The letter to the Galatian Churches: ONE

Galatians is a letter from Paul to the young churches in Galatia – a community in present day Turkey.  Paul had visited and established mission churches there but through other folks, had come to learn that things weren’t as he had left them.

This past week I’ve been praying about the oneness in Christ that we profess as we collectively work through the stages of grief following some amazingly horrendous events in Orlando.  I’m sitting here, on Wednesday at 4 PM, trying to wrap my head around the death of a young singer, a massacre in a night club, and the loss of a toddler to another apex predator (none of these things are really uplifting…together it feels TOO MUCH).  And this weekend is the commemoration of those lives lost at Mother Bethel AME church in Charleston, SC.

The band U2 is going to help me this week:
One.  One love.  One blood.  One life.  You got to do what you should.
One life with each other. Sisters. Brothers.
One life but we’re not the same. We get to carry each other.
Carry each other.
One life.
One.

Bishop Batholomew of the NJ Synod and Bishop Eaton, the presiding Bishop of the ELCA have both released letters that can be read when you click on their names.

Summer Worship Schedule has begun! One service on Sunday at 9 AM. We will welcome Liana K. into God’s family through baptism. We will also bless out HIgh School graduates and wish them godspeed for the next part of their journey. Sunday education programs are on hiatus.

Whoever you are and wherever you find yourself in your journey, know that you are most welcome here.

Blessings,
Pastor Tina