From the Pastor

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

The Apostle Paul wrote in his epistle to the Church of Thessalonica, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Those are quite powerful words Paul used to encourage a group of people still working to fully understand who Jesus was and what Jesus did for humanity, and they were trying to figure those things our while facing a variety of cultural, social, political, and religious challenges. Times were very difficult for them, and Paul writes to tell them, among other things, “Don’t worry, be happy!” Really Paul?

Have you ever had to deal with really difficult circumstances in your life? I am sure you have. It is part of life. When you’re at your worst, the last thing you want to hear from someone is, “Cheer up! It will get better!” In the moment that seems like the furthest thing from the truth and not particularly helpful. Truthfully it is kind of annoying and can seem very disingenuous especially if those words are coming from a close friend or someone you admire.

I do not believe Paul was being disingenuous or insincere, or oblivious to their circumstances. Part of what Paul was doing was offering some perspective. Yes, life was tough, and was probably going to get worse before getting better, but because of what God had done through His Son, there was forever going to be hope even if it was only the promise of a place with God in heaven when this life came to an end. And that is a profoundly life changing concept, perhaps more so for Paul’s contemporary’s than for us because only a few decades prior, there was no such thing as salvation and everlasting life. And because this promise came from God and was sealed by the blood of Christ, it could never be taken away from us and we would never be separated from the love of God. They were truly blessed in spite of their circumstances. They had grace, and as Paul has also written, God’s grace was sufficient.

As you all know this is the month we celebrate Thanksgiving, and though we’ve been through, and are still dealing with, a pretty difficult period in our history God’s grace has been ever present. Again, nothing that happens to us or here on earth will ever cancel out the gift we have from above. So, we too have much to be thankful for regardless of circumstances. This is why perspective matters. One can still rejoice and give thanks even in the worst of times, but perspective is different. Do you know people that are of a negative sort? You know, the glass is always half empty kind of folk? I do, and they are not really the folks I relish spending a great deal of time with.

I often find that those folks often simply have a negative perspective because there are still thing in their lives that are good, or even very good. They seem to lack the perspective of gratitude for what they do have and choose rather to focus on the negative. And honestly based on our current circumstances and the culture of negativity and divisiveness we currently live in, it is not too hard to share that negative perspective.

I find that on thing that really helps me to avoid being overcome with negativity is the practice of gratitude in my prayer life. I regularly thank God for the abundance of His blessings in my life and that not only honors God, but it forces me to list the blessings in my life and make me more aware of just how generous God is to me. So, in honor of Thanksgiving, and really in honor of God, may I make a suggestion? How about between the time you read this article and Thanksgiving you list 10 things everyday that you are thankful for, either in writing or prayer? I wonder how you would feel by Thanksgiving if you did that for several weeks. Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks always; for this is God’s will for you in Christ.

Yours in Faith,
Pr. Steve

Grace and Peace to you Grace Family,

It has been almost two years since our last in-person Congregational Meeting. Do you remember our meeting in 2019? It seems like so long ago, but that is probably because it was! I probably do not have to remind you of what we have been dealing with since then, but it has obviously had a major impact on our lives and our life together at Grace. As we continue to deal with and work through a global pandemic, one thing has been proven to be true, your faithful giving in support of the ministries at Grace! I am grateful for this truth because I know so many churches have not faired as well as we have.

You might be wondering why I am writing about a meeting that took place two years ago and your financial offerings. Well, at that meeting in 2019 we as a congregation made a couple significant decisions with our finances and commitment to the future of our church campus. At that meeting we started what we call the Facility Renewal Fund (FRF) and cashed out two investment funds that, if we are being honest, were not serving the Church accordingly. And in an effort to be better stewards of the funds God had blessed us with we all decided to use the over $40,000 as seed money for the FRF.

The plan was to encourage a little extra giving from each of you in order to cover the cost of some significant capital improvements and upgrades like new doors, painting our buildings, replacing our roof and other major expenses. But, before we could really put things into practice COVID came along and threw our world into a frenzy. At that point, due to the obvious uncertain future, funding the FRF was put on hold. And that included utilizing the funds we already had in the FRF as a result of our 2019 meeting.

Though we are still very much unsure of when will be finally rid of this awful virus, with over 18 months of consistent given to our general fund, it feels like it is time to dust off that almost two year old plan and move forward with revitalizing and renewing our campus for the next 40 years of ministry and fully funding the FRF over the next five years in the hope that by the end of that time we will be in good shape for the coming decades.

God has blessed us for over 65 years and showered us with His generous abundance and we have a beautiful church and campus. But, like everything else in this world we are showing our age. To do nothing will result in some very serious problems and immediate need for emergency repairs. Instead of waiting for things to breakdown or fail catastrophically we will continue to trust in God to provide for us as He has for more than half a century. Back in 2019 the plan was to encourage each person our household to contribute an additional $40-$50 a month to the FRF so that we could raise the funds needed to do the necessary repairs. And that is exactly what we will continue (or restart) to do from this point forward.

I hope this does not all sound new to you because this is not a new stewardship or capital campaign. It is something we as a congregation agreed to do way back in 2019. Wouldn’t you love to come to our campus and see doors that are not showing their age, or chipped and peeling paint on our buildings? How about not having to dodge some of the potholes and creases in our parking lot? How would you feel about coming to Sunday worship and finding buckets spread throughout the sanctuary to collect rainwater that is leaking through our decades old roof? These are just a few of the realities we face over the next five to ten years if we do not act now. Brothers and Sisters now is the time for us to move forward with the plan we set forth before the pandemic!

I encourage you to go the extra mile and add to your already generous giving. But please make sure that in whatever way you currently give you specify that your additional offering is to be designated to the Facility Renewal Fund (FRF). If you give online, please make note when you are giving specifically to the FRF fund. If you write a check and give in person or by mail, please be specific when your additional offering is to go to the FRF. It is really important to the future of Grace that we embrace this plan, and I and confident you all will and in a few years the light of Christ will not only shine from our hearts, but once again in the beauty and sparkle of our campus!

Blessings,

Pastor Steve