Hold On, It’s Gonna’ be a Wild Ride!

A new program year is about to begin and as I look over my calendar all I could think about was the old Walt Disney World “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.”  We start the year with a bang this week with Opening Sunday, and celebrate the return of the Faith formation classes, the kick-off of the Chancel Choir, the Bell Choir, and the start of a new musical group aimed at youth and young adults, led by Nancy Bent and Nancy Bos (I refer to them as the Nancy’s Two).  The following weekend is one big party, as we celebrate thirty years of music ministry with Dennis Coleman.  And of course September 25th we have our Fall Congregational Meeting, at which we will receive an update on the Shaping Our Future process, learn more about Congregations for the Homeless, and just generally celebrate Bellevue First Congregational Church!

October brings more good news in the form of Lisa Horst Clark, our newest addition to the pastoral staff.  Lisa’s emphasis will be in Spiritual Formation, which means she will be working closely with Education, Parish Life, and Membership.  She brings incredible skills and insight to ministry and I personally am very excited about working with her.

And of course there is the Chancel Choir tour to Peru in late October and early November.  It is my understanding that almost 100 people will be traveling together; we will get to hear about their adventure and share in a Peru Tour Concert in worship on November 20th.

Worship this year promises to be even more exciting than usual, as staff has worked hard to coordinate themes and theological concepts as we explore four aspects of a question posed by the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer during his imprisonment by the Nazis:  “What is bothering me incessantly is the question what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today … We are moving towards a completely religionless time; people as they are now simply cannot be religious any longer.”

Advent: “Who is Jesus Christ for us, today?”
Epiphany: “What is Christianity for us, today?”
Lent: “The Worldliness of Christian faith.”
Eastertide: “What is the Church?”

A great part of the joy I experience in serving at Bellevue First Congregational Church is the freedom to struggle honestly, both intellectually and emotionally, with the changing world in which we live.  I treasure this opportunity to share with you in this journey together, as we seek to more fully understand the nature of our faith and what it means to call ourselves Christian.

See you in church,

kevin