by Rob Caudillo
Since the first of the year, I have set these two scripture verses before me:
“Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap the fruits of unfailing love
and break up your unplowed ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord until he
comes and showers righteousness
on you.” Hosea 10:12; and
“We constantly remember before our God and Father your work
produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 1:3
These particular verses have given me a clearer and better understanding, hope-filled motivation and stronger commitment to our church’s Kingdom work. If you remember, our four primary areas of mission or focus for this year are:
- Contacting and Building relationships with our church’s neighbors;
- Caring for another within the MWPC community;
- Improving our means of communication with one another; and
- Doing Mission together.
And as we move into the fifth month of this year, I am seeing how our mission and service for God’s Kingdom is being lived into and out in our world for Christ in tangible ways. For example, the Easter weekend saw several of our neighborhood families come up to the church and enjoy our Easter Egg Hunt, some morning refreshments and an Easter Story. Some of these same families came and joined us on Easter Sunday and saw how we celebrated, proclaimed and demonstrated the risen and living Jesus Christ in the worship service and in our lives. Then there is the new entry way for the south door to the sanctuary. Hopefully you have taken a moment on Sunday morning and looked at the beautiful job by JoAnne Rennie, Adair Hendrickson and John Duncan. On Thursday morning, some of our neighbors, and their pre-school age children, enjoy a cup of coffee, hot chocolate and morning goodies after seeing their son or daughter off on the bus to Parkside Elementary School.
You may have been someone contacted by a deacon, elder, pastor or someone else from the congregation if you have been unable to be with us or have been noticed as “missing in action”. This has been a way to keep in touch, say “hi” and/or “we miss you and care about you”. On keeping in touch, we have several ways to help you know what is going on at Marcus Whitman, thanks to the fine and outstanding work of our church secretary, Lovey, and our church’s webpage coordinator, JoAnne Rennie, and our newsletter editor, Esther Rickelton.
Join MWPC for family fun this summer season |
|---|
Over the next few months, we have scheduled a couple of “Family Nights” at MWPC. This will have MWPC folks and our neighborhood families coming up to the church and enjoying a family-friendly activity or two and time to get acquainted with one another. In July, we have our Mission Trip to Lewis County and spending 3-5 days helping those affected by the winter flood (July 12th – 15th/17th). Some of our folks are working on plans to have MWPC participate in the Des Moines City 50th Anniversary PARADE, as well as looking into the possibility of our church hosting a Hospitality Booth at one of the Des Moines City’s Saturday Farmers Market (June-Oct). There is also in the planning an outing to a Rainier’s Baseball Game, National Night Out event and a work party or two. A number of our folks have been involved in helping to make the above mentioned ministries, programs and events happen. What about you?
What I appreciate about the verses I shared is that we are to be about the work of planting, planning and harvesting for God’s kingdom because “it is time to seek the Lord until he comes”. And you and I know as the Lord’s people, there is no better time than NOW to be seeking the Lord and helping others to do the same – because Jesus is coming back! And in the other verse, we find that “your work…your labor…your endurance” are “produced by faith…prompted by love… and inspired by hope”. ALL in our Lord Jesus Christ! Our work and endurance in God’s Kingdom work is a product of our faith, is prompted by our love and is inspired by our hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. I like that! I pray and hope that this is true right now for you and me and continues to be true in all that we are and are called to do for Christ and His kingdom.
Peace,
Pastor Rob