Dear Gloria Dei,
Our neighbor has ducks on their garage roof.
It’s not the first time they’ve been there. The garage is detached with a large, flat roof on which water sometimes pools, especially in the spring, so ducks have identified it as a place to live. Their comings and goings are VERY interesting to the three cats and one dog that live in my house. The humans, too. We all wonder about them.
It’s the time of year when I often find myself wondering about ducks and other waterfowl as they nest in odd places, feed dangerously close to the road, and will soon have little ones following them around. More than once, on my way to and from Gloria Dei last year, I had to stop to allow a family of ducks or geese cross the road. One time, a duck was just hanging out in the turn lane of a very busy intersection. I could barely look! How do these birds survive with such foolish behavior?
Yet they seem to!
We sometimes think of new life as this fragile thing that we need to protect and shelter, like a newborn baby. After we had our first child, I remember thinking that I should change some of my driving routes, shifting to streets that were safer, less busy. Precious cargo on board, after all! But maybe these foolish waterfowl and their survival are good reminders that the new life God gives us is stronger than it looks. It’s a bit like the Bible Story of David and Goliath, from 1 Samuel 17. You’ll hear it in church this weekend. David, a shepherd who doesn’t look like much, ends up defeating the giant Goliath, who does look like much. So it is with new life in Christ, which is given to us through a promise spoken in just a few, simple words that do not look like much – You are forgiven! — but oh the power in these words to defeat the giants of sin, death, and whatever else you face right now. Thanks be to God!
Also this weekend, we are starting a six week Capital Campaign Readiness Study with Focus Groups, in which you will hear about preliminary expansion ideas that would support programming for growth. The purpose of these meetings is to give everyone in our congregation an opportunity to hear the proposed expansion vision for Gloria Dei and to provide input and insight into this process. Plan on attending one; we value you being informed, what you have to say, and want you to be a part of the process.
See you in church! Keep an eye out for the ducks out there.
Pastor Heidi
P.S. Signing up for a Focus Group helps us to plan. Sign up here. Childcare is offered at the meetings that follow the 9am Sunday service.
