True Colors Revealed

Autumn is my favorite time of the year in Indiana. The trees seem to be painted overnight with reds, yellows, rusts, and browns. As instantaneous as it may seem, the colors have been there all along. The daily work of growing, seeding, and shading generated the greens that made summer lush and bright. However, the shorter days, the cooler weather, and those rainy summer days which we bemoaned have fed the colors that lay just underneath the leaves’ skin. The leaves turn, and colors emerge. It is a vibrant festival to the glory of creation where the tree’s true colors are revealed.

These shorter days with brighter colors turn the church school calendar to stewardship. In the Children’s Ministry Program area, the children wonder about how they can help, share, and care for the people and places around them. Every day that they remember whose they are and the promise they have within them, they are being stewards of God’s creation—themselves. They do not learn a new skill or memorize a new call; they listen to the beat of God’s grace and love in their hearts and respond with a promise. The children complete promise cards to find one or two ways that they will share that promise within themselves. These promises help the children to turn their hearts toward God, revealing the glorious colors that were put there by the grace of God.

The colors of fall cannot hold a candle to the colors of God’s love when it shines through the eyes and smiles of the children of Second Church. They help us to remember that our first thoughts are how can we nurture our Second Family and share the good news with the world. It really is my favorite time of year when the true colors of gratitude and grace are revealed.

Comments

And on the seventh day...

Figure 1 http://www.montreat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Mountains-2-400x250-300x187.jpg We think of “Sabbath” as a time to NOT DO something. We stop. We wait. We rest. We sit. However, that is a lot of work! I think of Sabbath as “making a space.” It is an active choosing, remembering, and prioritizing a holy space for God. It is less about “letting go” and more about “leaning in” to the Breath of the Holy Spirit. In this context Sabbath is a return to our making. You see, in the beginning “the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). It is the breath of the Lord God that stirs dust into human. It is the breath of the Lord God that makes us living and gives us a life. Therefore, “Sabbath” – a time for rest and renewal, is an opportunity to reach for that breath of God which gives u...

Where is the Love--Guest Blogger Rev. Caroline Dennis

(Spiritual Practices for Families: Giving Thanks) Where is the Love? In December, amidst the wrappings and the shouts of glee, we found a quiet time to come to the manger and contemplate the great Love that God sent, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Here, as sparkling Christmas lights give way to snow and rain and ice, as gathered family gives way to bill paying and schedule keeping, how might we hold on those manger moments when we embraced the Love that embraces us? In these more ordinary days, can we still see the light that leads us to Bethlehem, to the ordinary extraordinary places where Love shows up? Here is my invitation to you, and to your children: Pause... in the middle of your "what's next" life... to see, hear, touch, smell, taste... all the amazing that is right here and now. Point it out to one another like we might point out the twinkling lights on a Christmas tree. Give thanks... for the warmth of the sweater, the wag of the do...

Churching where we are: We are ALL able around God’s table!

I sat in the sanctuary Sunday, and it felt VAST. Some might think of it as “empty…” but there was a huge sense of space and a connection to beyond the walls. I realized that Our Church circle is SO WIDE! We were gathered, in our own homes, but each of us was there standing, kneeling, sitting,and praying together before our God. Your home is a “room” in the House of God if we gather in the name of Jesus Christ. Kid’s club has been talking a lot about how we do not do “random” acts of kindness. We do them on purpose! We do INTENTIONAL acts of kindness in the name of Jesus Christ. We do them because Jesus asked us to do them! God helps us to do them! It is part of who we are and WHOSE we are as God’s beloved children. One activity from Kids Club is the “I CAN” cube . It helps to remind us that, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). You can do this at home. Take an em...

Second Church Steps

Search This Blog