March 2021 Newsletter Letter

Friends in Christ --  I've been watching a series on Netflix called Blown Away.  It's a competition among glass blowers where every episode is a 4-hour race to see which artist can create the most stunning and beautiful piece.  As someone with absolutely no artistic talent, I'm always impressed by talented artists, and the work these artists do is incredible.  Watching a talented artist at work is watching the end point of a long, long process.  They've put in countless hours, years, and decades to hone their craft.  No one comes in on day 1 and is a finished product.  They consult the muse and invest in the craft, growing in ability over time. 

  It's not unlike Christianity.  None of us are finished products, but we grow in faith over time.  From the beginning of our faith journey, we're called to put in the time, to invest in our faith, so that we grow as Christians, as disciples.  We're learning what God has in store for us, daily depending on God, and maturing as believers so that we can then teach younger Christians about our faith.  Lent is our faith life in miniature -- we start at Ash Wednesday and walk towards the cross, emerging on the other side of it as a people transformed. 

  I heard a thought from a colleague the other day that contemplated that perhaps the church's greatest strength is learning to sit with people in their pain.  It's really stuck with me.  As Christians, we have a fundamental hope that allows us to dwell in the most painful parts of life and trust that the end of a chapter is not the end of the story.  We can sit in those places and hold people where they are -- even at our lowest points, we know that God is there, that God comes to us, because God is unafraid of the messes of our lives.  I see such strength in the way that the people of Highlands love one another.  There's a tenderness and a willingness to embrace one another in the hard places.  I hope that others come to know the love that I've seen in our congregation, because it's the love of Christ, who comes to us and loves us as we are.  

  Friends, this Lent, on our journey to Easter, may we pay special attention to the people in our communities in pain, and may we be willing to sit with them in their pain.  We can't fix most things.  When we don't have words, we can sit in silence, bearing the light for one another, living witnesses to the unfathomable grace of Jesus Christ.  Thanks be to God.