As we move into the month of July, marked especially by the 4th of July, we take off on vacations and journeys to replenish our bodies while hearing the words:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” Wikipedia; Declaration of Independence.  Our minds remember our classroom recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance that concludes, “with liberty and justice for all”.  So we give words to our right to pursue happiness and we often think of liberty here used as the freedom to not take responsibility.  So many are out and about this summer doing just that; pursuing happiness, enjoying vacations where they don’t have to take responsibility for work for a while.  And it is good and important to rest in our much too busy lives for the well being of our bodies and souls.  To some extent.

For the last many Sundays during worship we have been reading out of the letter to the Galatians.  Paul has been challenging this congregation to resist the hardened ‘rules and laws’ of the Jewish faith to find a new freedom or liberty for living through the Spirit of Christ who calls us to care for one another through love.  Not a ‘have to’ but a Spirit-lead want to.  It is out of this love that we find ourselves encouraging one another, seeing to justice for all and living an ordered life that is rich in the joy of Christ’s grace.

And there is the rub.  In order to live this life so fully, we need to dedicate ourselves to our Savior.  Not by rules but by want. By realizing just how much we have been given by our God and wanting to thank God for such blessings.  That is what worship is about.  Being moved by the Spirit we come together to give thanks and praise to the One, God, who has given us our very lives.  The One who has gifted us with abilities to make a living that allows us to live in ways that bring us joy and fulfillment.  The Christ who has made it possible for us to get through the challenging times with confidence.  Confidence that we are not alone and through Him can take our next step and the next, etc. until we have made it through that valley, find our spirit rejoicing in having met that challenge and move on.

All of the plenty, the riches, the wonder of our lives is not of our making but God’s.  God who has worked through us to achieve them.  It is out of relationship with God, with Christ, that we begin to realize that all of life is not about us alone.  Rather all of life is meant to be in relationship; with God, with one another.  So time in worship and fellowship are important to give back and to support both.  Time in study and prayer awakens our hearts to the importance of our neighbor in our lives and helps us reach out.  Our pursuit of happiness becomes not selfish but other directed.  The amazing thing there is that when we do for others, we find our own lives being blessed, enriched, brightened many times over. Because we have let go of the importance of self over others and there find our liberty and the will for justice.

So as you go about enjoying this summer, and please do!  Remember to praise God, to thank Christ for your life, for what you have.  If you can’t make it to church, then remember to pray and do acts of kindness to those around you to the glory of God.  Make time to give back to God in caring for your neighbor, in helping out a stranger, by being just in your actions so that liberty, justice and happiness for all may grow.  So that God’s faithfulness may be praised.

                                                                                    God bless you!

                                                                                    Pastor Karen

Summer:  A wonderful time in Alaska.  What we dream of and wait for up here in the Interior when it is -50 outside in the winter.  We were blessed with 80 degree temps in late May.  And for VBS we had lovely, comfortable weather with sunshine until the last day when it began to rain during the morning.  When the children were being introduced to a couple of firefighters and their truck.  It didn’t bother most of the kids which was great.  Rain is just one more element of God’s great creation.  And that was the theme of the week with the children:  God as creator of the universe and our personal relationship with God. 

Which brings me to the point of this blog; our personal relationship with God, with Christ.  How is yours?  As you move into these months of warmth, fun and relaxation, are you making time in each day to spend intentionally with Christ?  Do you make time to be with the Spirit of Christ and let yourself be nourished?  Or that flow of water near you in the form of a lake, river, waterfall, stream, does it remind you of the ‘life giving waters’ of Christ that are yours when you awaken to Christ’s faith in you?   That is another gift of scripture from Luke 7:15.  The Greek can be read either our faith in Jesus Christ or Jesus Christ’s faith in us.  That changes things doesn’t it?  Our faith is not of our making but it is Christ’s faith in us!  So grace within us.  Wow.  And such power.  When we allow ourselves to be in personal relationship with Him we find ourselves able to face most anything.  We find ourselves able to do so many more things than we could ever do on our own.  What a gift.  What an amazing gift for each and every one of us. 

So we need to make that time to intentionally BE with our Savior each and every day, that our lives may be more full in joy and service, in hope and peacefulness.  Look for those glimmers of Christ in those whom you meet through your day.  Pray and spend time listening for that still, small voice that is speaking, guiding you through your circumstance, awakening your heart to the good of the moment.  Notice the wonders of God’s creation and thank God for them.  Get yourself to church and praise God for all the blessings and mercy you have received through the week.  And touch the strength of Christ by being in the midst of his body through the fellowship of other believers.

There are so many ways to commune with our God.  So take the time and celebrate our God, our Creator with intentional devotion and gratitude.  Have a great summer!

                                                                                                            Pastor Karen

Hearing the laughter and conversation, the excitement in the quilter’s group as they visit and work on projects together I find myself thinking about those people in Jerusalem the day after Jesus’ ‘triumphal entry’ into Jerusalem.  What would the buzz and chatter have been like that next morning?  So many stories rattling around between people.  The miracles.  The exorcisms.  The healings.  The changed lives.  So much had happened in the previous three years and here everyone was, though the crowd was unaware, in the last week of Jesus’ life before crucifixion and resurrection.  Who is this man that he can do these things?  Did you feel a stirring in your own heart upon hearing him? 

Do we today feel a stirring in our hearts as we listen to his Word as we pray or read scripture or worship?  Do we stop and listen allowing his Spirit to fill us and guide us forward through life? 

In this most holy of weeks of the Christian year, it is my prayer that you will read your bible regarding this week beginning with the triumphal entry, through his cleansing of the temple, his encounter with Pilate, his crucifixion, the gambling over his robe, the silence of the tomb and the glory of his resurrection. 

It is my hope that your spirit will open ever wider to his Spirit and Christ’s mercy and love for you.  That in this week you will come to realize that God is not afraid of your life, your pain and anguish, your fears and anxiety.  God has been there, done that.  And, God has promised each one of us that God will remain faithful in walking with us through our own pain and suffering to empower us through so that we are not overcome with its power.  Rather we are able to overcome it because of the power, the redeeming and resurrection power through Jesus Christ, that God offers us every moment of every day.

In this week, dare to walk with Jesus as he walks with you.  Companion him in this week and find a richer, sweeter joy come Easter morning as your heart awakens to the reality that Christ lived, died and arose for you.

God bless and keep you,

Pastor Karen

Well, the new year has begun.  How are you doing?  Did you make any resolutions?  Are you keeping them?  Did any of those resolutions have to do with your faith, with your relationship with Jesus Christ, with God?  I hope so.  For when we grow in our relationship with Christ we grow in our relating to our neighbors, in our compassion for others.  And that is after all what we are called to do.  Put the Lord our God first in our lives and from the love God pours out to us love our neighbors as ourselves.

Such a heart has certainly been called out in this last week.  With such a devastating earthquake hitting Haiti, a country already on the edge of life, it is pulling on our hearts, our compassion to reach out and make a difference in their lives.  And it should.  These are, after all, our sisters and brothers in Christ.  And they need our help.  Scripture tells us that when one part of the body is hurting the whole body is hurting. (1 Cor. 12:26) Well there is a lot of pain in Haiti right now.

I am so proud of our congregation who in the first week has taken up a significant offering to go to the people of Haiti and their relief.  We are also, through our Young Adult’s group, gathering up supplies for Health Kits that will be sent through UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) to the people of Haiti.  These simple kits will give individuals a few things like soap and toothpaste with brush and towels to take care of simple hygiene.  For the majority in Haiti they have not had these luxuries since the earthquake.  They are still waiting for water and food and medical care to reach them.

It is important that as we go about our daily living we remember these people who are hurting so deeply and lift them in prayer regularly.  It is important that as we can, we do our part to help them through our gifts, to rebuild their lives and eventually their homes.  It is important that we trust our God in heaven who is bigger than any of us can imagine, to be present with those sisters and brothers throughout this horror, carrying them, holding them, comforting and healing them moment by moment until they can stand on their own once again and we pray better than before the earthquake.  God does this in part, through you and I reaching out to these people.  Through the rescue workers, those people on the ground bringing aid and medical help, through the Holy Spirit in prayer and hope.

As you move through your day and through this year may you find the courage to daily spend time with God in prayer, speaking but then also listening so that you can be reminded of who you need to reach out to today that their prayers may be answered, that your spirit may be enriched through the divine encounter with our risen Christ.  Have a blessed New Year. 

In peace,

Pastor Karen

I look up from my office desk and notice the rosy golden light of the sun kissing the tops of the frost covered trees.  High thin clouds drift slowly across a pale blue sky.  The air is still.  It is -11 degrees.  Cold, crisp, and beautiful.  This is a December sunrise in North Pole. 

And, it is a constant reminder that in order to see the ‘light of Christ’ we often need to look up and out in order to recognize the light within and around us.  This is so true in Alaska where darkness literally covers us and often fills us in this time of the year; where cold drives us inward in posture as well as into our homes.  Depression, hopelessness, loneliness, being cold all draw one inward and downward which means we pull ourselves away from the light.  An action we can ill afford anytime but particularly this time of year.  For it is in the light that we flourish.  It is in the light that we find our way.  It is in the light that we find warmth and courage to live into the next moment.  And the next and the next and…

December 21 is the winter solstice.  It is the shortest day and the longest night of the year.  It is on this night all who are in need, all who want to have a warm, gentle, inviting space in which to reconnect their/your spirit with the Holy Spirit are invited to come to church at 7p.m.  Here we will gather in the sanctuary with an understanding of what it means to have a ‘blue Christmas’ and not let those ‘blues’ carry you away.  Here, in a very gentle, respectful service we will acknowledge those challenges in one’s life (i.e. cancer, spouse deployed, body pain, isolation, depression, death of a loved one, war, marital/family troubles, loss of job, just can’t get into the ‘jolly’ of Merry Christmas) with an opportunity to name those troubles (out loud or not) while lighting a candle. While reflecting upon the presence of God.  As each candle is lit we are visually reminded that we are not alone, that the light grows with and in Christ and will not be overcome by the darkness because God has given us Jesus Christ as a love gift, a gift for our salvation. 

The service reminds us that the reality of Jesus’ life story is not all safe and rosy.  Instead he is born in a barn, his family has to run for his life into exile, he wanders the countryside in adult life to the generosity of friends and believers while challenging the status quo only to be crucified on a cross, a humiliating and despised death.  Christ, God, knows something about your pain!  God isn’t afraid of anything that you want/need to bring to God.  Instead we have a God who is very familiar with our pain having lived through it through Christ and is so willing to be with us in it helping us to keep journeying forward in the light with hope. 

So this year, do not let the darkness win.  Instead, come out to this Longest Night Service on December 21 at 7p.m. and let your soul be gently, lovingly reconnected with the Holy One in this lovely service of hope, healing and respect.  Then stay a little longer for a beautiful reception of eats where you can refortify your body to reenter the world stronger, braver and confidently love-filled by the mercies of Christ.

A holy and blessed Advent of preparation to you that you may receive God’s gift of love on the 25th with much joy and anticipation!

Pastor Karen

I cannot believe it has been so long since my last blog.  So much is going on!  Hope you are well.  I am. 

Do you believe it that with this Saturday ‘the Holidays’ begin?!  Halloween is here.  Wow.  All the excitement that is building in the way of decorating and choosing just the right costume.  All the anticipation with various celebrations and the transforming of space to give just the right feel to the holiday and fun.  With each holiday, Halloween (All Hallows Eve), Thanksgiving and finally Christmas our preparations grow and expand, our anticipation mounts and the beauty that surrounds us transforms from ghouls to harvest plenty to angels and light.  From secular to holy, from the irreverent to the reverent. 

As we move into this season we have a choice before us.  We can either step in and become overwhelmed by it all, the time, money and distraction it creates or we can prayerfully consider what is truly important and a proper ‘celebration’ as we move through each of these days.  I have watched families and even churches get so into the visual of the holiday that they have lost touch with the fun or the profound celebration that is at hand. 

Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve finds its beginning in the Celtic festival of Samhain and as the eve before All Saints’ Day which was moved to November 1 from May 13 to help counter the pagan festivities of Halloween.  On All Hallows’ Eve, it was a tradition for many Scottish and Irish folk to place a candle in their western facing window sill to honor the departed.  And All Saints’ Day is a day to remember and celebrate those who have died whom we loved.  This year we get to celebrate All Saints’ on Sunday the actual day.  So in worship we will be remembering those who have died this past year and those whom we carry on our hearts from days’ past.  Consider lighting a candle in your home as a remembrance of this blessed souls and offering a prayer of thanks for their witness in your life.

Thanksgiving is a harvest festival.  It is traditionally a time of giving thanks for the bounty of the harvest and expressing thanks or gratitude.  Of course within the United States we connect this with a feast that was shared among both Native Americans and the local pilgrims in 1621 who shared what food they had so that all could eat and give thanks for a good harvest.  But did you know that there is claim to a much earlier Thanksgiving dating back to 1565? (The above definition details come from Wikipedia).  This was not an original idea, thanksgiving that is.  So be thoughtful about who you need to thank in your life.  Consider what you have as blessing and give thanks for these things.  Perhaps share these things around the table come Nov. 26.  And remember to donate to your local Food Bank to help others experience full bellies and reasons to give thanks.

Christmas is the celebration of Jesus the Christ’s birth.  It is a season associated with the great gift of God’s love in Jesus and lives itself out through our extending that gift to others through our life choices as well as seasonal gifts given to one another.  The legends of Santa Claus or St. Nicholas find their origins connected with this gift giving particularly to children and originally to the relief of suffering and poverty.  Both sound reflections of God’s love for all of God’s children.  So be thoughtful, prayerful, of how you would like to extend God’s love to those in your life whom you love.  Consider the stranger who doesn’t know God’s love by experience and is waiting for our care for them to show them such love.  Is there someone who needs a gift of food or clothing?  Does a family need help in having gifts for the children because parents have lost their jobs this year?  Is there someone in your midst who is feeling hopeless and in the dark who needs to experience the gentle but strong light of Christ through your caring for them?  So many ways we can share the love and light of God with people all around us.  Here is the blessing of the season.

So prayerfully consider, how do you want to enter into ‘the Holidays’?  What do you want to be the lasting memory of these months?  Will you be glad the Holidays are over or rejoicing for the fun and many blessings you have had by living the grace of God’s love through each day?  I hope and pray it is the latter and you find joy come the first of the year pouring over into all you do.

Have fun and love large,

Pastor Karen

Our Stryker soldiers are home.  Alleluiah!  To look in their eyes, to see them before us is a most welcome sight.  It has been too long that they have been in harm’s way and too long since loving arms have been wrapped around them to remind them just how precious and loved they are.  So now the homecoming.  A time that is sweet and joyful.  A time that is tense and uncertain.  A mixed blessing.  Why?  Because in this year plus apart everyone has changed.  Children have continued to grow up.  Spouses have learned to take charge of the household and see that things get done.  Soldiers have become used to sleeping with their rifles and to be at the ready every moment of every day and night.  How do all these parts reintegrate with each other to make a good and blessed whole?  Gently.  Prayerfully.  With patience and compassion. With understanding and hope.  Over time.

Whether we are a part of one of the families who are in a state of reunion or are a part of circles of friends surrounding these families, we too need to be understanding and compassionate with each and everyone to support them through these times.  We need to remember that our soldiers are coming home with more than is apparent.  They carry within them memories of war.  They carry within themselves the trauma of being on constant vigil, in battle, perhaps watching their brothers and sisters be killed or surviving a near miss themselves.  Some have physical wounds that let everyone know they have been through the trenches and back and many, many more carry nothing physical with them.  Instead it is the psychological and emotional wounds that maim them and challenge their spirits each and every day.  A piece of garbage on the road becomes a possible IED that needs to be avoided.  A loud backfire of a vehicle is possible weapons’ fire that needs to be dodged and possibly counter attacked.  However the wounds surface themselves, it is vital that we who surround these brave soldiers, do so with a big heart and a deep spirit of compassion and grace.

We need to encourage and let these soldiers tell their stories.  They need to experience someone receiving the whole of who they are without judgment.  They need to know that they can and will heal as they learn to share their stories and move through what limits them to a new freedom that their being alive gives them.  They need to know that God is here.  That God, Christ, has been with them and will continue to be as a source of healing, of love, of gentle but firm presence to journey with them in this time.

So don’t be afraid to approach our soldiers, though don’t surprise them.  Give them a hand shake and/or a hug welcoming them back, thanking them for their service and sacrifice.  Invite them to come and be a part of the body of Christ here at home once again.  Let them know that we noticed their absence and are grateful to God for their safe return.  Then pray for them.  Hold them in your heart and pray without ceasing that they may not only be safe but finally sound through the healing power of Christ.

Finally, carry these words with you and the promise they hold for each and every one of us:

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will hardship, or distress, or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?  As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:35-39

Be well brothers and sisters in Christ.  Thank you dear soldiers for all you have given on behalf of life.

Peace,

Pastor Karen

Wow.  We are already at the end of day two of school.  Do you believe it?  Summer has flown by and we are now back in the classroom ready to learn some more wisdom that will help with our living.  Right? 

Isn’t that what learning is about?  To help us grow in our understanding of life, the world, relationships and our purpose and place in this world?  School has always been an exciting time to me.  I love to learn.  Some moments I am more gracious than others in doing so, but I do essentially love to learn.  I have known a lot of teachers over the years and the ones that I remember, the ones that made the biggest impact upon me and my life and life choices were those teachers who believed in me.  Who saw something more in me than I saw in myself.  A pretty amazing gift really.  These people cared about their students.  They saw potential no matter what the rest of the world may have told us.  They believed that if they accepted us for who we are and gently yet firmly challenged us to dream and think more boldly about ourselves and others, about learning and doing in the world, then we would become assets to the world.  Diamonds in the rough would be revealed and we would begin to believe in ourselves.  Which we did.  Easy work?  No.  Not always.  Rewarding work?  Yes.  Though their time line and ours might be different for results of that work.  It is a fact, that every one of those teachers I am thinking of in my own life were also Christians.  People of faith who had found a calling in being teachers, those hands and feet, those lips and hearts of Christ out in the world making a difference one student at a time, one classroom at a time.

As we launch out into this new school year, whether teaching or learning, whether secular or Sunday school, let us remember that each and every one of us is a child of God.  We are made with that need to know and understand, to learn more about who we are, whose we are and where we can do the most good with the abilities and joys we know through God’s generous gifts of talent and passion. 

Look into the eyes of one another and ask God to help you see what God sees in that other.  You will be amazed at how beautiful they become through those eyes.  Look into that other and see the heart of Christ in them.  It may be a heart that has been damaged or challenged a good deal and need some major help in learning to trust and believe once again but help them see that reflection of Christ in them and believe, believe in what they can be.

Each one of us is gift.  Each one of us matters to God and therefore needs to matter to each other.  Dare to love, even and especially those who seem unlovable.  Help them to experience the love of Christ for themselves through you and see how their lives are transformed.

Teaching, learning, either way it is imperative that every one of us know, without a doubt, that we are precious in the sight of God and deserve respect and compassion as we grow.  So let’s launch a year of ‘gracious education’ where all are seen as worthy through the sacrifice of Christ to be treated well, believed in and encouraged to dream with hope for making a positive difference in the world, to the glory of God.

Peace and blessings,

Pastor Karen

 Happy Easter everyone!   Do you believe it?  Easter has come and gone.  Or, wait, not gone exactly.  Because after all, Easter is both a day and season of the year as well as a way of being.  It is the celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ who rose from the dead after being crucified with our sins to make us free and redeemed.  It is then a way of being when we live as people freed from the burden of our sins, redeemed or made right before God through Christ who gave himself for us.  

Living redeemed is a powerful testimony to those around us.  In a world where people are choosing to kill each other because they feel, and in some cases are, threatened; where people live in fear of death and violence day to day because others, out of fear, are dominating the situation as in domestic violence, there needs to be a testimony to a different way of living in the midst of the uncertainties of life.  When we live out our faith, when we dare to be compassion in our world, when we reach out to God for strength and wisdom, others experience a new way of being through us.  They see in us an opportunity and hope to be free in spirit, knowing we are loved and forgiven, and in that confidence reaching out to people with a helping heart and hand.  It is the difference of looking inward to self or outward to community and relationship.

   I recently read an article that talked of facing the chairs outward.  The writer was talking about the need for the church to be looking to the world around us, their needs, their concerns, and do something to help them out.  When we face ourselves outward we become a transforming part of the community by bringing with us Christ’s heart of compassion and empowerment.  We show the community that they matter.  Our focus isn’t on pulling people into the church building but taking the gospel out into people’s lives in everyday needed ways.

   Here at New Hope we are trying to move the ‘chairs of our spirits’ around and reorient our focus upon taking the gospel out into the world while making the environment at church inviting, renewing and accepting for all.  We come to church for nourishment of our souls.  We come to church to find the peace of Christ and re-saturate ourselves with His life-giving waters of mercy, hope, and love.  Then it is our task to move outward and meet the people where they are bringing with us the love and salvation of Christ for them that they too may experience the freedom of Christ in their lives.  A freedom that allows them to move beyond fear and doubt embracing the grace of being so loved. 

   In this season of Easter, let us join together in encouraging one another to turn our attention outward, after taking in the nourishment of our Lord and his costly gift of love for ourselves, to share the joy and wonder of His gift with the world.  In other words, let us meet our neighbors where they are and bring the love of Christ to them with mercy and compassion.  Here’s to Easter joy and new adventures!

Pastor Karen

[ Older Posts ]