Greetings from the Moderator MAY 2025
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Grace and peace to you! As a continuation from last month’s article, I wanted to report back about my visit to Westminster-by-the-Sea. As I expected, I was greeted warmly and found the congregation to be very welcoming and full of enthusiasm. While there, I also learned about a book that the congregation is reading, called “Becoming a Welcoming Church,” by Thom S. Rainer (special thanks to Mike Foley for the introduction to this book). What a great way to remind ourselves of things we need to revisit often so that we don’t unintentionally keep visitors away or make them feel unwelcome. I would recommend reading it… it’s a short read.
I also wanted to continue the theme of being connected. As I was asking the Holy Spirit to guide me in selecting scripture verses for my sermon this coming week, I was directed to 1 Peter 2:1-12. The verses that stood out to me the most were verses 4-5. “Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (NRSV) Like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house… Do you like Lego? I do. I played with them quite a bit as a child, and now my husband and I like to gift each other Lego sets for special occasions. Last summer, for our anniversary, my husband gave me the Notre Dame set. We had traveled to Europe for our 25th anniversary back in 2022. I have always wanted to see Notre Dame in person, and even though I couldn’t go inside (it was still undergoing renovations after the fire), I thoroughly enjoyed just getting to see the outside. Scott thought it would be fun for us to build this Lego set together as a memory from our previous trip. Neither of us knew what that building process would be… how intricate all the pieces were… and how amazing the instruction booklet would be as it walked us through the history of how Notre Dame was constructed. Every single Lego brick was important. Each brick connected with another brick in ways we couldn’t have even imagined. How the arches were formed, how the tiles on the floor would come together. It was truly beautiful. Aren’t we kind of like that as well? How each of us come together… how each of us are connected. God has connected us in ways we might not have ever imagined. And, like the Lego bricks, we are truly nothing on our own. We MUST be connected. We MUST be part of the church community. It is how we have been created by our Almighty God. Alone, we are just little Lego bricks in a bag… but together, we are living stones that God is putting together to be built into a spiritual house… coming together to bring glory to God. So the next time you see a Lego brick (hopefully it’s not when you step on one… OUCH!)… ask yourself if you are just a single brick, or are you truly part of God’s creation. Are you connecting to and with others, or are you trying to do everything on your own? Let the Holy Spirit move in you to become more connected with those around you so that we can bring glory to God through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
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Commissioned Ruling Elder Nicole Gower
Notre Dame Lego Model
Scott & Nicole in front of Notre Dame 6/18/22
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