RHYTHMS: Finding Rest for Our Souls

 January 14, 2022

 

Hello friends!

It has been a very interesting week, here at the Blundell household. Dennis and I managed to catch some kind of no-fun-at-all upper respiratory thing. It doesn’t appear to be Covid (although who knows really) but we still have stayed home and done our best not to share it. We feel just fine now, thank goodness, but it was a pretty gross few days! Anyway, that’s why this newsletter is a bit delayed. Glad to be back to it.

We have a bunch of really fun and interesting stuff happening in the life of the church, which you will see in the next couple of pages, not least of which is that we have been nominated for 2 community awards! Outstanding Nonprofit, and Outstanding Helping Heart. Isn’t that great! Thanks to the love, dedication, and hard work of a bunch of our congregation members, it is one way to know that we are
serving our community well in the name of Jesus Christ. We don’t need any kind of award, but the recognition in the paper and social media and whatnot gives us the opportunity to make sure folks who need us know that we are here. It amazes me constantly how many people in town still don’t know about Fallon Daily Bread, or Epworth Community Food Pantry, or that we offer folks the ability to take showers and wash clothes for free. Go to FallonChamber.com and click right where it tells you to get to the place to vote. And vote for our local businesses in a bunch of categories while you’re at it!

All of this gets me thinking about how and why our faith leads us to take care of each other. It’s something I find myself in lots of conversations about, outside of church, and I’ve mentioned before how strange I find it that some branches of Christianity find efforts to serve and help folks in need to be somehow suspect. A distraction from the sharing of the Gospel, they say. And I do see what folks mean when they worry that focusing on the needs of this moment and this world can distract us from the important work of sharing the Good News of everlasting life in Jesus Christ. But to me, the two things can’t be divorced from one another. The Bible as a whole and Jesus’ ministry in particular is filled with both, all tied up together.

Moment by moment, it comes down to asking ourselves “what would be the most loving choice be, right now?” From the simple, kind ways we interact with strangers, to how we spend and donate our money, to how we parent and grandparent, to how we act on the things that stir our heart, our Christian faith isn’t only about getting to heaven after we die. In the words of my friend Ed Stallworth, it’s also about bringing a little heaven here to earth. Like, by giving people the gift of love and dignity through good food and clean clothes and a shower. And by wearing a mask all the time, especially at church, so that we don’t share cooties with people whose immune systems are fragile. And a thousand million other ways that we can be salt and light.

See you in worship, beloved.

One in the Spirit and one in the Lord,

      Pastor Dawn

Worship Any and Everywhere!

RHYTHMS: Finding Rest for Our Souls

This Sunday we complete our Epiphany worship series about the rhythms of life, what the Bible says about finding balance and peace, and what God tells us about work, rest, and worship. As you prepare your heart for worship, you might like to pray with Psalm 42, Matthew 9:9-13 and Micah 6:6-8. You’ll be amazed how God can speak into your life, when you take time in the quiet to read scripture and pray.

 

If you are worshiping with us from home, either via the radio broadcast or video, we are so glad! If we can pray for you, or if there is anything you need, we would love to do that. You can call the church office at 775-423-4714, or you can call Pastor Dawn on her cell phone any time, 775-671-5553.