Sunday, September 22, 2024

Dear Friends, 

Lisa and Dorothy have asked me to speak with the children on Sunday morning about Communion.  Why do we do this sacrament (ritual) each and every week?  What is the real and symbolic meaning of the elements – bread and wine/juice?  To state the obvious, a chance to speak to our children is a chance to speak to children of all ages.

Rituals matter.  They look back to important historical moments, evoke significant memories, awaken the imagination, and remind us of deep and essential truths.  Communion looks back to Jesus’ Last Supper.  He was clearly aware that his violent execution was imminent.  He could have avoided it by running for the hills.  He could have dodged it by compromising his truth.  But he didn’t.  He faced the rulers of the world, and the worst of human nature.  He gathered with his disciples.  He declared that God was still present and at work.  He thanked God for the bread (sustenance from God’s hand).  He thanked God for the wine – a symbol of sacrificial love and the possibility of redemption.  He offered the fullness of his life and teachings to his disciples.  He declared that Communion was ‘what the world most needed’.  

So here we are every Sunday at our little church re-creating the experience of the Last Supper. 

• We are reminded that food is essential and comes from a Source greater than ourselves.  To eat consciously is to be more humble.  

• We are reminded to say THANK YOU.  Thank you, God, for our daily bread.  Grateful people are infinitely more fulfilled.  Hunger is no joke. 

• We are reminded that the life/death of Jesus is the embodiment of non-violence, sacrificial love, and forgiveness … which are, without a doubt, humanity’s best chance for a brighter future.

• We are reminded that communion is about community, and we are absolutely lost (or at least in greater danger) without our community of faith.

I love experiencing Communion with our church family.  It makes me feel connected to you in a very intimate way.  I feel God’s presence.  And always, the ritual points beyond itself to a way for each of us to bring the Holy Spirit to every table where we might find ourselves.

See you on Sunday.

Warmly,

Carter 

Sunday, September 15, 2024

Dear Friends, 

When I think of homecoming, I might be inclined to imagine a college reunion when you gather with old friends … possibly regress and, most certainly, recall old stories and good times from a previous chapter in life.  All good. 

Homecoming at church is a different animal altogether.  It has God as a reference point.  It beckons the famous quote by St. Augustine, “Our hearts are forever restless until they find rest in Thee.”  It highlights the community of grace-filled hospitality, forgiveness and unceasing encouragement.  

Homecoming welcomes everyone no matter the psychological or spiritual condition of that individual.  Some have had a great summer.  Some have not.  Some are feeling uber grateful.  Some are feeling the weight of loss.  Some are full of positive anticipation as they step into a new school year.  Some are full of anxiety as uncertainty looms large.  

Here is what one of my fellow pastors and friends writes:

“The truth is that some children are hungry, and some are not.  Some conditions are treatable, and some are terminal.  Some wounds heal, and some bleed on in secret.  But what if a cosmic sacred reality holds it all – the good and the bad, the hope and the despair, the joy and the sorrow?  And what if that same cosmic sacred reality grieves the pain with us, encourages new life for us, and celebrates flourishing whenever and wherever it comes?  This sacred reality, our God, companions every being, every molecule, every moment of existence with compassionate and restorative care.”

So please come on Sunday.  It doesn’t matter how you are feeling.  We are going to welcome you, embrace you and celebrate you.  A place at our table is already set for you.  

Warmly,

Carter        

Sunday, September 8, 2024

Dear Friends,

Talmadge Hill Community Church is a beautiful community of faith. As your Co-Minister, this offers me both consolation and inspiration that keeps me dedicated to my ministerial call at the church.  
 
I believe that faith is an action verb.  While most dictionaries continue to list faith as a noun, that wasn’t always true. And for us, it’s never really changed because our call to faith has never been a passive activity. Abram, the Old Testament Patriarch and the figurehead of faith for the three major monotheistic religions, started his faith with a God-inspired call “to go to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). And throughout the gospels, Jesus calls his disciples with the simple commands to follow him and “come and see.”
 
As we begin this new program year, I invite you to approach it with a spirit of anticipation and openness. In the words of C. S. Lewis, “There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” 
 
Where might God be calling you to grow? How can you deepen your connection to this community?  What can you see? Go on a journey of self-discovery.  Leave behind anything that might hold you back. And if you do, I promise you the landscape that you see and the life that you live will show you the glimpses of love, connection and hope that only an active faith can reveal.
 
So mark your calendars with all the exciting things that are coming and see faith as the action verb that it is, even if that action is simply showing up.  It starts there, but it is truly so much more.
 
I look forward to sharing the journey with you.
 
With love and peace,
 
Cheryl

Sunday, September 1, 2024

Dear Friends,

To state the obvious, this weekend pauses to honor America’s labor force and, less directly, the value of hard work.  The father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, once declared, “Life is defined by two things - work and love.” 

For those of us who choose to explore things through the lens of faith, I want to share a quote from Wendell Berry on this topic:

“Good human work honors God's work. Good work uses no thing without respect, both for what it is in itself and for its origin. It uses neither tool nor material that it does not respect and that it does not love. It honors nature as a great mystery and power, as an indispensable teacher, and as the inescapable judge of all work of human hands. It does not dissociate life and work, or pleasure and work, or love and work. To work without love is to dishonor God, nature, the thing that is made, and whomever it is made for. This is blasphemy: to make shoddy work of the work of God. But such blasphemy is not possible when the entire Creation is understood as holy and when the works of God are understood as embodying and thus revealing His spirit.”

I like the idea of God in all things. 

See you on Sunday.

Carter

Sunday, August 25, 2024

Dear Friends,
 
Every year at this time, the nostalgia hits hard. There is a certain sense of purpose, rhythm and ritual that comes when Summer transitions to Fall. It feels like just yesterday I was picking out my favorite binders, a new bookbag and the best outfit possible to stroll down the halls on the first day of school. I was always full of hope for the new start and the possibilities for all that I could be. While I don’t know if any school year ever lived up to those great expectations that my heart and mind conjured at the start of each school year, my hopeful spirit never failed to embrace the newness and all the possibility that came along with it. 
 
As the clock turns towards Autumn and the school busses roll down the streets, I hope we can pack our spiritual backpacks with all the tools we need—not only tools to make it to class, but eternal tools that will allow us to meet the moments of our lives with wisdom, grit and grace.  Even if we are out of school, the learning never ends. 
 
To all who are going back to school, to all those who support them and to all of us who still get some kind of glimmer of newness and excitement as August turns to September, have a great school year!
 
Love,
Cheryl