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Beloved in Christ,

This week, I want to commend to you the Sign up table at church. If you usually attend worship online or haven’t been to worship lately, you might not have seen the Sign up table. It’s in the Friendship Room and it has lists of opportunities happening at church. It’s one way we have to show up for each other and be part of ministry together. For example, right now there are sign up sheets for participating in Game Night and the potluck associated with it tomorrow, a welcome lunch for Camp United We Stand, a Neighborhood Open House to help neighbors get to know us and welcome campers, donations for Math Camp, and the Member Care walk next month. Many of the sheets on the Sign up table are ways to serve others. Visiting the Sign up table after worship if you are attending in person allows others to connect with you on matters of interest to you. If you want to sign up for something but can’t make it to the table for any reason, you can always email me and I’ll be happy to help you.
 
Part of the reason I’m highlighting the Sign up table this week is so you can take advantage of the events and groups that you might otherwise not know about. In addition, our church has long held the value of service to our neighbors centrally. For many years, the Service Team led us in planning and implementing service projects. However, in the last couple of years the Service Team has adoped a different way of working that is more distributed and project- based. There is no one chairperson for the Team through which all ideas make their way to the rest of us. Instead, each member of the Service Team shares their gifts and ideas and invites participation by others on the Team and also others in the congregation. The new model can be a powerful way of bringing more ideas and more perspectives into the practice of serving others. It might also be an indicator of a shifting way that our congregation understands our value of service to others. I mention it so we can all pray about what service means for us and how we will show up for those we are called to serve.
 
Summer is a time when our congregation has traditions of being in service to our neighborhood. Later this month, Camp United We Stand will move into our parking lot and stay there through October. Their webpage is here: https://campunitedwestand.org/. On it, there are resources for those who need shelter, opportunities to meet campers, and lists of items that the Camp needs. Hosting the camp is an important way that our congregation has served others for over 20 years. In addition, our annual Math Camp is coming up next month where children in our congregation and others from the neighborhood come together to review what they need as they prepare to go back to school. For adults during camp, there are ways to serve in the kitchen, through crafts, in teaching lessons, helping with swim time, and as a driver. So this summer is a good time to reflect on our church’s record of service and how service will be part of our future because it is a season of service.
 
It’s also true that service will look different for individual people over the course of their lifetimes as their work demands, physical abilities, and family commitments shift. This is to be expected and may affect how we serve others together as a church, as well. If there are some in our congregation who are interested in learning more about the Sign up table, the Service Team, or being part of the exploration of how we live out our shared value of service and how that value may be shifting in our congregation, I would welcome input and collaboration so that our values are demonstrated in action.
 
Listening for the guidance of the Holy and the wisdom of our congregation in this season,


Pastor Laura