Dear Caldwell,
What a busy week – in the world, in the denomination, in Charlotte and here at Caldwell.
We continue to witness history in North Africa. As relatively peaceful as events in Egypt were, we’ve witnessed tragedy in Libya. The region continues to hang in the fragile balance between the promise of freedom and the lurk of other forces that might take those countries backward rather than forward.
In the PCUSA, the trend is promising in regard to voting (Presbytery by Presbytery) toward revising our constutition so that all God’s children can participate fully in the leadership of the church. This week, more Presbyteries voted to change to more inclusive language. Charlotte votes in May.
In the community of Charlotte, we’ve received the news that the body of Caldwell friend Janet Simpson was found, though we do not know much more about her death. We pray for her friends and family.
At Caldwell, it’s been a full week of our regular activities along with some exciting initial dreaming. God has invited us to imagine everything from the prospect of a great new sandbox for the preschool playground (thanks to an Eagle scout from St. Martin’s) to a deeper, more intentional approach to how we house and support our guests in the Salvation Army shelter. Meantime, Jeff Mitchiner, Bob Metzler and Tom Bohr painted and freshened up the children’s Sunday school room. As Office Manager Leslie said, “Who says Caldwell doesn’t have any “Holy rollers?”
Also, Linda Sluder, a gifted photographer, has covered the bulletin board outside the choir room with wonderful shots of the diversity that danced last Friday night. Check it out – and tell Linda THANK YOU.
This Sunday, we will bring all this and more to our worship of our God. We will experience the gift of a Godly Play children’s lesson in worship, a chance for us to see and appreciate this way of sharing God’s stories with our youngest learner. I will wrap up the sermon series on the Ten Commandments with a look at Jesus’ radical extension of how we are to care for our neighbors and love our enemies. (Matthew 5:38-48). Our busting-at-the-seams Sunday school class will move toward the conclusion of its Joshua study. And the very rich discussions about Eyes on the Prize will continue Sunday night.
Earlier in the week, I received an email from a Caldwell member who said that, in light of the challenges in North Africa and elsewhere in the world, we could all use a sermon on “Joy to the world.” He’s right. Even when it may not be right in front of our eyes, we have the joy that we are claimed by a God who will not let us go, and we are surrounded by friends here at Caldwell seeking to understand what that means.
See you Sunday.
John