Pastor's Note

Gentle Readers,
 
In designing our worship for this upcoming Sunday, I felt a stirring of the spirit to have us sing “Jesus Loves Me.”  See, the assigned Gospel story is the one where a Canaanite woman interrupts Jesus’ flow to ask him to heal her daughter, who is “demon-possessed.” Jesus at first wants to stay in his lane—ministering only to the lost sheep of Israel. But she persists (rather brilliantly). And he realizes that faith can show up in people in other lanes, too.  Jesus loves me, even me, when I seem to be functioning outside of the fold, in another lane, yet still seeking healing for whatever is going wrong in my life.
 
And so came the musical reminder—that childhood bedrock song—“Jesus Loves Me.”
 
Problem was . . . beyond the first line, the lyrics weren’t jiving with me or with the seeds of my sermon.
 
So I rewrote them! And we will sing them together in worship on Sunday. And then I started wondering—if YOU wrote a verse of Jesus Loves Me, what would it say??
 
I’m serious. I want to know.  Take a little trip to the creative corners of your mind, and send me your verse, will you?
 
pastorlisa@redeemermilwaukee.org.
 
This Sunday, we welcome the newest batch of New Members, and Jeff Bray premieres his latest composition, putting music to the words of the poem I say quite often in preparation for Holy Communion, “And the Table Will Be Wide” by Jan Richardson. Awesomeness.
 
In Christ, Pastor Lisa