This week.

Did you ever get a participation trophy?  Did you ever get thanked or appreciated for just showing up and being there, whether you did anything to contribute or not?  We all want to be noticed, feel appreciated, recognized for our contribution; and most of us want what we do to matter, to make a difference for someone else.  I think that’s because we find so much of what we experience day to day as disappointing, or meaningless. We see what we do which doesn’t seem to make much of a difference, and we wonder is this all there is, and if so, what’s it all for?

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  We hear Jesus tell us how to find a way forward and it’s not something which just began in 1 AD.  Life began long ago, in the beginning, and Jesus is God’s participation in a legacy, a legacy that has grown and reshaped the way, the truth, and the life.   What Jesus shows us is the power of life, human life, lived with human beings, which is why we feel that absence of gathering and sharing in the little things of life so much right now.  Jesus reaches to each of us, inviting us to find the way, the truth, and the life, and participate in the legacy.

A legacy is something we leave behind in the world, for good or ill.  Many of the legacies we intend to leave are things we want other people to remember us by: a phrase, a gesture, a trait or habit, maybe even an experience.  But we can think bigger if we’re willing to risk engaging with others, risk failing, risk letting our real selves show.  Legacies are really about love, what others seen in us that they admire, what encouragement we offer for someone struggling, what memory someone else walks away with from time with us.  What legacy would you like to leave?  It doesn’t have to be a building with your name on it or an invention which changes the world; it can be as simple as a kind word or an embrace.  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and the way to life with God goes through his example as we remember and connect our lives with others.

–Thomas

Gathering Online: https://bit.ly/TCZoom

Tuesday Checkin on Zoom @ 6 pm
Join Thomas and Kelley on Zoom. This is a time to check-in or just say hello.

Thursday Theology & Pop Culture on Zoom @ 6 pm 
Join us as we explore our faith through popular culture. This week Thomas will lead the discussion, and we’re going to discuss the life of Catherine Hamlin as discussed in the April 24, 2020 podcast The Intelligence from The Economist found here, the segment for our discussion begins at 15:20.  You can also read her obituary in The Economist here.

Sunday Evening Prayer on Zoom @ 6 pm
Join us on Zoom for a service of prayers and scripture.