We aren’t the only ones celebrating our first big milestone. Tuesday morning, in an RMC Zoom meeting, I mentioned that we are turning ten on May 28th, Pentecost Sunday, and was both surprised and moved by the joy this announcement elicited among our friends in Christ from across the Rocky Mountain Conference. Folks near and far have been praying and cheering for us from the very beginning—something we may not feel enough as we go about being the church together in Montrose, but surely we can give thanks for now. We are most definitely NOT alone.
It’s always felt right and good—and very much a God-thing—that we trace our birthing day to the birth of the church universal at Pentecost. It’s simply impossible to imagine that this wildly loving congregation, this faith community committed to acts of service and justice-inclined witness, somehow conjured and animated ourselves. Just like Jesus’ first followers gathered after his ascension, we were brought to life and empowered by the Spirit. We still are.
In worship this Sunday, our celebration will rightly focus on God and all God has done to bring us to our happy milestone. Wear any kind of fiery color you have in your closet! Worship will be made extra special as we sing “Holy Dreamer, Joyful Healer,” a hymn written just for us by Amanda Udis-Kessler, a gifted hymnodist from Colorado Springs. Each verse of our hymn draws upon the vital, enlivening work we took up together last November as we named the qualities and characteristics of (1) the God who makes God’s self known at CSC, (2) who we are, and (3) what we seek to bring to a hurting and often unjust world. Come prepared to hear some of your November contributions sung back to you.
As you prepare to gather at the Ute Museum on Sunday, do remember to bring ten items (the same thing or a variety of contributions) to be shared with the food bank or which can go into our hygiene kits. When you arrive on Sunday, place your contributions near the front of our gathering space to create a kind of altar that speaks to our identity as a spirited community called to bring the Spirit into our community.
Also, as part of our worship on Sunday, we will gather at Christ’s table to enjoy, finally, the feast of love his presence in our midst makes possible. Communion via Zoom seemed stilted and odd, and so we have waited until now to receive the bread and cup that Christ so readily offers—nourishment for our souls and an embodied reminder that Christ brings us into unity (but never uniformity).
After worship, we’ll enjoy a feast of a different kind. Mary Loncar and Charlie Henry are cooking hams, and we will all bring the rest—side dishes, salads, and bread and butter. (Do bring serving utensils.) In keeping with our commitment to diversity, we will have several kinds of celebration cake to choose from, and in a spirit of true rejoicing, we will lift champagne flutes high as we end our meal with non-alcoholic toasts. (Jot down a toast you would love to give—or let the Spirit give you the words on the spot!) As part of our celebration, each of us will also receive a memory book to treasure in the years to come.
I look forward to gathering with you on Sunday for what will surely be a Spirit-filled experience. The same Spirit who breathed life into Christ’s first followers, who has breathed life into us here in Montrose 2000 years later, is the same Spirit who will be in our midst to breathe life into us yet again—for our great joy and God’s great glory.
With you on the journey,
