An Invitaiton to Courage
Hi COTC Family,
We pray that y'all have had a good week, and however the “Back to School Season” intersects with your life - first day jitters, preparing classrooms, increased traffic or decreased prices on office supplies - may you have a deep sense of the Lord's presence amidst the transition.
Looking toward this season of life at COTC, we've been reflecting on Bishop Brian's sermon from 8/4 and the word that he had for us. +Brian invited us to be courageous in four ways:
Courageous in hope: Living as a people who are full of hope for ourselves, our neighbors, and our church with a sense that God will come into power and do more than we could ever imagine or ask.
Courageous in love: Love is always self-giving. We must love courageously, assuming the best of others, our parish council, our staff and clergy, and others in our community.
Courageous in trust: Trusting God for the future. Trusting each other and leaning in with trust that God is and will do something in and around us.
Courageous in generosity: This new season is a time for generosity in time, finances, and relationships with others. Give of your time in serving in The Garden, contact Mtr Sarah about leading a neighborhood group in your area, or join a Sunday team.
In many ways, this is an easy message to reiterate. It is easy to call you to hope, because we’ve seen you fight for hope in hard places. It is easy to call you to love, because we’ve seen you in moments of costly love. We’ve borne witness more than once to your trust and generosity.
The invitation is not to a way of life foreign to you - it is for us to embody it together, to deepen our practices, in a moment of communal change.
As we look ahead with excitement to a new season, our prayer is that the Spirit would breathe afresh upon us, unleashing new experiences and expressions of courageous hope, love, trust, and generosity. May it be so, for the good of COTC, the good of our neighbors, the good of the world, and the glory of God.
Peace,
Sarah+ & Kimberly+
PS- A reminder to complete the COTC Parish Survey as the Rector Search Committee works to create a Parish and Rector Profile; today is the deadline to offer your feedback. We also invite you to pray with the Search Committee on Mondays and to direct any questions about the search for our next rector to the Parish Council.
PPS—Beginning next week, you might notice a change in our weekly news. We've been working on an updated format that highlights events and life at COTC, with longer updates and reflections 1-2 times a month, and we are ready to roll it out.