fun about this is we didn’t lead it. We asked one of our colleagues leading a drama ministry in Seattle to lead us, Michelle Lang-Raymon, and told her that we had three goals: to relax, to get to know each other, and to have fun. And guess what...for that entire time something “different” entered the room. Something we hadn’t felt for a long time. A guest entered the room...you probably already guess who it was...JOY! Pure unbounded joy! And with that joy came connection!
At the retreat, Michelle Lang-Raymon, our leader, made a helpful distinction concerning joy. She said her goal for this retreat wasn’t just joy. She felt strongly that “just joy” wasn’t enough. Joy, for her, was just an emotion. A feeling. Something that happens to us. She asked us, instead, to open up our time together as a time of “rejoicing”. “Rejoicing” for her was an activation of the word “joy”. “Joy” was a reaction. “Rejoicing” was an action, something that required your participation. As she shared that, I detected just a wisp of a new wind entering the room. Several people repositioned their bodies: leaning in, sitting up, and opening up. We realized that we had a part in what was happening here and as the day grew that little wisp grew into a wonderful and mighty wind of renewal and connection. How cool is that!
As you come to worship this Sunday, in whatever way you choose to worship with us, I’m wondering what might happen if moved from a time of “joy” to a time of “rejoicing”? What would happen if we just made that switch from come to “watch” something...if we just made that switch from just wanting to be fed...and moved instead to entering the room as if we are truly a part of a body that is ready to “rejoice”...to be an active part of the wonderful and joyous act of worship?
May God enter our hearts this year and move us from Joy to Rejoicing. May God enter our lives this year and give us a fresh wind of hope. May God enter our lives this year with eyes to see what is new and what is possible at Bear Creek UMC.
Your friend and pastor, ready to rejoice with you, Brook
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