A Monumental Week!

We are celebrating Vacation Bible School at CLC, and this has been a Monumental week! VBS is a time to welcome kids from the neighborhood into a time of ministry and grace. There is fun, excitement, and a lot of God's Love. I remember going to VBS when I was a child. I made all kinds of new relationships, and I experienced God's Blessings in all kinds of new ways. As I got older, Vacation Bible School offered opportunities to serve, and I still love sharing the Good News in the midst of this exciting week. 

I meet regularly meet people who believe God is irrelevant to our world. What could God possibly have to offer me in my life? However, I also read that things like loneliness, anxiety, and depression are becoming more and more prevalent, and I also understand that many people feel like they are falling out of control. 

I believe the church has always offered hope to the world. There is joy in the community here. Sure, there is also brokenness. There are moments of failure, defeat, and even death. However, the church is a community that says we believe in hope over death. We believe that we can always stand with Love. We believe that God Loves us so we can love each other. 

This week we are beginning a new sermon series on the Book of James in the Bible. James is know for being a book all about putting faith in action. It is important to share the Good News of Grace, but we are also told to go out and live with God's Love in our hearts. This should not be a burden. It should be exciting to share the blessings.  

Personally, I feel Vacation Bible School offers this love to the world. It is an opportunity to show how God feels about us. Today I hope we can all take a little time to experience God's Grace. I hope we can believe God loves us, and I hope we can put our faith into action!

Blessings!

Pastor Brian

Finding Unity

How do you feel about your neighbors? 

How do you feel about the strangers you meet?

There are so many reasons we find to ignore, dismiss, or even detest our neighbors. For some reason, it is easy to notice all the differences between us. It doesn't take long before we start to dehumanize those around us. 

God looks at the world differently. God does not see wickedness or evil in another human's eyes. God does not see you as wicked or evil. We are all created, loved, and called children of God. The Bible speaks of the potential we hold when we  come together. Jesus called all of his followers friends, and he spoke of the power that we have when we live united as the body of Christ. 

Last week, my family went out of town for a few days as we were recovering from Covid. We did not have any severe symptoms, but we did have to change a few plans. In the end, we were blessed to take a quick trip to Sequoia National Park, where we camped for four nights. Before we left, we heard a few news stories about some of the worst parts of humanity. This was contrasted with our arrival at our campsite. It didn't take long for our kids to meet another family with four children. They were all about the same age, and they loved making new friends. They splashed in the stream. They made mud pies, and our youngest spent a lot of time helping another three year old find the perfect place for her camp chair. These kids naturally saw each other as friends. It was beautiful!

I wonder what is holding so many of us back from seeing with the eyes of a child. We all need friendships. We all need love. Yet, we find so many reasons to push others away. I hope we can open our hearts up a little bit today. I hope we can bless those around us by seeing as God sees. We are all God's children! This world is full of ups and downs, but we can do this together.

Blessings!

Brian