A Note from Pastor Shelly

March

Faith Out Loud: Sharing Our Stories

We are coming to the close of the Lenten Season, moving soon into Holy Week, and then to the joyful celebration of Easter. Hopefully during these past six weeks, these past forty days, you have in some way found yourself drawn more closely to God—in silence, in prayer, in letting go of something, taking on something, in the chance to worship on Wednesdays as well as Sundays, and maybe too in conversation with someone. Lent is a time that lends itself naturally to sharing about our faith especially as we have the chance to respond to questions like, “Why do you have those ashes on your forehead?” or “Why are you going to church on your lunch hour?” or “Why are we going to church on Wednesday night?”

We have also spent some time this Lent focusing on this very thing—sharing our faith stories, talking about our faith, and hearing others talk about theirs. We have had some wonderful conversations of this sort in our Lenten midweek services. These conversations and the stories we heard grew out of asking some members of the congregation to reflect on certain questions. And then we asked them to share some of those reflections in worship during our “conversations under the cross.” We want to extend a great thank you to all who took part in truly sharing their faith out loud with the whole congregation. Others have been intrigued by the questions that started the conversations and have taken the questions home to discuss them around the dinner table, with a friend, or with their Bible Study or Small Group. If you weren’t able to attend our midweek services, we don’t want you to miss out.

The questions are printed below. Reflect on them; discuss them with a friend, with your spouse, with your child, with your neighbor. Share your faith out loud!

What is a practice of faith (prayer, worship, reading the Bible, helping others in a specific way, etc.) that helps keep you centered in Christ? And why?

Why do you come to church on Sundays/Saturdays? What does it do for you? How do you feel if you miss worship?

Who is someone in your life that has helped pass along faith in Christ to you? What did they do?

Share about a time when you were able to share your faith in a way that made a difference to another person.

Share about a specific time that you have felt God’s grace in your life.

Share about a time when the people of God “came through for you.”

Share about a time when you were surprised by God.

Share about a time when God felt particularly present to you.

Share about a time when God felt absent to you (and how were you helped through this time).

Tell us a bit about how God has come alive in your life—the first time you felt this, the twentieth time, the most recent time. . .

What has helped make you comfortable to share about your faith and what has been a stumbling block?

What is God doing in your life right now?

What is a favorite Scripture passage? A favorite hymn? Why?

Is there a Lenten discipline (giving up something, taking on something, doing something differently) that has been helpful to your spiritual journey and in drawing closer to God? What? Why?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Shelly