July 16, 2021

Dear Prairie Avenue Family,

Another sign of normal occurred this past week: a church board meeting. We had intended to have one in March 2020, but it was not convened due to the just-announced stay-at-home orders at the time. Our last official meeting was in January 2020, which feels like a lifetime ago. As we took the safety of our community seriously, and the limitations faced with meeting online, we suspended in-person meetings for the duration of the public health guidelines and recommendations restricting attendance. Not that it was completely meeting-free: the trustees made decisions about going forward with required elevator modernization, signing documents for our Payroll Protection Program loan, and its subsequent forgiveness this past December. Regular updates and contacts were kept with congregational leadership, and many duties were covered and handled by those who consented to service until the pandemic abated. Little did anyone of us know that we were in a 16 month extended period of service.

The board approved a quarterly budget going forward for July-September, termination of youth leader, and authorizing the Church trustees to begin the appraisal process and the possibility of sale of all rental property holdings. Maintenance costs on these properties have soared and hiring a property manager would likely eliminate all "profits" from rental income.

Pastoral Relations will resume their regular meeting schedule this coming Monday, July 19 at 7 pm in the Pastor's Study.

Worship This Weekend:
Everyday Prophecy: Jeremiah - Looking for Good Shepherds
We encounter the prophet Jeremiah this Sunday. His condemnations and lamentations gave us a noun: jeremiad. These long, mournful lists of woes about the current state of things, filled with moral decay, were a favorite form of sermons for the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony just prior to public executions. The American Christian theologian Jonathan Edwards's most famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, is a fine example of this form.

Before you find other plans and excuses, you will not hear a jeremiad sermon on Sunday morning. I will take a look at the second most familiar passage of scripture, Psalm 23 and Jeremiah 23:1-6. Jeremiah is speaking God's lament for the mishandling and mismanagement of the people of Judah under the leadership of Judah's kings, successors of King David. Rather than doing the things expected of good shepherds, they have abandoned them to wolves, misleading them to worship other gods, and scattering them. God will intervene in this leadership crisis: remove the corrupt leaders and gather the people himself.

Shepherds smell like the sheep they keep. And sheep will do what their shepherd leads them to do. Think of the various ways we are called to examine this shepherd-sheep dynamic in our own lives. Who are the people who are entrusted to our care? Under whose care have we had to live? In a world often characterized by abuses of power and authority, the prophetic challenges of the Scriptures here call us to resist business as usual and pursue the way of the Good shepherded in our every day relationships. We are called to shepherd people, not turn them into prey. To love and care for those in our lives, particularly the most vulnerable, is to live in a way that tends to their deepest needs.

Adopt-A-Street TOMORROW - Saturday, July 17, 10 am
In 2018 we adopted litter pick-up projects around our facility on East Prairie and East Main. This is an opportunity for our neighbors to see their church neighbors making a real difference to care for them. Thankfully, a reprieve in the summer rain monsoon season seems to be probable tomorrow. Deliver a little kindness to our neighbors through acts of service.

About Sunday School...
Some have been asking whether or when Sunday school classes will resume. As conditions now permit small group gatherings, the answer to when Sunday school classes can resume is anytime. The answer to whether they will resume is a matter of getting someone to lead a group gathering or discussion. I was recently reminded that when many of the adult Sunday school groups existed (think Christian Comrades, Golden Circle, Christian Builders, and Sunshine Class, the pastor was not expected to lead but rather the group picked or elected a teacher/leader.

We are about to complete our first successful Stephen Minister training class in the next couple of weeks, and another Alpha course for the basics of the Christian faith will be started following Labor day.

If you would like to gather as a Sunday school group, you are welcome to use our available classrooms for gatherings. I will be glad to assist any group leaders in finding appropriate curriculum or materials to teach and learn.

Announcements about youth programming and activities will be forthcoming.

Nominations Sought
I offer my thanks and gratitude to those who continued to serve throughout the 2020 COVID crisis as needed or necessary. It is now time to seek nominations for board offices, Elders, Trustees, and Deacons for the coming 2022 year. We are looking for candidates for Board Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, and two Trustee positions.

Look for a complete list of service position opportunities soon!

As I shared with the Church Board last Tuesday, the road ahead will require three things of all of us:
Integrity-- revealing who we are and what we claim as our calling. Our call clarifies our priorities and responses.
Mission-- sets our direction towards those priorities and responses. It assesses our impact.
Morale-- observing and seeking to improve the quality of life within lives and relationships touched by our call, priorities, and responses.


Invite friends to join you for worship
this weekend, in person, online
In-person on Sunday mornings at 8 am (Traditional) or 9:30 am (Modern) (masks and social distancing recommended for unvaccinated).
Online at prairieavenuechristianchurch.org, and Facebook Live Sunday at 8 am or 9:30 am.

See you this weekend online or in person,

Blessings to you all,
Jason
As a church family, we care for and pray for one another.

As a matter of online privacy, we will only disclose public sympathy to a church friend or family member whose passing has also been publicly disclosed.

The Family of Helen Kater, who passed on June 17, 2021.
The Family of Marion Gardner, who passed on June 28, 2021

If you would like prayer, please submit your prayer request online, and Pastor Jason and prayer team members will pray for you.
Prairie Avenue Christian Church | Website