Missional Dispatch June 2016

Summer is near at hand. The weather has finally begun to warm up. The leaves are out. The animals are busy. Students are graduating (we have at least three graduates this spring—Michael Kolakowski is graduating from Troy High School; Brett Cornwall graduated from Rochester College; Bethany Moekler received her master’s degree from Oakland University). Congratulations go to all three. Graduations mark points of transition. They’re a time of great joy, but also present a bit of uncertainty. Even if one knows what comes next, there is still a sense of mixed feelings involved. The future is always unclear to us, but as followers of Jesus we know this one thing—we do not go into thefuture alone.

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November 2011 Dispatch -- Stewardship

It’s November, which means it’s time for us to take time to give to God for the many blessings that have been shared with us.  We’ll do this as a nation, with a national day of Thanksgiving, but we’ll also do this as a congregation and with two other community opportunities to share together words of thanks.  One is interfaith and the other is ecumenical.    

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Taking Stock of Our Stewardship

            In this Missional Dispatch, I want to take a moment to address the issue of stewardship.  Each fall we enter a time of reflection upon stewardship matters.  We have sermons and testimonials, along with letters sent out by the stewardship committee requesting from members pledges of support.  We lift up the spiritual importance of giving of our time, our talents, and yes, our monies.  These are given in response to God’s provisions for our lives – our daily bread.  They serve as signs that we have embraced the covenant that God is making with us, a covenant relationship that includes the faith community.

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