Beloved Community,
There is something about September that feels like a beginning. Even though the calendar tells us that autumn does not officially arrive until later in the month, September has its own kind of energy. School begins. Schedules fill back up. Summer clothes slowly make their way to the back of the closet. We start looking ahead—to the next season, the next project, the next thing that needs our attention.
And perhaps that is why September can carry a little pressure with it. There is something about a new season that makes us want to get organized. To get back on track. To figure out what comes next. We make lists. We set goals. We imagine what this season might hold.
And sometimes, without even realizing it, we begin to believe that if we can just get everything in order, we might finally feel like we are doing life “right.”
But the Gospel offers us something different. Jesus does not begin by asking his disciples whether they have a plan. He does not ask them if they have everything figured out. Instead, he meets them in the middle of the chaos, uncertainty, and change.
Because faith is not the same thing as having everything figured out. Faith is not certainty without questions. Faith is not a perfectly mapped-out life. Faith is a relationship with the One who continues to meet us in the middle of all our questions, doubts, and joys.
Jesus does not wait for us at the finish line. Jesus meets us along the way. And that matters, because so much of life happens in the middle. We spend very little of our lives at the beginning or the end of anything. Most of the time, we are somewhere in between.
And this September, we will find ourselves in a beautiful mix of all the things—we are at a beginning with Rally Sunday and our annual Blessing of the Backpacks, a time to ask God to surround all entering this school year with kindness, courage, wisdom, and growth (followed by our yummy potluck).
Confirmation starts, and we look toward our annual Chili Dinner & Raffle.
All of these are beautiful opportunities to gather and pay attention—to God, to one another, and to the world around us. They invite us to be the body of Christ at the beginning of a new school year, even as we continue meeting one another in the midst of all that life holds.
May this September be a season of showing up for one another and trusting that God is already present in all that lies ahead. And may we walk into this new season together, with open hearts, grateful for the gift of being a beloved community.
With love & gratitude,
Pastor Maggie Westaby