Back to Basics

Earth, Water, Wind, Sun. It seems we have too few opportunities to engage these basic elements of life. It’s no wonder summer is a time of refreshment and renewal - hikes through the trees and mountains, cool dips in the lake, summer breezes that rock us on the hammock, endless days soaking up the sun and evenings around the campfire – these things nourish us and give us life. When talking with a guy who had just returned from the boundary waters, he said, “If I had the chance I would go back tomorrow; I loved it that much.” We can’t seem to get enough.

Yet as summer is a time of refreshment, I find fall to be a time for renewal of faith. Fall is the time when we seem to once again get back to the basics of church life: Sunday school where we engage God’s story, new classes and opportunities to learn about God’s grace and calling. Choirs reunite to share their gifts of music, teams and committees form to serve the world around us.

This year our congregation will once again lift up the
Elements of a Living Faith: Prayer, Worship, Scripture, Service & Justice, Spiritual Friendships, Stewardship, and Sharing God’s Story.

I invite you to explore where you are in your faith journey. Celebrate the ways you are being engaged by God through your faith in the different areas of your life. Look at how your faith continues to play out in your home, here at church, and through the various things you are involved with in the world.

Then I invite you to take the next step. Take a leap even; a leap of faith to possibly discover God in a new way.
As life is a journey, so is faith. We need to keep taking new steps and trying new things or we will go nowhere. I look forward to taking the next step on this journey of faith with you.