Gratitude for Roots and Leaves and Buds in Our Midst

It’s just a few days before our celebration of All Saints in Sunday worship and I’m filled with gratitude for the saints of Bay View UMC. We are blessed with a strong ministry, a strong giving base and a strength of spirit that continues to grow disciples for Jesus Christ after 126 years together.

My evangelism, worship, missions, memorial, educational thinking cap has opened a conversation with several of our creative visionaries regarding opportunities for 2015 that will expand the reach of our story across the span of our years, here and across the gaps between those inside and those who are outside our doors.

We are a legacy church, one whose foundation is laced with strong, faithful families; whose generations of members have kept us on solid ground and whose vision for loving ALL people by opening our doors has created on-going opportunities for ministry and celebration to this very day.

Telling our story AND the story that binds us all (the story of Jesus) offers us a church-wide challenge to commit ourselves to the sharing and caring ministry given to us by God through Jesus Christ. This work is what drives United Methodists into the mission field and the classroom, offering service and opportunity for others to come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Over the years we’ve been blessed many through our kitchen, our cards and our holiday bazaars. And, for some years we tried to keep those going (just like they always had) even when those leading saints were aging and passing away. I believe we’ve turned a corner in this “looking back” thinking and are now embarking upon a new vision for ministry and leadership.

Our kitchen now welcomes servants from outside our walls, our cards have added new hands into their creation and our fall bazaars are now cookie walk holiday extravaganzas! Friends, we can pause to remember and this Sunday we will light candles and elevate the names of our saints who have died this year. And then we, the living saints of this church will be blessed into action. We’ll celebrate our ministry together, at the Table, blessed by God’s hospitality and grace. And, we’ll consecrate (bless) our stewardship pledges for 2015, trusting in God’s abundance for our every personal and communal need.

As I offer thanks for those in my personal and communal life, living and dead, I am grateful to the God of Love that I know for sure shines through each of you in this wonderful community that I am blessed to join with in service to ALL of God’s creation.

Peace to each of you,

Pastor Kelly

P.S. The title of this article is an idea that I have… ask me about it!