Rector’s Update: Turning together to 2024
Dear Restoration,
“The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction.
But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18
God says some hard things.
This was our Bible reading this morning in our Daily Prayer Guide, as the apostle Paul writes to a Corinthian church that is divided up in factions and enamored with spectacular displays of ‘spirituality’. Paul reminds them, first and foremost, that none of us can save ourselves and the instrument by which God, in His mercy and grace, decided to save some, is just foolish. It makes no sense to our human desire for merit and for control. It is challenging to trust that a cross is the way to life.
God says some hard things.
I am praying for you.
Each morning, I take our CCB list and hold about 15 of you in my heart and pray for the work that God is doing in your life. I am praying for us as we allow God to speak through difficult texts like Romans 9. I am praying that God would make us grow deeper in our faith in Him.
I am praying for you.
Would you pray for me and our vestry?
We met last night for the first time in 2024 and we are headed to Meadowkirk this weekend for our annual retreat. There are wonderful things happening in our church: I hope you have signed up for a small group. Perhaps you have considered bringing yourself (and a friend!) to Alpha – in order to ask those good questions about hard things? The RestoWomen retreat is in a few weeks (with a waitlist) and the RestoMen retreat is open for registration. Apex happens on Sunday and our Kids’ Small Groups are filled with abundant joy. We give thanks for these wonderful things.
Our Vestry is asking the Lord for his direction as we imagine what 2024 could hold. We need wisdom about facility space, youth staff changes, and hospitality for our friends and neighbors whom we want to tell about God’s love. The vestry retreat starts on Friday evening and ends on Saturday afternoon. Would you pray for me and our vestry?
This Sunday evening, January 21, from 5-6pm, we will have an Evening Service of Prayer and Hope for 2024. I will share highlights from the vestry retreat, we will respond in prayer, and we will take part in the Eucharist. I invite you to come back for this special evening service as we offer ourselves to God, join Him in the wonderful things He is doing, and humbly accept the challenging things He says in His Word.
See you on Sunday!
-David
I have been praying for our church as we enter 2024.
It is full of uncertainty and has the potential to be one of divisive contention for our country. Fortunately, we, in our humanity, don’t hold the universe together, God does (Colossians 1).
So we seek Him.
We put our trust in Him.
We ask Him to lead us to the rock that is higher than I (Psalm 62).
And so we shall.
We will have a Special Evening Service on January 21 from 5–6pm. It will be similar in feel to the Evening of Prayer, Music, and Discernment that we did back in October. We will not have Kids’ Small Groups, but we will have a nursery.
Our vestry has their annual planning retreat that weekend and I want to have a chance to report out to you what the vestry is hearing from the Lord and the plans that are coming to the forefront for 2024. During the service, we will pray about the staff changes that are happening in our Youth Ministry, the people around us- our neighbors- who we want to hear good news, and for our nation as we anticipate the ups and downs of the coming presidential election.
When we can’t see the path, God invites us to pray for light.
In this season of Epiphany, we will ask God, together, to offer His illumination.
