March 11, 2023
Pastor’s Reflections – February 16, 2023
Springing Forward on our Lenten Journey!
In the wee hours of Sunday morning, we will “spring forward” as we move our clocks forward an hour and we continue Looking for Love on our Lenten journey together. Having returned from the Guatemala service trip last Sunday night just after midnight, I’ve been a bit tired this week, feeling anything but springy the last few days. Don’t get me wrong, the team and the experience in Guatemala was excellent, my cup was filled with love and a new sense of clarity, it is just that sometimes reentry takes time. I’ve led service teams to Guatemala just about every year since 2011, but with the impacts of COVID, this was the first time since January, 2020. With the nearly three-year break from service teams, I was a bit out of practice. Things were different, gosh, I guess we’re all different after the impact COVID has had on us, aren’t we? In the place I’ve been so often that I thought I knew so well, I both experienced new things and personally experienced the same old things with a different perspective. To say I learned a lot is an understatement and I think that I, (and the team members too) haven’t even begun to unpack it all yet.
Each day in Guatemala a small group of team members worked to create a devotional moment for the whole team, (there were seventeen members of our team and we partnered with a team of nine from Salt Lake City, Utah), and it was awesome to experience. There was so much creativity, music, prayer, games, challenges, and most importantly, connection. You can check out one of the more musical devotions I recorded here: LINK TO DEVOTIONAL
At the end of the week, I shared a devotional, The Lessons Are Love, written by Melody Beattie and this message has been on my mind since. As our Lenten journey has been all about Looking for Love, you’ll see why I picked this for our Guatemala team too. For me, it was a connection point, connecting the Guatemala team I loved so much with the NCC community which I love so much……
Lessons of Love, that’s what they are.
We usually don’t know what the lesson is while we’re learning it. Maybe we’re not supposed to. Besides, if we knew it, really knew it, we wouldn’t need to learn it. We’d already be practicing it in our daily lives. But even when we don’t know what the lesson is, we can know one thing, it’s a lesson of love.
Courage. Faith. Patience. Loving ourselves when it looks and feels like nobody else cares. Starting over again one more time, when we think we’ve already started over again more times than we should have had to. Forgiveness. Compassion. Gentleness. Joy. Each one is a lesson of love.
For many of us, the problem isn’t that we haven’t had love in our lives before. The issue is that we haven’t understood love. Know this: not only are the lessons about love, the lessons themselves are love.
Feel your feelings. Struggle through your situations and experiences and emotions. The struggle to learn isn’t incidental to your purpose. It’s an integral part of your purpose, your destiny, your reason for being. Go through your moments of darkness and confusion, and trust the light will come. Through it all, rest on one thought: you’re on track. You’re on your path.
You’re connected to love. You’re connected to God.
And the lessons you’re learning are lessons of love.
I hope and pray you are looking for and FINDING love this Lenten season. Tomorrow in church at 10AM, I look forward to sharing reflections with you on one of my most favorite stories in all of scripture in John chapter 4 when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. I hope you come and join me for some of the living water Jesus gives to her.
Upcoming Opportunities
March 12 11:15AM: New Member Gathering
Sunday after church in the NCC Lounge I am hosting a gathering for a few people who are newer to church and are not yet members. It’s an informal kind of thing where we’ll learn about each other and learn about what it means to be a member of NCC. If you are newer to church and not yet a member of the church, if you would like to just learn more about the church, or if you’d just like to get a chance to meet some other people, please join in! All are welcome!
March 12 2PM:
We will celebrate the life of Sandy Talmage, Dave Talmage’s father, in the NCC Sanctuary.
March 18 7PM: Comedy Show at the Millspace on Main St. to benefit the NCC Food Pantry
Hope to see you at this event which will make you laugh out loud while you’ll also support the food pantry! You can purchase tickets through Eventbrite here: LINK TO BUY TICKETS
Check out the new events page on the church website where you’ll find the information you need about all the happenings at NCC! LINK TO NCC EVENTS PAGE
With Much Love and Peace,
Pastor Patty
