Kindred in Christ,

This Sunday we continue our series, Running into the Future! This coincides with our pledge campaign season. If the ministry of U Gathering has made a difference in your life and you feel called to partner with us, we invite you to prayerfully consider what financial pledges you are being called to commit to for the coming year. Your pledges enable us to create a sustainable budget for 2024, as well as continue to run together into God’s future of greater inclusion, creativity, and justice in the U District of Seattle.

During this series we are considering the ingredients needed to continue to honor our past while moving forward into the future. Last week we talked about cultivating a nimble faith, which is being flexible and open to God’s unexpected leading in our lives. This week we are talking about having an attitude of gratitude. The giving of our time, talents, and finances to the church and our communities should overflow as a response to the grace of God experienced in our real lives.

Yet the pain and oppression we witness in the world can seem to eclipse the goodness of God that is still all around us. While on the other hand, the privilege that many of us benefit from, due to our social locations, deceives us to think we never have enough and always deserve more of any given thing.

In the midst of all this, the practice of gratitude invites us to stop, search for God’s gifts, and respond to that goodness. Gratitude reminds us of that while injustice and suffering are real, they are not all of reality. And our gratitude moves us toward a type of resistance, which overflows into thanksgiving, works of mercy, and justice. Moreover, gratitude enables us to remain humble and manage our own privilege and entitlement.

Throughout the New Testament, the Apostle Paul usually did not thank people directly in his letters. He rather would give thanks to God for people in his life. “I thank God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” (Philippians 1:3-5).

As I continue in my pastoral and community-building work, I move from a deep gratitude for each of you who are connected through the ministry of U Gathering. I give thanks to God for the unique ways you bring your authentic selves and partner with us in this gospel work.

Lastly, I want to lift up a quote from one of our members, Julianne, which expresses her gratitude for the kind of community we are and which we are called to continue to become:

I love that I can be at U Gathering on any given Sunday, no matter where I am emotionally or spiritually, and know I’ll enjoy seeing old friends and celebrating new connections; know that I’ll hear a message of inclusivity, welcome and invitation; know that my teens (even if not attending that day) are seen and valued by the relevant and gender-affirming language and message; and finally, know (or re-learn) that I am part of the “everyone” continuously invited to God’s loving table. – Julianne Hake

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz