Updates

July 2019 Happenings

  • Sunday, July 7 – Visitation by The Rt. Rev. Jennifer A. Randall, Bishop of Arizona
  • Sunday, July 7 – First Fruits Sunday Please bring canned goods and toiletries for the SAFE House, see list of needed items in the hall.
  • Thursday July 11, 11:30 AM – LOL (Ladies Out to Lunch) at the Show. Low Cafe
  • Saturday, July 13 12:30 PM. BBQ Picnic. Information about purchasing a ticket is available at coffee hour or contacting office. Maps are available in hall.
  • Thursday, July 18, 6:30 PM  Campfire Party!  Join us for an evening of music and storytelling.  Bring snacks, drinks, dessert to share and your lawn chair!  5685 Scotts Drive Lakeside
  • Friday, July 19, 9 AM – Stitches in Faith in Parish Hall
  • Thursday, July 25, 5:30 PM – Men’s Group BBQ at the church hall.  Bring your own protein for the grill.
  • Starting Wednesday, July 31, 10 AM – AWE & Wonder:  Lifellong Learning Series.  Exploring how life’s anecdotes are connected to life’s deepest questions.  This is the inaugural session – future days and time will be decided!

Changing Your View

The common view is we are donkeys pulling a cart. There is a driver behind us, holding a stick and waving a carrot before us. We are trying to avoid the stick, and reach for the carrot. The driver is God, whom we cannot see because He is behind us and we wear blinders, holds and controls the stick, Hell and judgment, and waves the carrot, Heaven, before us. The cart, God’s Plan, is the task we move to some completion.

Change your view. You, we, I are not separate from God’s plan, and are not separate from God. We are NOT God, but IN God, indivisible from God, for without God we would not be. In this view (if you must hold on to the analogy), the cart, driver, and donkey are one. There is no need for a carrot or a stick, because we are a unit, an entity.

The cart, driver, donkey, stick, and carrot have, through the ages, been our world view. It’s expressed in the Bible, but now we can better understand, by experience, Creation, God, and ourselves. We are not alone, separate, burdened, fearing punishment, hoping for blessing. We are, well, not exactly a team, but a whole. And as such we are Whole.

You can go through life with the cart and donkey world view, if you find it difficult to leave that theology behind. I just suggest you try a new view, maybe a better picture (Not by any means totally accurate, but evolving), until we grow more.

Planning

It’s Time to Plan for 2019
Pledge Cards are coming

As the end of the year approaches it’s time to plan for the coming year. One way we do this as a church is establishing the budget for the coming year. To establish a realistic budget we ask you to let us know how much you plan to give next year. In the next few weeks we will provide pledge cards for you to fill out and return (Your pledge and pledge status are confidential and reported only to you. The treasurer issues these reports this quarterly, and in January for your income tax reporting). You can pledge a one time donation, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually.

Your pledge is only a planning tool, not a contractually binding promise. Should you need to change your pledge simply speak to the treasurer (and only to the treasurer) to adjust it.