904 Washington St SE, Olympia, WA 98501
The Thin Place: Where the Sacred and the Ordinary Collide
February 2026
We start this month of February with uncomfortable reminders that God has some expectations for us as followers of the Holy One, Jesus Christ. God, from the beginning of God’s story has sought and prioritized relation-ship with you and me, with us, humankind, in all of our beauty and brokenness. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is based upon grace and forgiveness. BUT, with those wonderful gifts, come an ethic of love that is hard, intentional, and comes with sacrifice. The prophets of old, like Amos and Micah, above, spoke of faith that was not pleasing to God. A faith that was shallow, easy, word-oriented but not put into actual practice in one’s everyday life. It’s easy to rely upon ritual, worship rituals, songs, showing up to worship once in a while, etc., to make ourselves believe we are in right relationship with God and others. But God is not interested in easy. God asks of us something deeper, challenging, and life-giving. Not just for ourselves, but for all people. For creation itself.
God is interested in justice, but much more than just interested! There is an expectation that when we encounter injustice, we try, we attempt, to make those injustices right. To align them to God’s heart and desire for all people. To be a people who attempt each and every day to reflect and live out the beauty and simplicity of Micah’s challenging words:
Do justice, love kindness (mercy in other translations), and to walk humbly with God!
We are living in times where living out the words above seem impossible. It feels, for me, what it must be like for the salmon as they swim upstream to arrive at their destination, their home, their breeding ground. Tiring, challenging, relentless. Exhausting. I don’t see a reward ahead. It seems as if the powers-that-be hold all the cards. That we are at their mercy. That we are voiceless. That we are powerless.
And then… I remember. You and I, we, serve a God that says justice and righteousness (right relationship with God and others) can flow like rivers, like overflowing streams of relentless water! I remember the power of resurrection, of new life, new possibilities, the second, third, and infinite chances we have and receive because the Gospel of Jesus Christ IS about grace and forgiveness. We serve and are in relationship with a God who makes all things new. Each of us has a story, where God made God’s Self known to us in some way that keeps us grounded in that relationship. That’s what makes us prisoners of Hope. The Hope that Christ brought and brings into our world, each and every day. It is that hope, that helps us persevere forward, even when the world around us is on fire.
We have heard the call of Christ to “follow me.”
That “following” includes working for justice, to make things right when they have gone off-track; when it is not reflective of who Christ is and what Christ taught and what Christ stands for. And we do so by walking humbly, loving completely, and living differently. It is hard. It takes intention and courage. It takes grace.
Let justice flow!
Be a justice person, who lives with kindness and mercy for others and walks humbly with God!
Blessings and Joy!
Humble over Hype!
Pastor Mark (Rev)
I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Amos 5:21—25
New Revised Standard Version
With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to – Do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:6—8
New Revised Standard Version
Table Conversations • January 31st
Join Pastor Mark at 10am in the Fireside Room for the first session of Table Conversations. This is meant to be a place for you to come and ask questions about the Bible and/or other topics, issues, of faith, that you might have. We don’t guarantee your questions will be answered completely, but we do want to create a safe space to ask and talk about the things around faith that might raise questions for us and/or that we might struggle with.
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