The LINK: 9/01
Happy end of summer!
Last week I dropped Aubrey off at day care for her first time. Julia and I put one of those “first day” signs and took pictures of her with it. They’re as cute as you’re imag-ining.
When I dropped her off, when I took he to her classroom, she was warmly embraced by her day-care worker. I thank God for that worker and her joy and energy at seeing my child, as taking her in her arms was reflected right back at her with one of my baby’s (incredible) toothless smiles.
And the Spirit reminded me: That right there, that’s how God sees you. God knows you, delights in you, and is so glad to be with you.
Jesus says as much. In Mark 9 he says “36 Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
Then later in chapter 10m Jesus says “15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.”
Jesus’ Father welcomes children and tells us to do likewise. And the reason he does this is because that’s the kind of welcoming God he is!
Jesus delights in you, and I can see our church being the kind of place where we get even better at delighting whatever child of God (at whatever age!) when they come through our door.
Maybe we can be the church of “God is so glad you’re here, and so are we”.
That’s why we’re doing a block party on September 6, to connect with people, to communicate in a gentle way “God cares about you, and so do we, so we’d love to get to know you.”
That’s why we’re making good progress on our search for our Nex-Gen Director, because we also get literal with it, and we know God loves children, youth, and their fami-lies.
And that’s why Julia and I are leading a study on Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, and we want to invite you to join us. It’s deep work to remember who we are in Christ, so that we can more deeply live out of it. There are details later in this letter about it, so turn there to learn more.
That’s my message for you, whether you’re starting school, dropping someone off at school, or long past those days. Whoever you are, the message is the same: God loves you, and so does your church!
Peace,
Pastor Adam