A prayer for us for National Night Out, August 2nd.
Holy God, be with the community of Christ the King as we host National Night Out for our neighborhood and our police and fire departments. Holy Spirit move through all those who participate in this event that we may experience a bit of your kingdom here. Help us to be your vessels in making the world a better place, a place that reflects the intentions of your creation. Give us courage and curiosity to engage in building relationships with our neighbors so that we may know them, they know us and you. Amen.
Thank you to all who have been planning for National Night Out. Thank you to all who are planning to show up and provide hospitality for our neighbors. Thank you to all who have been tending to King Park, the shelter, and the outside of Christ the King to welcome our neighbors and provide a beautiful place to meet.
As a staff, we are reading and discussing together the book recommended at our synod assembly, “Growing Young: 6 Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love your Church” by Kara Powell, Jake Mulder and Brad Griffin. In honor and celebration of National Night Out and our ongoing desire to be God’s presence in this time and place, we read the chapter on neighbors, “Be the Best Neighbors: Loving and Shaping Your World Well.
The chapter begins with a quote from 20 y.o. Isaiah, “Christianity is about the restoration of how it is all supposed to be. We have been given hope, we have been redeemed, and we have been empowered by the authority of God to go out and change this world.”
We are encouraged even more by Andy Crouch who envisions a positive strategy when he says, “The only way to change culture is to create more of it…something that will persuade our neighbors to set aside some existing set of cultural goods for our new proposal.”
The story of God coming to us in Jesus Christ, the story of his life, death, resurrection, and return to God give shape and context to our biggest questions and dreams. His story shapes our story and how we navigate our world. We know that God’s got this world and loves this world. When we are overwhelmed with all that is before us and struggle to discern our way through, we know that God is with us, and God is faithful. Like our “On the Case Connections” Board for VBS demonstrated through simple but powerful strings of yarn, we are connected to Jesus, and we are connected to each other. As we move through the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches us about the fine points of discipleship with hospitality and listening to Jesus as we live in the wake of Jesus’ resurrection and return to God. Because Jesus lives and returns to God, we live life with a hope and freedom found in Jesus that shapes and forms our lives and our world.
We are called to make the world a better place – through the kingdom of God – the household – where we meet Jesus and walk toward death, resurrection, and return. God help us to translate this good news in a way that our neighbors, police, and fire fighters can hear and understand.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
