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Hey friends!
We have reached the season of Advent, and with that comes abundant preparation for Christmas celebrations. Here is my annual reminder to take time amid all of that prep to reflect, ponder, and prayerfully consider the gift of Jesus. What does it mean to you that God came to be with us? To share our common lot? To experience what it is to be human? What do the life and ministry of Jesus mean to you? How have Jesus’ parables, teachings, and sermons impacted the way you live and move through the world? How might your days, and your way of being, be different without the influence of our Savior? In this season of giving – filled with lights, cookies, gifts, décor, and Santa Claus – what is it that you are celebrating? And where does Jesus fit into that? How might you carry that with you throughout the year? May your Advent and Christmas seasons be filled with spiritual nourishment. May you know the gift of God’s presence with you. May we all see God’s promises fulfilled in miraculous ways. See you in church, Pastor Julia Hey friends!
It’s fall, y’all! As much as I dislike the post-holiday winter that inevitably follows, I do love an autumnal setting. We have BIG things happening this fall! Our solar panels will be installed on October 9th and 10th. They will be turned on several weeks later, so we are planning the ribbon cutting for December 8th following worship. Save the date! This is a major step in our lived commitment to creation care and environmental stewardship. It is also a bold declaration of our faith and trust in God’s provision, and I am so proud of you all for leaning into this project. RE-volv will be helping us with some PR and communications over the next few months, so word will spread quickly. God only knows how God plans to work through all of this, but I am confident these efforts will bear good fruit! Additionally, this is not just about environmental stewardship. By eliminating our electric bill, we will have more room in our budget to support the missions of our church! These solar panels are an embodiment of our financial stewardship and our responsible use of resources. Again, I am so proud of you all for taking the time to discern, ask good questions, pray, and consider carefully the risks and benefits of this project. I am confident that the benefits out-weigh the risks and that, again, our efforts will bear good fruit! As usual, our other fall plans include World Communion Sunday, our Harvest Homes food drive, the CROP Hunger Walk for Church World Service, All Saints Day, planting native trees/shrubs, a community Thanksgiving worship service on November 24th, and anticipation of the Advent season. For a small church, we sure are busy! If you are looking for a way to give back to the community, we have no shortage of opportunities. If you are looking for a way to connect within our faith community, we have options there, too! Be sure to check out the dates for our fellowship lunch and our hiking group, and consider joining us for coffee hour at 9:45 each Sunday. May your fall be cozy, abounding in vibrant colors and sweet spices, and full of delight. See you in church, Pastor Julia Hey friends!
It’s always sad to see the summer come to an end, but by this time of year I’m usually ready for hoodies, sweaters, and cute fall décor. There is a branch of our maple tree that always turns red at the end of August, sending us the sign that fall is on its way. It’s red now, and it is such a joy to see its vibrant color against the lush green of the other leaves. It’s been an odd sort of summer… My asters still haven’t bloomed, my purple cone flowers struggled, my lake vacation was a different experience due to chilly temperatures, and we had quite the drought earlier! While signs (like the branch of my maple tree) can be exciting and joyful, they can also be worrisome (like drought, uncharacteristic heat, and struggling flowers). The earth is sending us her signs. Let us heed her warnings and responding according to our faith – as stewards and caretakers of God’s very good creation. Keep bringing your plastic to the church. Keep planting native trees, shrubs, and flowers. Find ways to steward your water. Be gentle with what you put into the earth, such as cleaners and fertilizers. Remember that bugs are God’s beloved, good creation, too. ;) Just as we must see and interpret the signs of the earth, we can also see and interpret the signs of the church. I’ve said this before, but there is a narrative of church decline. There are signs in some places that churches are struggling, closing, and coming to the end of their ministries. What are the signs you see and hear at Solomon’s? How do you interpret them? Here the signs I see: Joyful fellowship. Kind community. Passion for our missions and outreach. Monarch caterpillars in our pollinator garden (which we only planted this summer)! A vegetable garden that did relatively well considering the drought and heat, thanks to the tending of committed caretakers. Grant applications that have been approved and helped grow our garden ministry! Neighbors visiting our pews. Here is how I interpret those signs: We are doing what God has asked us to do. Not perfectly, I’m sure! But faithfully, boldly, and with delight. At the moment, at least, that’s enough. This newsletter contains information on how we will continue that effort in September and October. May our ministries, fellowships, and community be a blessing! See you in church, Pastor Julia Hey friends!
I hope you have been able to stay cool in this heat wave. With diligent and faithful watering, our garden has stayed green and fruitful – but let this weather be a reminder of just how important it is to care for God’s creation! Weather extremes like this threaten our water supply and food systems, as well as our health. I am so proud of our church for taking a stand against the climate crisis and boldly proclaiming – through our gardens, plastic recycling, and solar panels – our desire to steward and tend God’s earth well! I have not forgotten our consideration of becoming a “Creation Justice Church.” I will begin having conversations with the various ministry teams this summer. What does it mean to you to be Creation Justice minded? What does that look like in action? How do we put that into practice in all we do at home, at church, and in the world? What can we reduce? What can we reuse and how? Are there other ways to recycle? Are there simple switches we can make in the products we purchase? These are questions we can each prayerfully consider often. I know I say often that prayer is a mystery and I don’t fully understand how it works. That’s true! But I do know – and I say this confidently having experienced it more than once – that prayer can open us. Through prayer, God has often helped me see what I previously could not or did not want to see. The details of past prayers are conversations (or sermons) for another time, but what I mean is this: When we pray, “God, help me to be a better steward of your creation. What else can I do? How else can I care?” God will give us answers. The Spirit will reveal to us. Jesus will offer an encouraging nudge in the right direction. I believe that wholly. We are doing great work to care for our little corner of the earth! Let’s keep going. 😊 We have some fun things planned for this summer! More baseball, a picnic, some hikes, Sunday school… There are lots of ways to participate in the life, ministry, and fellowship of Solomon’s UCC. Bring a friend! All are welcome in our community. I look forward to seeing you in church! Stay hydrated! Peace be with you, – Pastor Julia Hello friends!
In my last post, I was preparing for my professional development trip to Chicago. If you were with us in worship on May 5, you heard most of my reflections. If you were not with us in worship that day, you can participate retroactively in that service by visiting https://www.mysolomonsucc.org/livestream. 😉 The theme of my program was all about seeing congregational vitality despite a constant narrative of church decline. Yes, the church (nationally and locally) is not what it used to be. But that may just be where its new life will come from! In short, our congregation has vitality. We are strong and active! We have energy! We are doing SO MUCH with the resources, time, and personpower we have. What a testament to God’s faithfulness, and to what God can do with and through a group of people willing to say, “Sure! Let’s try it!” We are looking forward to a fun summer! Our garden is expanding and veggies are growing. Our butterfly garden is coming to fruition. Our solar panels are in the works. Weekends of Wonder continues to be a fun and vibrant ministry for our kids. I will be offering a summer Bible Study (with the help of a scholar I LOVE learning from!). We have a New Franklin area picnic on August 11 (mark your calendars!) and other neat outreaches in the pipeline. We’re opening our building and grounds to the community as a sweet little wedding venue. Friends, we are teeming with life at Solomon’s UCC! If you’re not involved in one of our many ministries, I encourage you to get in touch. We’re doing some really cool things and I would love for you to be part of the one (or more!) that interests you most! As school breaks for the summer, as vacations are planned, as grills are lit, pools are opened, and sunscreen abounds, I pray you see the vitality in your own life. I pray you notice how God has been, is, and will be at work in and around you. I pray for your awareness of the blessings that you have and that you will receive. I pray for joy, delight, contentment, and excitement. I pray for the encouragement of the Holy Spirit to be with you always. When I was a kid, summer was always the time I felt most at peace with myself and with the world. (Actually, that’s still true…) Amid all the summer fun, may you find peace, too. God be with you! – Pastor Julia Hello friends!
I hope you all had joyous and hope-filled Easter celebrations. I hope your gardens are green and resurrected. I hope you’re not too stressed about getting the lawn mowed. I hope the spring air is offering you delight and contemplation. I hope your summer calendars are filling with goodness and things that make you glad. I am preparing for my trip to Chicago with the UCC’s Next Generation Leadership Initiative (NGLI). For those who have joined us recently, this is a continuing education leadership program for young(-ish) clergy in the UCC. I am honored and delighted to be a participant in the 14th cohort, and I am so grateful for your support and encouragement! (And your willingness to be my guinea pigs as I learn.) This session is titled “Congregational Vitality Trek.” I am looking forward to rich discussions with colleagues, innovative ideas, and a fruitful four days. But, I am holding the topic in tension. There is a lot of talk in the wider church about congregational vitality and church innovation, especially as we see church membership decline across all mainline denominations and as churches across the country come to the end of their ministries. No doubt I will learn lots and come back to New Franklin with great ideas! But we need to be careful not to bite off more than we can chew. I have been learning over the past couple of years to be patient, to let the process be the process, and to trust God with God’s timing. We have put a lot of work – just in the past two years – into our community garden and regenerative property, and God is working wonders with that effort! If we stay faithful to that work and to God’s calling, vitality will come. Truthfully, I think vitality is already here! I see the way you all as a congregation care for one another. I see the way you are excited about what we’re doing! I hear the ways you offer support to one another and to the ministries of our church. Is there more to do? Yes. Could we do more? Yes. Are we doing enough now? Also yes! We are a hardworking, passionate congregation with a steadfast commitment to feeding Jesus’ sheep and caring for our little corner of God’s creation. We have been faithful to the vision God planted in us, and we continuing to work toward that vision. The rest is up to God, and God will come through! Vitality means, “the state of being strong and active; energy.” I think that describes Solomon’s UCC. I’ll let you know what I learn in Chicago, but I think we could teach the session. God is at work in and through us, and we’re not slowing down. Things are going well here at Solomon’s UCC. See you in church! – Pastor Julia Hello my friends!
As I write this little reflection, I am in the midst of writing three Holy Week sermons. So, this is not as profound (wordy?) as past reflections. Thank you for your understanding and grace! 😉 We are gearing up for an exciting spring! Our garden is open for reservation (see more below), we have received TWO grants to help us put in a children’s garden and a composting system, we are adding solar panels to the church roof, we will be planting more native trees, and we have some fun fellowship opportunities scheduled. To keep up in real time with everything happening at Solomon’s, keep an eye on our social media (Facebook and Instagram) and on our website. Friends, God is truly at work in our little church. We love to see it! We love to be part of it! How cool to get to participate in God’s ministry to our corner of the world. What an honor it is to be called and invited into all that God is doing! It may not seem like much, but we know the Holy Spirit can do a lot with a little. All we have to do is show up faithfully, take the next faithful step, and seek God’s guidance in all things. May all that we do be a manifestation of God’s love and our love for our neighbors. May our efforts further usher God’s kingdom into the world. May we never forget to give God the thanks and praise God deserves. I pray for us. I pray for you. I hope you are praying, too. Remember that God loves you, – Pastor Julia Hello my friends!
Wow, February came to an end quick. I hope your Lenten season is off to a good start, that your fasts are proving contemplative and enriching, and that you find your soul turning back to or reconnecting with God as we approach the cross and, more importantly, the empty tomb! As I reflect on what this 40-ish day season means for us as individuals, I find myself considering the church. Please note, my friends, that I mean the global church, not just Solomon’s UCC. What would it look like for the church to turn back to God? What would it look like for the church, not just its members, to repent and believe the good news? What would it mean for the world if the church were to kneel at the foot of the cross, and then to go running to tell others that the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty? I guess what I am wondering is this: What does it look like for the church to be the reflection of Jesus, the organized body of Christ, in the world, rather than just another institution? The truth is, so many have left the church or choose not to participate with the church because it is too much of an institution. That is not to say that we should not have beliefs, values, visions, and missions that guide us. But what if the church was more of a community than a community organization? I don’t have a clear answer to those questions. I’m still pondering in my heart. Recently, I was speaking to a colleague who started at his church the same time I started at Solomon’s. He said, “when I started, we had maybe 40 in worship. Now we average 90.” (There are myriad differences between our churches, so let us not focus too much on the numbers.) He explained that he does not focus on church growth, but on invitations – invitations to hear the good news and to eat at the table Christ has set. What if we worried less about worship numbers and church statistics, and more about sharing Jesus? What if we worried less about how we tell of the empty tomb (i.e., programs), and more about that we tell of the empty tomb (i.e., testimonies, conversations, fellowship)? My friends, I may be writing this more to myself than to you, but it feels important to share. We are blessed in the UCC to be so mission minded and justice oriented. To be sure, the world needs that! But let us remember that Jesus didn’t just heal and feed. He talked, listened, and told stories, too. He invited people to eat with him, to walk with him, to talk with him, to pray with him, and to be in relationship with God. May we extend similar invitations, even in the midst of our missions. May God be glorified in it all. May the body of Christ and the community of the church grow as more hear of the good news of the empty tomb! – Pastor Julia What a year it has been for us at Solomon's! In 2023…
… The steering committee…
… The nurture committee…
… The outreach committee…
… As a congregation we…
These are all incredible accomplishments and they are all for God's glory and pleasure! God is doing some neat things at our little church, and I am so excited to see what's instore for us in 2024. Thank you all for your commitment to our church and your faithfulness to God's call! - Pastor Julia |
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Join us for Sunday morning worship at 10:15. 1594 Swamp Fox Road Chambersburg, PA 17202 717-263-3616 [email protected] |
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