A few words from our pastor

Most of us enjoy the fruits of others’ labors without much thinking about the labors themselves.

I follow a Facebook page that highlights the hard, often risky work of farmworkers in California—and let me tell you, now that I’ve watched a number of those videos I’ll never look at a bunch of celery, a clamshell of strawberries or a robust head of romaine lettuce in the same way.

Most of the time, other people's efforts on our behalf are pretty invisible to us. When we go to a restaurant and order a meal, few of us spend our time imagining what’s happening in the kitchen once we’ve told the wait staff what we’d like; instead, we enjoy visiting with our tablemates and sampling appetizers while our meals are prepared out of sight. The same is true when we attend a play at Magic Circle; we rarely give more than passing thought to the hundreds of hours of rehearsal, set design, and costuming that are all wrapped up in the 90-minute production that so ably entertains us.

The same is true in the church. You have been receiving letters inviting you to participate in three 90-minute Sacred Conversations during Eastertide, all leading up to our birthday at Pentecost. Together these sessions are enabling us to do some critical developmental work as a congregation as we grow out of being a newly formed church and continue on our way to completing our first decade.

Whether you’ve participated in these gatherings or not, what you would never guess is how many hours and how much heart has gone into creating this short but ever-so-important series. Leadership has devoted much of themselves to creating and honing these sessions; the heaviest lifting has been done by Carol Keeney whose experience as a life-long UCCer and who expertise in community organizing have proven a gift beyond measure.

Church leadership is always a labor of love but so much of it happens behind the scenes; these efforts can easily be taken for granted by the rest of us. Not knowing how much has been invested (and what sacrifices have been made along the way), we forget to offer words of sincere thanks and genuine appreciation to our servant leaders.

All of this to say that I want to encourage you to reach out with a word of true thanks to our Leadership Team (Pat Riddell, Mary Loncar, Carol Keeney) as well as to Aljean Greenacre who has joined in this planning/implementing process as an interested church member. Since January, these four have met multiple times each month (sometimes once a week) and for countless hours, all so that we might be stronger and more faithful as a church. Let’s not make them wait for applause in heaven; let’s thank them now for their good and faithful servanthood.

With you on the journey,

PS: While you’re at it, take a few minutes to express your gratitude for all that Kim Floyde does. Her behind-the-scenes efforts with the newsletter, the website, and our bookkeeping really do qualify as above and beyond. We owe Kim a debt we can never repay.

Be the Church, wherever you are, working for the common good of the whole, as faithful followers of Christ, in community with one another and others./span>   (Community Spirit Church Guidepost)

On Our Way to Pentecost

As we make our way to our 8th birthday on Pentecost Sunday, we are being intentional about considering what it means to enter into sacred covenant with one another and our God. Pastor Karen's sermon focus each week addresses each aspect of this covenant. If you miss a week, you can read her sermon by click the date link below.

• April 18
  We promise to pray regularly for Community Spirit and its pastor. We promise also to participate regularly in worship.
• April 25
  We promise to live into our Relational Covenant.
• May 2
  We promise to participate in Community Spirit’s programs, ministries, and missions.
• May 9
  We promise to serve in life-giving ways and as the Spirit leads.
• May 16
  We promise to support the church financially.
• May 23
  Pentecost Sunday! We make our membership covenant promises as we celebrate CSC’s eighth birthday and the birthing day of the church universal.

This year, as we journey through Eastertide to Pentecost, the Leadership Team is inviting you into sacred conversations — to explore, to lean into, and discover together the new life that is before us. Beginning with these conversations, we want to explore together as a community:

• What does it mean to be in covenant one with another?
• Beyond worshiping together, are we living together in a way that reflects the new life God is calling us to?

You are invited to attend these conversations via Zoom; invitations are sent out shortly before each conversation. We have already had the first two conversations on April 21st and May 5th, but there's still time to participate in the final one on Wednesday, May 19th from 6:00 to 7:30 PM.

Shortly ahead of time, you will receive a letter in the mail with the agenda and supporting documents for the May 19th conversation. If you don't receive it by Monday, May 17th and plan to attend, please contact Pastor Karen or Pat Riddell for a copy.

Harp Concert

In celebration of Mother's Day, Harps In Motion will be playing at the Montrose Botanic Gardens this Sunday, May 9th at 3:00 PM. Bring a chair if you want to sit and listen, or you can stroll the garden while listening to beautiful harp music played by Mary Loncar, Karen Nicholson and other friends of CSC. All are welcome!

Special Offering: Strengthen the Church

During the month of May, CSC will receive its second of four UCC special offerings of the year.

The Strengthen the Church (STC) Offering reflects the shared commitment of people across the United Church of Christ to cooperatively build up the UCC. Conferences and the national setting equally share the gifts given by members and friends through their local congregations. The funds raised support leadership development, new churches, youth ministry, and innovation in existing congregations. By your generosity to this offering, you build up the Body of Christ.

As God calls our congregations to be the church in new ways, your generosity will plant new churches, awaken new ideas in existing churches and develop the spiritual life in our youth and young adults.

Last year, we raised $45 for this special offering. Let's see if we can at least double it this year! You can donate online at communityspiritucc.org/give or mail a check payable to Community Spirit Church, in care of Kim Floyde, 1516 Barbara Street, Montrose CO 81401. If you want to drop a check off instead, please call ahead (970-765-6615).  Be sure to include "STC" in the memo area to ensure that your donation gets to the right place.

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