This Sunday, July 10th, is Joining Sunday and seven new people will be joining our church (Debra, Forrest, Suzanne, Neill, Connie, Dick, and Alice).  (Todd will be joining next Sunday, July 17th, and we will also celebrate Essie’s Baptism)!  It will truly be a joy to welcome new members among us.  If you are around this weekend, I encourage you to come to worship and stay afterwards for the reception in the Stage Room to welcome our newest members of Colchester Federated Church.

As part of our New Member Class, we speak a bit about the history of our church.  Someone along the way sent me the above historical church photo and it’s amazing to see what has changed and what has stayed the same.  It’s humbling to be part of an institution that is 319 years old.  Our church is 73 years older than the United States of America!  We are part of a congregation that has been around long before we were born, and God willing, will be around for many more years to come. 

It is amazing to think about all that our church has “seen” over the hundreds of years that our congregation has been in Colchester.  To think of all of the people who have passed through our church doors.  Part of the Prayer of Invocation that we will say together on Joining Sunday thanks God for our new members, for their life stories, faith journeys, and diversity of gifts.  We will also pray, “May we who have been here a while be zealous in our willingness to listen and to learn.  Make us open to revised visions and new perspectives, we pray.”*  For that is one of the gifts of Christian community—knowing that we can listen to and learn from each other, knowing that we have unique perspectives to share, knowing that we are united in God’s love for all people.  See you in church, in person or online!

Love,
Pastor Lauren

* From Touch Holiness, ed. Ruth C. Duck and Maren C. Tirabassi.  Copyright 1990 by The Pilgrim Press.

Thursday Thoughts 7/7/22