A unique thing one
notices first when the calendar is about to turn from September to October is
the sharpness of the wind. It is invigorating. It is even welcome after a long
hot summer. But a sharp wind is also a harbinger of days to come: colder,
shorter days. For those in the northern hemisphere it is also a reminder to get
prepared. To top off the firewood pile. To start checking the water supply and
make sure it is insulated. To double check the roof of the house. To maybe even
make sure there is enough food and water on hand to endure an extended time
snowed in.
There are sharp winds
that we are feeling in our life as the body of Christ that has nothing to do
with the weather, but how our community is changing. One visual sign of this
change in our community is the view from Bothell-Everett Highway and Bothell
Way (522) looking east. Where once First Lutheran’s worship space was the largest
building on the hill it now is flanked by even larger apartment buildings. It
is a reminder that we are not the center of it all anymore, if we ever were.
This tableau is a great metaphor for our Visioning Team and the process they
have put in place to ask the question, “Who are we and who do we serve here on
the north shore of Lake Washington and on the banks of the Sammamish River. We
are checking our supplies and attempting to prepare for an uncertain future.
We are called at this time
to listen to this wind that is blowing through us. What might she be whispering
to us? To help us answer this question we are asked to even more listening, this
time to our neighbors, to our friends, and to each other. You are being asked
to attend one of the cottage meetings that will be held during October. There
is a sign-up board in the Narthex at church. Find a date that works for you and
sign your name and contact information. We would like you to help your
congregation by sharing your voice, your presence, and your prayers.
Another way that we are
attempting to listen is many of our congregational leaders will gather on
September 30 for a retreat. During this time, we will dig deeper into what it
means to be a vital congregation, a congregation that leads with its core values,
a congregation that lives into God’s ACTIVE presence.
It is a good time to be
the Church. We ask you to be in deep prayer listening for how we might live
into God’s preferred and hope filled future for our community.
Do not be astonished that I said to
you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you
hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:7-8)
