WORSHIP

“Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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As the summer months wane along with the light our minds turn invariably toward brighter colors, cozier clothes, and for many of you pumpkin spice. As the summer draws to a close the school and programming year begins. Work schedules pick up and even classes and groups for retirees resume once more. As things are ending, there are new things beginning.

 

It is something we are paying attention to particularly at Cross of Christ these past few months with our Vision and Vitality Task Force formed in response to our recent anniversary and our flurry of building projects. We wonder together what does it mean to be a lasting presence? What is lasting is of course a tricky thing because it doesn’t mean static or immutable. On the contrary, it’s something much more dynamic and involves recognizing and embracing what is ending and what new things are beginning.

 

Though not begun as a formal process at Cannon River, it is a thing worth considering for both congregations as we enter the final quarter of the year and wrap up the first quarter century of the new millennium. What things, what way of doing things might be ending and what newness lay on the horizon? As we look out at our world today we are invited to wonder… What color are the leaves? What is the temperature like? What clothing is called for? What activities are going on around us? Which ones do we recommit to and what might we let go to make space for something else? 

 

These aren’t simple binary questions with straightforward answers. We as God’s people are tasked with parsing these things and finding purpose in and meaning in the midst of it. This could be challenging and often is, but it’s also satisfying and rewarding because it’s a faith that’s far from static. It’s a faith that leans into God’s promise of presence and care and expects God to show up in those moments of embracing and of letting go.

 

I’ve always enjoyed the fall months. As a child I think it was because of my October birthday and the better quality fishing. Those things are certainly still top of mind each year. However, there is something about this liminal time, this period of blazoned trees and longer nights that what is lasting doesn’t always stand still, it’s dynamic, mutable, always and never the same. 

 

As Ever in Christ,

 

Pastor CJ