Running Away

This week we begin our new dive into the book of Jonah for our August sermon series. Most of what we know about this story was learned as a child and few of us have really paid attention to the actual book of the Bible. It is not very long and can easily be read before you arrive on Sunday. It has interesting characteristics that are not typical of the other prophets and I look forward to us taking a closer look together. This first Sunday I have titled the sermon “Running Away” as we focus on Jonah’s call from God. I have been called a Jonah more than once in my life time and I will unpack that in this week’s sermon. Also this is the first Sunday of the month so we will be having Communion at both services.

I don’t know about you but I can’t believe it is already August. Time flys when you are having fun! Our worship staff and kid’s & youth leaders gathered together all day Wednesday planning for the rest of the year. We spent the entire morning trying to figure out Advent and Christmas. Did you know that Christmas and New Year’s Day are both Sundays? What does that mean to our congregation that typically has service on Christmas Eve and everyone is off for Christmas day to be with their families? How do we decide who has to work and who does not? And when do we get time to have Christmas with our families if we are leading worship? These are all hard questions that I have been processing with the Executive team, Ad Council and SPRC. They are all surprised that I keep talking about Christmas so early in the year. But I feel really good about the plan that we have and I look forward to rolling it out for you all in November.

The most exciting news that we have this week is that we have hired a new Office Manager!! We are celebrating in the office and will introduce her to you in the September newsletter. Right now she is starting her training part time and will be in the office more when school starts. The last position we need to fill is the Food: Body & Soul Resource Coordinator. This is a very part time role that can be done at home. Check out the job description on the website for more information.

See you Sunday!