The Heart of God

Dear church,

Holy Week is one of the greatest gifts of the church year. Each service carries its own beauty, and each one reveals something different about the heart of God.

On Palm & Passion Sunday, we participate in both praise and rejection. On Maundy Thursday, we meet the Christ who kneels, serves, feeds, and commands us to love. On Good Friday, we stand at the cross and behold the depth of divine mercy, while lifting up the plight of all the oppressed and suffering. At the Easter Vigil, we keep watch for the first light of resurrection and hear again the great story of God’s saving love [my favorite service of the whole year!] And at Easter, we rejoice that death does not have the final word.

I want to lovingly encourage you to participate as fully as you are able this week, with your whole heart and mind and being. Come to the sacred journey that leads us to Easter. There is grace in each service, and together they draw us more deeply into the mystery at the center of our faith.

Make room for these holy days. Come and pray. Come and sing. Come and listen. Come and be renewed.

See you in worship,
Pastor Kyle

Meet the Artist

Dear church,

As Lent comes to a close, I want to especially encourage you to take note of a unique and meaningful opportunity in our congregation. Artist Immanuel Karunakaran, whose works are featured in Spangler and will also be part of our Good Friday service, will be sharing with us on Wednesday, March 25th after our final midweek Lenten service. His story is compelling, and his art speaks deeply to the themes of Holy Week.

See you in worship,
Pastor Kyle

Judgement or Mercy

Dear church,

In this Sunday’s Gospel, the disciples begin with a question about blame. Jesus answers by moving in an altogether different direction. He sees the man before him not as a theological problem, but as a person, worthy of dignity, compassion, and care. What good news for us, too, that Jesus meets us not first with judgment, but with mercy. I hope you will join us for worship this Sunday as we gather around that gracious promise and pray for eyes to see Christ’s presence more clearly in our lives and in one another.

See you there,
Pastor Kyle

Jesus Crosses Boundaries

Dear church,

This Sunday we hear again the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. On an ordinary day, beside an ordinary well, Jesus crosses boundaries and opens a space for a life to be no longer defined by what has been, but by what God is making possible. And we believe that God is still at work in this way!

In a similar way, I have also found our midweek Lenten worship especially meaningful this year. These services have been helping me linger more deeply in living, active, working love. It sounds simple but there is so much competing against this right now. And so this week we will gather around that promise again: Love is greater than tensions. I hope you will come and be part of it.

See you in worship,
Pastor Kyle

Take it to Heart

Dear church,

Some texts don’t just speak to us, they hold us.

Psalm 121 is one of those psalms for me, a prayer that has steadied countless hearts across the centuries.

If you are looking for a simple practice this week, I wonder if you might take these days to commit it to memory, or simply to read it once each day, slowly, letting the promise sink in.