Summer 2018

“…Whatever you do with your life---whatever you end up achieving or not achieving---the great gift you have in you to give to the world is the gift of who you alone are; your way of seeing things, and saying things, and feeling about things, that is nobody else’s.  If so much as a single one of you were missing, there would be an empty place at the great feast of life that nobody else in all creation could fill.”

---Frederick Buechner, from, The Clown in the Belfry Writing on Faith and Fiction

        On the day of Pentecost this year, four capable intelligent gracious young women knelt before the altar one by one as each of their parents anointed their foreheads with chrism oil proclaiming, “You are my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased.”  Scripture tells how Jesus heard this same sentiment on the day he was baptized before his public ministry began.  Through our baptism, we learn that we are God’s beloved children in whom God delights and celebrates, not because of what we do, but because of who we are.  Somehow along the way, more often than not, we lose sight of this truth.  We become convinced in the depths of our very beings that we are responsible for making God love us as opposed to the truth—that God already does before we take our very first breath. As Psalm 139:13-14a so beautifully puts it, “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
       I am blessed to spend several years with our middle school age youth as they prepare for affirmation of baptism—a public reminder of how they are God’s own filled with the Holy Spirit, called to be who God made them to be.  We lay hands on them and pray “the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the love of the Lord” be upon them both now and forever. (Isaiah 11:2)  It’s a powerful experience to behold and receive. All spoke of how it had meaning for them, touched them in a very special way.  I find time and again it is my hope and prayer for them (and for you) that they have a deep sense of being loved and valued, with much to offer the world by just being who they are.  They do not have to be anything other than themselves.  However, we often forget that, don’t we?  We try to be what others want us to be or what we think we ought to be; but that’s not what following Jesus is all about.  It’s about love.  It’s about grace.  It’s about being a part of something greater than ourselves. 
          I often tell them that if they take but one thing from our time together, let it be they are never alone.  They are loved by One who will never let them go, no matter how far they stray, what questions they may ask, or how unlovable they may feel.  The community of trust we form with each other is a reflection of a steadfast never-ending love made tangible in Christ.  As the disciple Paul so poignantly proclaims to the Romans: Nothing, ...no one can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Check out Romans 8:31-39)  This love is not only reflected in our Touched by Grace youth, but by this congregation as well.  For this I give thanks and praise. 


​ Pastor Dawn