Dear friends…
More. It seems like we’re always looking for more.
And in a consumer-driven culture like ours – and whether we like it or not, our culture is just that – the idea of always looking for more can be harmful if we’re not careful.
And I suggest that most of us work hard at being careful. We work hard at not being solely driven by the idea of more.
More money in our bank accounts and pockets. More stuff in our homes. More power and influence in our jobs and/or our political processes. More glitz and glamor and tech and toys…
And not all of these are bad things to want! And wanting more isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Because sometimes we want more in a great way!
More time with family. More services for the underprivileged. More healthy days than sick ones. More blessings for our children and/or loved ones than we may have experienced. More love and more peace and more patience and more grace.
And hopefully we all desire more when it comes to our faith lives. More time in prayer, more understanding of God’s word, and more ways to serve our church and our community and our God.
Seeking more in ways that are harmful to ourselves and others cannot be prioritized over seeking more in ways that lift up God’s creation and God’s people and God’s love.
As a congregation, we must constantly be looking at both ourselves and our ministries. How can we as individual people of faith grow more deeply committed to God? And how can we as a faith community do more together to transform the world? And how do these two questions overlap?
Our Readiness 360+ leadership group is hard at work looking at these questions and how our congregation can become more vital. Based on a survey taken of PB UMC members, one thing we can do is to more fully develop our discipleship – our understanding of God and our relationship with God.
To this end, Readiness 360+ embarked on a journey of self-discovery in a study of the book of Acts and found both profound learning and profound community. This discipleship opportunity will be offered to the people of PB UMC beginning in Lent as an exploration of the earliest days of the church in the hopes that our own deepening discipleship may enable us to be more vital servants of our God.
Other opportunities will be made available soon as well. Consider in a prayerful way how God may be calling you more deeply into discipleship and relationship.
Let us all continue to seek more in ways that positively impact our faith, our relationship with God, and our community. As we grow more in our discipleship, we enable ourselves to relate more fully to the God who calls us into vital ministry and to transform the world.
Grace and peace…
Pastor Bob
