Kindred in Christ,

This Sunday we will do worship a little differently. In lieu of a of a full sermon, we will take time to reflect on the church we are becoming and discuss with one another what it means to be on a journey of faith into the unknown. This will lead into a presentation and update from our New Building Search Team (see team members and more info below), and an opportunity for us to vote on the building needs that will guide the search for our new temporary home in the U District. A timeline will also be shared.

It is appropriate that this will conclude our series, Roots: (Re)discovering the Methodist Revival Movement. As we will also explore this Sunday, the early Methodist revival was less concerned about preserving a particular shape and more about continuing an intentional direction. Join the conversation on the direction we are headed as we seek to remain open to the future shapes we will take.

In the meantime, I offer you a prayer by one of my heroes in the faith, Thomas Merton (pictured above). It is an appropriate prayer for a life of faith as individuals and as a collective community:

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,

though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Amen.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz