10/13/2022

10/13/2022

Dear Friends in Christ,

Last Saturday a small-but-mighty group of people from our congregation gathered at church for a clean-up day. Although we have a regular cleaning service and a yard maintenance service, these occasional days are necessary to take care of bigger seasonal tasks, and any larger maintenance work that doesn’t need to be done on a frequent basis. One of the first tasks was to clean up the trash that has accumulated on our grounds. Apart from the discarded fast-food containers, disposable drink cups, candy wrappers, dog poop, and other detritus, some larger items had been dumped on or near our property which we needed to dispose of. It is understandably frustrating and discouraging when people don’t seem to care about our church and grounds as much as we do, or maybe just care about their convenience more. On reflection however, I realize this is the cost of being located where we are, the place God has planted us; the place we have chosen to live out the good News of God in Jesus Christ in our community; the place we understand as the place God calls us to mission and ministry.

We know that so many of our neighbors are grateful for our presence, and for the help we have offered them through our support of Kimball Elementary school, the community gatherings we have invited them to in the past, and the many other ways we support our community. I know many of our neighbors not only appreciate our presence but watch out for our church. When we recently had a load of mulch dropped off by a local tree trimming company, several of our neighbors were concerned that they were illegally dumping it on our premises, and called to let me know, informing me they had the license plate and company name if we wished to follow up. It is heartwarming and gratifying to know that people care about our church, and I made sure to tell them how grateful I was for their concern and their vigilance.

It is not easy to live a life of discipleship in our world. Jesus said as much: we are to deny ourselves and take up our cross; we are not to worry about what we eat, drink, or wear; we are to hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even life itself; we are to give up all our possessions; we are to put ourselves last; we are to risk rejection and persecution and even death; we are to say no to temptations and the things of this world; we are to follow Him through trials, suffering, loneliness, humiliation. Jesus gave up his life for the world. Picking up a few pieces of trash, or even dealing with larger messes is a small price to pay for the privilege of walking in Christ’s footsteps.

A huge thank you to Erin, Jim, Susan, Rocky, and especially Leslie, our junior warden who organized the clean-up day and for taking such good care of our buildings and grounds.

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Jane+