Dear Caldwell,
Can you feel the energy as our community of faith is fed by our outdoor, in-person worship and as we gain momentum toward our more full life together?
This Sunday, we will worship outside again, as on last Sunday. It was great to see about 100 of you under the shade tree (and to “see” the other 63 of you who watched online then or since then).
This Sunday’s worship of God centers on two important mile markers in our shared life together.
First, we will be invited to participate in an eons-old practice of marking how the Lord delivers us through seasons and passages of our lives. It’s been 100 years since the Caldwell congregation was last scattered due to a pandemic. As we exit our own wilderness time and move toward returning to sanctuary worship and other in-person activities, let’s build a reminder of how God has seen us through.
Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people marked important places, events and blessings in their lives by stacking stones in tribute to God. This Sunday, you are invited to bring a stone (not too big, please) to contribute to a marker we will erect on the campus to mark our return from the wilderness of this pandemic.
The stone you bring may represent something or someone lost in the last 16 months. It may represent a silver-lining blessing you received during the pandemic, something for which you want to thank the Lord. You can write a word or two on a smooth stone or you can just grab any old stone. How you interpret your part of this marker is up to you.
At the end of worship, as our last act as a pandemic-scattered flock, we will bring our stones forward and leave them to be re-erected somewhere on campus as a long-term reminder that God delivered us through this time of trial, separation and loss. (We will need a couple of wheelbarrows if you can lend us one!)
In celebrating our deliverance and liberation from this time of trial, we will also do something equally important. Saturday, of course, is Juneteenth, a historically Black holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved Black people in the United States. It is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in this country. Gail and Anne will lead us in reflecting and singing songs of freedom as we recommit to God’s call to keep up the fight against oppression and captivity of any kind that flows from white supremacy.
Newcomers Coffee, Sunday at 9:45
If you are a newcomer to Caldwell during the pandemic or if you joined just before the pandemic and didn’t get a chance to meet many people, I would love to see you for coffee and a snack this Sunday at 9:45 a.m. in the Shelby Room (through the doors marked “Office” facing 5th Street).
One of the things that most excites me is the flow of newcomers and visitors as we regather, many of whom have been worshipping with us online. Let’s grab some time to meet each other. I’ll give a quick update on life at Caldwell and what’s coming up.
Pastoral Joys and Concerns
One of the more impressive “youth” I have had the pleasure to know is a young man named Jacob Ratliff, but he’s hardly a youth these days. Jacob sought out Caldwell as a teen as a place where he felt welcomed and affirmed as a Christian gay man. Now, he’s a thriving entrepreneur – and is getting married this Sunday! Please lift up prayers for him and feel free to celebrate his wedding by viewing online at jacobratliff.com/wedding.
Jacob is a creative force in the marketing field and has always shown wisdom and love beyond his years. He’s at https://www.jacobratliff.com/ .
We also keep close in prayer member Merritt Tracy and her family. Her father is in the ICU with serious internal bleeding and the staff there is working to get it under control. You can read and care for her here … and as always we can pray. https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/fredtoms?fbclid=IwAR2L85Yh89CpXGzTpeYMCk5zetn_zNRoZikgMcGj7npGx34RM76Z-Fubv80
Finally, thank you, for again showing your remarkable love and sense of community. As Justin Martin and Jessica Culpepper prepare for surgery for Susan, Jessica’s mom, you have more than responded with assurances that the body of Christ is with them every step of the way. You are an amazing, loving community.
Watch for more in Caldwell This Week and don’t forget to pick out your rock!
In Christ,
John