Dear Friends of Longview Chapel,
One of the things I love about being a pastor is getting to witness people sharing their gifts in all kinds of ways. You all may not feel like you have superpowers, but I see God so often in what so many of you do and say.
Just in the last couple of weeks I have seen you:
- Get eye level with one of the Chapel’s children and call them by name as you listened to their story.
- Come into the office with an extra gift for the operating budget of the Chapel (July and August are always months we fall behind and catch up in November and December).
- Research the best way to help someone in need and then doing what you could.
- Use your mind and heart to solve physical property issues around the Chapel or brainstorm better ways to share our ministry.
- Apologize and make amends with someone.
- Question your first assumption and seek to go deeper into understanding yourself and others.
- Make a shift in your own plans to accommodate another’s need or absence without missing a beat.
In both little and big ways, we are called to be ready to share all the many gifts God has given to us. And when we do, amazing things happen.
This Sunday we will be blessing Mary Ann Harler and Dennis Christgen as we make them each an Elder Emeritus at the 10:30 a.m. service. I hope you will join in on this time of blessing and give thanks for these two who have served the Chapel in so many different ways.
As you live and work and share this week, remember these words form I Peter 4:10:
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
Building Community With You,
Pastor Donna