Jan 14
Dear Beloved Vista Grande Community,
We drew star words this past Sunday, and I was struck by the fact that the church star word, drawn by Colton, was “love.” How perfect is that? How much better can it get?
Jesus, of course, said that love was the greatest commandment – love of God, neighbor, self (by implication), and enemy (in a different passage). He did not mention ritual purity, sexual prohibitions, dietary restrictions, or any of the myriad of very specific laws about how to worship, wear clothing, or obtain restitution after harm. And there are hundreds of commandments in the Jewish tradition from which Jesus came. He did not, in fact, even mention any of the ten commandments specifically. When pressed, he lifted up love.
There are many ways we can understand love, but the prophetic tradition (and its extension in Jesus and the early church) encourages us to view love as a set of priorities for action. (As theologian Cornel West has written, justice is what love looks like in public.) In my book, Abundant Lives, A Progressive Christian Ethic of Flourishing, I define love as the work we do to help ourselves flourish in all aspects of our lives and to help others flourish in all aspects of their lives.
I mentioned on Sunday that we could define love as what we do and what we bring to the church to help this congregation flourish in all aspects of its communal life. I want to say a little more about that now, in keeping with our stewardship season theme. In the interests of space, I'll limit the topics, but, really, the sky's the limit in the kind of imaginative exercise that I begin below.
What would flourishing spiritually look like as a congregation? It would mean that some or all of us in the congregation are committed to deepening our spiritual lives (through faith formation/religious education/Bible study, among other ways). As we do this work, we would live into that commitment as a community, learning, growing, and celebrating each other on the path of striving to follow Jesus as we gain more peace, joy, gentleness, and other fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
What would flourishing materially look like as a congregation? It would mean that our building and property are not only well-maintained and in good repair but aesthetically beautiful and inspiring. It would mean that we have a paid administrator to keep all of our processes running smoothly (and to make sure that nothing and no one falls through the cracks). It would mean that we have more resources to provide to people and communities in need. It would mean a powerful expansion of our capacities, programs, and opportunities.
What would flourishing emotionally look like as a congregation? It would mean that we courageously train ourselves to sit with discomfort and navigate conflict, that we all cultivate the psychological bandwidth to be good supports to one another, and that we grow into a vivid, vital space that draws in new people who want the joy we have.
What would flourishing socially look like as a congregation? So many of you have indicated that the best thing about VGCC is its welcoming community; you also indicated that you want more of that and you want it to go deeper. We could develop a small group program that would focus both on spiritual development and deepening relationships. We could also put more energy toward church time that happens outside of Sunday mornings and away from the building.
What would flourishing intellectually look like as a congregation? It would mean rebooting faith formation/religious education/spiritual development opportunities, through book groups and in other ways including regular Bible studies. I personally have a long list of workshops and courses I would love to teach at church – everything from revisiting antiracism from a Scriptural perspective to the spiritual wisdom of Broadway songs. We don't have the finances or the person-power to do this quite yet, but we could work toward getting there.
What would flourishing prophetically look like as a congregation? Our missions support is magnificent, we fly a Pride flag, we march in Pride every year, and our Open and Affirming and Just Peace designations are something of which we can and should be proud. What else can and should we do to lift up just causes and support devalued and demoralized communities? The list of possibilities is endless, dependent only on our energy, creativity, and support.
As we live into our congregational star word this year, loving God, our neighbors, ourselves, and our enemies, let's not be afraid to love our congregation as well, especially in the practical ways suggested above. Such love will invite us to support the congregation with our time, talents, and treasure. May we do so joyfully and from a sense of abundance.
(As a reminder, I will be away this coming Sunday, preaching on one of my favorite Scripture texts (Mark 12:28-34) at Ascension Lutheran Church. Please welcome Rev. Dan Holt from Ascension, who will be speaking on Christian unity. I'll see you again on January 25, if not before.)
In faith,
Amanda (your Authorized Lay Minister)
Jan 1
Dear Beloved Vista Grande Community,
Happy New Year! I hope 2026 brings each of us many blessings that allow us to be blessings to the world around us and to our religious community.
We engaged with Ecclesiastes a bit this past Sunday, specifically the famous passage that claims that there is a season for a everything and a time for every purpose under heaven. It certainly makes sense to consider seasons when they are changing around us, both in fall transitioning to spring and Vista Grande starting a new season as it enters its 50th year (our 50th anniversary will be December 24, 2026).
In the spirit of taking seasons seriously, I want to share with you how I am thinking about our process of moving into our time of visioning and planning. I am imagining the process as a seasonal endeavor – not planetary seasons but church seasons.
We began in Advent, a time of preparation and waiting. In keeping with both of these themes, I used the time to collect information and listen to stories, ideas, and concerns from Covenantal Partners and friends. If you participated in a small-group discussion or completed a questionnaire, thank you! (If you would still like to share thoughts, I'm happy to hear them, and if you have not completed a questionnaire and would be willing to do so, please let me know.) What I learned from you during this time will shape ideas I bring to Executive Council, ways in which I handle worship, and some specifics about our visioning/planning process.
Our Epiphany theme is “Home by Another Way” (also the title of next week's wisdom sharing), and my plan is to use this season to share ideas about how we will center our visioning process in biblically grounded relationship-building and spiritual formation. As I mentioned in Sunday's wisdom sharing, I've entered this pastoral role without an agenda about the ultimate vision the church will develop, but with a strong agenda about us having a robust visioning process in which we all listen to each other and collectively listen for the wisdom of the Spirit. We will have to be willing to be uncomfortable, to wrestle with change, and to hold some of the tensions and paradoxes I mentioned on Sunday while treating each other with respect and compassion. We will do all of this more effectively if we are spiritually grounded and relationally connected.
As we move from Epiphany into Lent, we will begin that spiritual and relational work and practice visioning around small, low-stakes issues. Expect the use of silence, prayer, music, and contemplative practices in tandem with our planning work. We will also use this time to understand the different kinds of energy that people may bring to this work so that we can be sure everyone's energy type is acknowledged and respected.
Around or soon after Easter, we will begin more concentrated planning sessions focused on larger questions about who we have been, who we are, and who we want to be. We are likely to use a modified form of Appreciative Inquiry in our planning, though I am still sorting through different models. The goal is to use much of the spring to get our planning underway, ease up in the summer (while hopefully moving small changes forward), and begin putting larger concrete changes into place as early as the fall.
Now, of course, many of you will have heard the phrase, “We plan, God laughs,” and it's quite possible that the above will change based on congregational situations yet unforeseen. That said, I think it's only fair for you to know how I'm thinking about this process. I welcome questions at any time and promise that this will be a collaborative process – because The Little Church that Can deserves no less.
In faith,
Amanda (your Authorized Lay Minister)