Weekly News & Updates

The Pastor's Corner

Rev. Sara Pair

Trusting the Growing Season

On a recent river cruise through Portugal, I could not stop looking at the hillsides. Along the Douro Valley, the steep slopes have been carved into terraces, narrow shelves of land held in place by dry stone walls that workers built by hand generations ago. Grapevines, olive trees, and almond trees grow there together, as they have for nearly two thousand years. The Douro is the oldest demarcated wine region in the world. Standing on the deck, I felt the weight of all that patient labor stretching back through time.

What struck me most, though, was how quiet the vineyards were. It was the growing season, not the harvest, and there were almost no workers in sight. The vines were green and full, the trees were leafing out, and yet the hillsides looked still. The real work was happening slowly, invisibly, inside the plants themselves.

A grapevine keeps a faithful rhythm. In spring, the buds break open, and the first leaves appear. Through early summer, the shoots grow quickly, and small green grapes begin to form. Then comes a long, quiet stretch when the fruit simply ripens in the heat, softening and gathering sweetness week after week. The harvest, with all its gladness, does not arrive until autumn. From first bud to full fruit, it takes five or six months of mostly hidden work.

I wonder if our lives are not so different. We tend to measure ourselves by the harvest, the visible moments when something is finished and gathered. But much of who we are becoming takes shape in the long, quiet stretches when nothing seems to be happening at all. Paul tells us that the Spirit grows fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Fruit like that does not appear overnight. It ripens slowly, often in seasons when we feel unproductive or unseen.

We do not always trust the quiet. We want evidence that our faith is bearing fruit, and we want it now. But the terraced hills of the Douro remind us that growth keeps its own time. The vine does not hurry, and it does not panic in the heat. It abides, drawing what it needs from soil that others prepared long ago, trusting that ripeness will come.

So if this is a quiet season for you, a stretch where little seems to be happening, take heart. God is not absent in the stillness. The Spirit is at work in us even when we cannot see it, tending the slow growth that will, in time, become fruit for the whole community. May we learn to trust the growing season, and may we wait for the harvest with patience and with hope.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Sara

Special "See You Later" Breakfast for the Coles

Come for breakfast during the Sunday School hour (9:15-10:15 am) on June 28th,

 to say "see you later" to Joe and Susan Coles as they prepare to move to Virginia.

July Book Club

July's selection is Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. Discussion will be held on Tuesday, July 14th at 10:00 am. in the library. The book is available on Amazon or use the button below.

Small Things Like These is award-winning author Claire Keegan's landmark new novel, a tale of one man's courage and a remarkable portrait of love and family

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

An international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.

Gifts Given to Lakeside

In memory of Jim Webb by Marc & Nancy Oudin, The Trotter Family, Fred & Ann Reed, Mac & Gail Bellingrath, Elton & Annette Garris. Tommy & Kathryn May, David, Ann, & Laura Nixon, Linda McNulty, Bobby & Sharon Wyatt, Sissy, Sharri, and Bill Jones, Michelle & Allen Herring, Pete & Shelby Stone.

In memory of Bill Wilcox by Sissy Jones, Earle & Rebecca Phillips, Bobby & Sharon Wyatt, Frances Smith.

In memory of Christie Barron by Bobby & Sharon Wyatt

In memory of Lee Corkins by The Trotter Family, Sissy Jones, Bobby & Sharon Wyatt, J.B. & Tammy Goodman

In memory of Billie Doster by Fred & Ann Reed, Earle & Rebecca Phillips, Bobby & Sharon Wyatt, Frances Smith

In memory of Joann Hargis White by Fred & Ann Reed

In memory of Carolyn Theis by Bobby & Sharon Wyatt

In memory of Glenn Babb by Jo Stanfield, Pete & Shelby Stone, Bill & Sharri Jones.

In honor of Jean Hudson by Neal Pendergraft

In memory of Ralph and Moppy Smith by Tom Smith & Mallory Saltzman

What's Happening this Week

at Lakeside

Wednesday, June 24

8:30 Project Transformation Summer Camp

9:30 LAAF

3:00 F & F zoom

6:00 Mi Casa Board

Thursday, June 25

8:30 Project Transformation Summer Camp

6:00-7:30 P.T. Family Fun Night

Friday, June 26

Office is closed     

Saturday, June 27

Sunday, June 28

8:30 Chapel Worship

9:15 Sunday School

Breakfast for the Coles- F.H.

10:30 Worship -Sanctuary

Monday, June 29

8:30 Project Transformation Summer Camp

Tuesday, June 30

8:30 Project Transformation Summer Camp

5:30 Leadership Board

Wednesday, July 1

8:30 Project Transformation Summer Camp

9:30 LAAF

3:00 F & F zoom

Thursday, July 2

8:30 Project Transformation Summer Camp

Friday, July 3

      Office closed  

Saturday, July 4 Happy Independence Day!!

Sunday, July 5 One morning service only

10:30 Sanctuary Worship

4:00 Trinity Village Vespers

*No Project Transformation Camp on Monday, July 6th,

and the church office will be closed.

Prayer Concerns

Immediate/Pressing Concerns: Ken Theis, Juanita Cano Alfaro,

Brian Rogers (Marsha Rogers), Jim Carnahan (Richards), Cassyle Bovard (Cheshier), Jerry Ingram, Scott Hunt (Bobo) Debra Carroway (Hudson)

Pray for our partner church– St. Paul United Methodist Church,

Malvern and their pastor, Andrew Orr.

Ongoing Prayer Concerns

Carol Burckhalter (6/12/24)

Logan Mondragon (6/19/24)

Jerry Newton (9/15/24)

Jerry Ingram (12/24)

Kashimi Elkins (12/24)

Jean Hudson (3/25)

Allen Swob (9/25)

Peggy Swob (9/25)

Doug Cahill (9/25)

Whitney White Crutchfield

Barbara Sue Langrell

Molly Tilley

David Owens

Ann Reed

Nathan Baltzell

Duke Allison

Donna Massey Rickels

Bobbie Bullock

Homebound &

Assisted Living

Ken Theis

Mary Catherine Kyle

Dilcy Glien

Marilyn Rouse

Ralph Rouse

Violet Ross

It's time to pick your days!

Click the button to register if you'd like to provide a meal and/or be a Reading Buddy.

If you need help, please contact the office or Pastor Sam.