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Gospel Illustration by Jocelyn O’Leary

Friends, This Sunday, we come to one of the Gospel’s most uncomfortable and surprising stories. In Matthew 15, a Cannanite woman seems to challenge Jesus’ assumptions about who belongs within the circle of God’s grace. At first Jesus seems to refuse her, but she persists until she is included. However we interpret the encounter, one thing is clear: the circle gets bigger.

Her story invites us to ask not only, Who are we? but also Who are we becoming? What might God be teaching us through voices and perspectives different from ours? And where is the Spirit inviting us to widen the table and make more room?

After a shorter worship service, we’ll carry those questions into our Community Conversation about our Mission and Vision as we prepare to merge our two congregations. We’ll share the latest drafts, listen to one another, and continue discerning together who God is calling us to be in this next chapter.

I’m grateful for the thoughtfulness, prayer, and work so many of you have already brought to this process. I’m excited about where we’re headed, and I hope you’ll join us! The Canaanite woman’s voice helped make the table wider. Your voice can help us do the same. I hope you’ll join us after worship as we listen to one another and discern together who God is calling us to become.

Alongside you,

Pastor Paul Ortiz

Friends,

Have you ever noticed how quickly fear can take over?

One moment, everything seems manageable. Then the wind picks up, the waves get bigger, and suddenly fear is telling the whole story.

That’s where we find the disciples in this week’s Gospel (Matthew 14:22-33). Caught in a storm, they see Jesus walking toward them across the water. Peter steps out of the boat, but when he notices the wind, he becomes afraid and begins to sink. And Jesus reaches out his hand and pulls him up.

Maybe becoming who God has created us to be means learning not to let fear have the final word.

Fear can narrow our vision and convince us that we are alone in the storm. But Jesus meets us there, reaches toward us, and pulls us back up. Faith isn’t the absence of fear. Sometimes it’s simply trusting that when we begin to sink, Jesus is still reaching for us.

This Sunday, our own Steve Shamblin will be bringing a word and helping us go deeper into this theme as we continue our Journey into Becoming series. I hope you’ll join us as we explore what it means to move through fear, trust God’s presence, and become the people God is calling us to be.

Alongside You,

Pastor Paul

5th Century Mosaic, Near Capernaum

Friends,

One thing I’ve learned in these first months of welcoming a baby into our home is how quickly you can reach the point where you think, “I don’t have anything left to give.” A late-night feeding, a tired morning, another full day ahead, and suddenly the question becomes: Do I have enough energy for this?

Maybe you know that feeling in your own way. Not enough time. Not enough resources. Not enough strength.

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 14:13-21), the disciples look at a hungry crowd and see scarcity. Jesus sees people. Moved by compassion, he tells them, “You give them something to eat.”

Jesus doesn’t ask them to create abundance on their own. He simply asks them to offer what they have. In Christ’s hands, even small gifts become a blessing for many.

As we worship and gather around the Communion table this Sunday, we’ll explore what it means to move from scarcity to abundance and trust that God can multiply what we bring: our gifts, our compassion, and our courage to join Christ in feeding the hungry, welcoming the overlooked, and standing with those on the margins.

I hope to see you this Sunday.

Alongside you,

Pastor Paul

Parable of the Mustard Seed by Kelly Latimore

Friends,

We live in a world that tells us there is never enough.

Not enough time. Not enough resources. Not enough opportunity. Sometimes it even tells us there isn’t enough belonging to go around.

Indeed, the myth of scarcity lies beneath so many of our political divisions.

But Jesus tells a different story.

This Sunday, we’ll explore the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast (Matthew 13:31–33, 44–52), where God’s kingdom begins with the smallest of things and quietly grows into something that offers shelter for birds and nourishment for all.

Faith begins by trusting that God’s grace is already at work, even when we cannot yet see it. Scarcity tells us to hoard and compete. Jesus invites us to notice the small beginnings God is nurturing among us and trust that there is enough grace for all.

As we continue discerning a name for our future merged church, these parables have something to teach us. Many of you have offered thoughtful name suggestions. Each one is a small beginning that may one day grow into the name that carries our shared mission into the future. This week, our New Name Team will gather to prayerfully reflect on those submissions as we prepare for all-church conversations and a congregational vote later this summer. I have also prepared a reflection guide that will help the team prayerfully discern the names, and I want to share that same guide with the whole congregation (click HERE). I invite you to spend some time with it as you read through the list of submitted names, preparing your heart for the conversations ahead.

I hope you’ll join us this Sunday as we continue our Journey into Becoming series and discover how God’s patient grace is still shaping us, our community, and our future.

Alongside you,

Pastor Paul

Friends,

Too often, Jesus’ teachings are distorted into questions about who is in and who is out. And honestly, in these polarizing times, I think Jesus offers us something more than us versus them thinking.

Take this week’s Gospel reading, the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9). A farmer scatters seeds everywhere. Some fall on the path and are eaten by birds. Some land on rocky ground or among thorns and struggle to grow. Others fall on fertile soil and flourish.

Growing up, I was taught that this was a story about “good people” and “bad people,” those who receive God and those who reject God.

But Maybe Jesus is inviting us to see something deeper. Because all of us have rocky places in our story. All of us have fertile ground in our lives. All of us have seasons when faith comes easily and seasons when life feels dry.

The good news is that God continues to sow seeds of grace in all seasons of our lives, often through imperfect people, communities, and even difficult experiences that shape us in ways we don’t recognize until much later.

As we continue our Journey into Becoming series, I invite us to reflect on two simple questions: What seeds of grace have shaped you? And how might God be calling us to become seeds of God’s grace for others?

I hope you’ll join us this Sunday as we worship, reflect, and discover the new life God is blooming among us.

Alongside you,

Pastor Paul