INTERCONNECTED—-CELEBRATING COMMUNITY

Hand touching hand, God is here. 
Heart touching heart, God is here.
Life touching life, touched by grace,
held together in love.
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I first encountered this song in worship, 2006, when I started my call at St Jude Episcopal Church in Cupertino.  My colleague had come across it in retreat. It was sung while receiving the offering. It immediately spoke to me. We’ve used it here at CLC during the passing of the peace.  It’s a powerful affirmation of the connection we share as we encounter one another, something I value greatly. However, such encounters are not always delightful. It can be a challenge when we interact, because no two people are alike.  Our differences often keep us apart, while our similarities tend to draw us towards each other. Yet, it’s our differences that have the potential to help us grow and become more than we are on our own. That’s why I love currently sharing my call.  What Pastor Sue and I do together, I could never do alone. This is true for our community breakfast as well. No one entity could do it on their own in the way we do it together. Coastside Lutheran Church, Abundant Grace, and the many community members at large richly shape a ministry and service to the community abounding in grace every week because we do it together. 

This feeling of interconnected community creating us to be more together than on our own was very much a part of our ‘end of summer’ annual activities.  Liesl McPherrin, our Music & Children’s Ministry Director presented our 4th benefit concert in support of the community breakfast. This year’s focus was love, Amor.  The songs were not your typical love songs.  There was a lot of playfulness, irony, and beautiful music that varied from the classics to show tunes. I can’t tell you how many people gave thanks for the opportunity to laugh, to cry, and give to a worthy cause.  We are so grateful to ALL who shared their love of music and gift of song!  It was quite a community affair, drawing from our own choir, Coastside Chorale, and friends of this congregation near and far.  David Borac, our amazing pianist blessed us with the beauty of his playing in ways that continue to astound us. His quiet capable easy kind presence sets a tone that affects us all.  It is a joy to have him in our midst. Liesl, ...she continues to share her love of music, gift of song, joy in collaboration and performance with this congregation and beyond in ways that make it possible for us to sing songs we never imagined we could and that bring people together to experience church and community anew.   

Our annual book fair over labor day weekend was yet again a hit.  Those who put in the hours and hours and hours to prepare for this weekend are so clear about their love of books and the joy of sharing that love with others while supporting valuable ministries of this congregation.  I am astounded by this. It’s a powerful example of gospel living in action. Such a gift can be missed or taken for granted while at the same time faithfully serving the community at large. Thank you to ALL who shared their time, strength, energy, loyalty and care in numerous ways to make this book fair a great success.  Again, this book fair could never have happened alone! What I loved about this year was how the sense of community was taken to a whole new level.   Thanks to Karen Butcher’s inspiration last year, we decided to again provide scholarships for local Spanish speaking high school graduates in conjunction with Iglesia Del Mar as our thank offering from book fair proceeds. It takes muscle for set up and take down for this book fair.  Without Cindi of Inkspel and her crew who put in numerous hours of work after the book fair, the many leftover books would never find a new home.  We are so grateful for them! 
 
Over the years, Karen noticed Sundays drop immensely in sales and suggested a festival in which prices were slashed and giving increased to include a third entity. The community breakfast in conjunction with Abundant Grace as a natural fit. Set up involved not only Coastside Lutheran Church, Iglesia Del Mar, but hardworking contributors through Abundant Grace.  It was awesome!! Eric brought pizza lunch from a generous gift and more food was provided through choice dollars from a Thrivent member of CLC. In addition, thanks to Pastor Sue, we were able to get the League of Women Voters to come and aid people to registering to vote on Saturday and Sunday. It was so much fun to get to know them. They so enjoy being here. A strong sense of community was in the air and it was very very good.   

But, by Sunday after church, it flew off the charts taking new heights!  We had the “Bookworms”--Chris French, David Schorr, and Brandon Johnson share fantastic jazz music because of Abundant Grace, young exuberant dancers from Iglesia Del Mar (IDM), and the amazing dancers of the Peninsula Ballet Theatre.  A special thank you to Greg and Nina Amato who are an integral part of  the theatre and to each one of the fabulous dancers, including one who is a faithful member of this congregation--Mr. Robert Lowman, a stunning dancer, choreographer, and person in his own right.  Their program was so diverse, engaging, and a lot of fun! 

This festival Sunday afternoon was fantastic!  It was a lovely experience of community. The delight and interconnectedness of people who might never have met was palpable. One of my absolute favorite moments of the dancing was watching two young IDM dancers off to the side copying the moves of the ballet troupe, learning from them and marveling over what their bodies could do.  It was touching. “Hand touching hand, God is here. Heart touching heart, God is here. Life touching life, touched by grace, held together in love.” 
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The presence of God is evident every time we meet, whether known or unknown, friend or foe.  It’s like God intends the interaction, one with another. We were meant to be in community. As we enter this fall joining congregations throughout the world to celebrate the Season of Creation not only in September but throughout October, we get to learn more about what it means as people of faith to appreciate, honor, care for and respect our interconnectedness with ALL of creation—from humanity to all living organisms, plant and animal to inanimate aspects of the earth affecting and being affected one by another.  We may feel alone at times, disconnected, yearning for more, and perhaps unaware of how to experience it in ways that are life-giving, healing, empowering. Yet, if we look around us, the world and our lives are full of interconnection. It’s a matter of valuing what can truly uplift and enable us to be more of what we experience as blessing and joy, while letting go of that which does not. Come and be with others seeking to find the value, joy, and beauty of community and all it has to offer.

In the grace revealed to all through Jesus,

​Pastor Dawn Teuthorn