“ October Milestones ”

 

Dear Believers,

Fall is my favorite time of the year.  Along with cooler temperatures, a change in seasons, college football, and harvest …should be “rest.”  In the fall and winter, earth gets a kind of sabbath rest.  The land and soils literally rest, having given themselves in growing produce.  And I love the celebratory festivals and the gratitude that comes with the penultimate celebration of this season—Thanksgiving. 

But before we get to the “rest,” there’ll be a lot going on!  October begins with World Communion Sunday—a celebration of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper that spans the globe, a sign and practice of our Christian understanding that we are all made one in Christ. 

The second Sunday in October will be marked by a congregational meeting to elect a new class of Session members, who will join session to lead our congregation next year.  It’s also the Sunday when we will gather following worship, to share a meal provided by “Chef” Martin, and receive the challenge budget for 2025. 

The first Sunday will be a reminder of how God offers God’s self to sustain us and our world.  God, we might say, gives the entirety of heaven to ensure human salvation—that God so loves the world, that God gives us Jesus.  The second Sunday is a reminder about how we can give in ways that help give God’s kingdom a foothold on earth.  We should be encouraged that we have many ways to support the life of faith—in what we have to give, or even in our own service—and that each of them, or all of them make a difference in transforming the world, in building the Kingdom of God. 

God gives. 

            We respond. 

                        God calls. 

                                    We act. 

                                                God loves. 

                                                            We love. 

The rest of the weeks of October won’t have special observances, but each Sunday is the constant reminder that is calling us out of nothingness and insisting we are loved and valued.  …It’s a message I wish the world understood, and would hear, better!  That we are loved and valued even when the world seems to be on fire with all the things not of God—greed, violence, oppression, worldly power and glory. 

That’s right.  We live in a world on fire with all the wrong kind of things, and we are still loved and valued by God who insists and invites us to claim other ways of living.  A God who gives us Jesus, who loves us, and whom we’re invited to share with others.  Something we share sacramentally, and something we share in the ritual of breaking bread with one another. 

This season in which we share warm meals, remind one another about the hard work we’ve participated in and given, we share not only the promise of God’s love, but also the grace that there’s more work to do.  So join us in celebrating God’s love in the next few weeks, and then being mindful of sharing the celebration with those around you!