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Dear friends: September 2

Dear friends,

I have always thought there is more than one New Year. January gets most of the attention, but the beginning of a new school year has always felt like a new year to me too. New schedules, new teachers, new routines, a chance to start over a little bit, and maybe even make a resolution or two.

This month has had a couple of big milestones for me. It marks my 21st anniversary here at First Pres, which is pretty hard for me to believe. Plus, our twins started 6th grade, which means that after all these years of leading Youth Group, our own kids are now in it! That is really hard to believe!

A number of years ago, Annie and I visited the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, a museum dedicated to the great American folk singer, songwriter, and good troublemaker. Woody was about as down to earth as they come, and his words had a way of sneaking up on you. One of my favorite lines of his is, “Take it easy, but take it.” Well, we loved the museum so much that we later took a wonderful  group from First Pres and Mount Moriah there (along with the newer Bob Dylan Center, of course) as part of our second Civil Rights Pilgrimage trip. 

One of the many things I remember seeing was a list of thirty-three New Year’s Resolutions (AKA: “Rulin’s”) that Woody Guthrie wrote in 1943. Some of them make me laugh. “Change socks.” “Shave.”  “Eat good – fruit – vegetables – milk.” “Save dough.” And, my favorite, “Wash teeth if any.” But, then, mixed in with those are some that have stuck with me. “Write a song a day.” “Don’t get lonesome.” “Learn people better.” “Keep hoping machine running.” “Love everybody.” “Wake up and fight.”

That is quite a list, isn’t it? Brush your teeth. Change your socks. Write a song. Learn people better. 

Maybe January does not get to have all the resolutions. As another school year begins, I think I might borrow a few from Woody. Keep the hoping machine running.  Love everybody. And, when the world gives us plenty of reasons not to, wake up and fight for that love anyway.

Take it easy, but take it,
Josh
Rev. Dr. Josh Stewart
Associate Pastor – Youth

Dear friends: August 27

Dear friends,

Throughout all of Scripture, God is known by many names. God is the God of Abraham, the God who makes promises and keeps covenant. God is the God of Sarah, the God who brings laughter out of impossibility. God is the God of Jacob, the God who wrestles with schemers and strivers and somehow refuses to let them go. God is the God of Moses, the God who hears the cries of people in bondage and leads them toward freedom. And this fall at First Pres, we are going to spend some time with another description of God: The God of Jonah.

This fall, we are going to journey through the entire book of Jonah together. It is a wonderfully strange little book filled with storms and sailors, prayers and prophets, a giant fish, an enormous city, a fast-growing plant, a hungry worm, and even some confused cattle. But for all the attention the fish gets, Jonah really isn't a story about a fish. And I am increasingly convinced it isn't primarily a story about a prophet who runs away from God either. Jonah is a story about a God whose mercy outruns human expectations.

Jonah runs away as God pursues. Jonah sinks, however, God provides. Jonah reluctantly tries, yet God works through him anyway. Jonah gets angry because God is too merciful while God patiently stays with Jonah even in the midst of that anger. Over and over again, Jonah discovers that God's mercy moves fast. Much faster than he does.

And if we are willing to be truthful, there is probably a little Jonah in all of us. We know something about running. We know something about resisting. We know something about wanting God to be gracious to us while being a little less certain about God's grace for others. Yet through every storm, every detour, and every second chance, Jonah introduces us to a God whose patience is persistent and whose mercy stretches further than we ever imagined.

We are especially excited that during the sixth week of this series we will welcome Rabbi Sharon Brous to join us in worship. Her presence will give us a wonderful opportunity to encounter this ancient Jewish text alongside an amazing Jewish teacher and friend and to think together about the questions of mercy, justice, repentance, and our shared life with God that Jonah continues to raise.

So this fall, come meet Jonah. Not the cartoon character with the whale. The complicated prophet who runs and prays and preaches and pouts.

And, even more importantly, come encounter Jonah's God — the God who pursues us when we flee, awaits us when we pray, works through us when we try, stretches us when we resist, and continually amazes us with that divine patience and persistence.

Grace & Peace,
Brian Coulter
Pastor/Head of Staff