904 Washington St SE, Olympia, WA 98501
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February 2025
We enter this second month of the year filled with hope for the future. We are seeing new people in worship on a consistent basis. We are navigating a new structure of how we do mission and ministry and looking at you, the laity, to use your gifts, abilities and hearts to build up the whole here on the corner of 9th and Washington as well as the common good of our neighborhood and surrounding downtown corridor. We are embracing our commitment to being a downtown church and continue to engage our community in loving service, support and prayer. We continue to look for ways to support, care, build-up, and nurture one another’s faith with Christ as our guide and mentor with the surprising interactions of the Holy Spirit. Does that mean things are perfect? Of course not. There is always things we could do better, be more consistent about and be more intentional about. We are always wanting to be transparent and authentic when communicating with church congregation and those we are partnering with in ministry.
The other side of the coin, so to speak, is that these are also very troubling and chaotic times as well. There is a prophetic tradition within our discipleship as followers of Jesus Christ. And it is with that prophetic voice that I want you to be prayerful about.
I spent time last week with the staff at our local World Relief office. They called me. They asked me to come by and pray with them. Their work, their calling, their jobs are at risk. The newly implemented policies of the incoming administration have put a freeze on funding, job security as well as having an effect on their ability to deal with the clients, the families, that they are responsible for. They will continue their work as long as they can and even have contingency plans if a worst-case scenario happens. I mention them specifically, because we are partners. Theirs is a Christ-led calling. They are brothers and sisters in Christ. They have heard God’s story of welcoming the stranger, of hospitality, of extending the Table to others, etc.
We have intentionally come alongside of their work and have provided the Emmaus House as transitional housing for them and newly arrived families. So far, we have hosted 9 families from 7 different countries. We have provided volunteers who do a variety of tasks on their behalf. We have provided supplies and other helps as needed. We have incorporated World Relief into our annual budget. We hosted their Thanksgiving Potluck celebration.
Their ministry is our ministry. Whatever your own personal views are on immigration policy, there are consequences. Often those consequences are not always well-thought out, and the wider impact they might have on real-life people are not always considered. I ask you, to be kind, to pray, to walk humbly and to love as completely as you can, no matter where you might be on this issue. As I reminded us all in the sermon on January 26th, these are the times and issues that can divide us as a congregation, as the Body of Christ. And it’s not just immigration. Our friend Kyle Williams, a Global Servant in Northern Thailand has shared that 8 clinics and 1 hospital has been closed due to U.S. withdrawal of the World Health Organization, with more closures coming. Those clinics and the hospital are serving not only Thai people but also political refugees from Burma who are fleeing their homeland due to the ethnic cleansing by the illegal Military government. Consequences that impact real people who have limited access to medicine, medical care and treatment.
We live in uncertain times, chaotic times, unnerving times. And when we are not sure what can be done or even should be done, we pray. We stop. We get still. And we try our best to let God enter into our pain, our uncertainty, our anger, our fear, our pride, our suffering, our entire being, and let God love on us, comfort us, heal us, encourage us, fill us with wisdom, some hope and trust, that God is working tirelessly behind the scenes of the chaos to bring some order, healing, and connected-ness to it all. And for some, these times of prayer will lead to activism, because the Spirit is full of surprises. Be open, be prayerful. Be surprised!
Last thing. We are people of hope. In fact, we are prisoners of hope. We live in hope. We want to be a place, a sacred space, where people can find some hope for their lives, for their life circumstances and likewise, some hope for our community, our nation, and our world. We put our faith in that hope that comes from our Creator, who sent us the Holy One, Jesus Christ, whose deep, deep love, a sacrificial love, for all humankind we are to embrace, emulate and model. And we take on that faith and discover the hope within and live it out in love, agape love.
As First Corinthians 13:13 reminds all:
And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love
Walk Humbly! Love Completely! Live Differently!
The struggle is real...
Blessings and Joy! Humble over Hype!
Pastor Mark (Rev)
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