From My Window — Pastor Susan
It’s a rather terse definition: Stranger (noun): neither a friend nor an acquaintance. I assume the dictionary felt it unnecessary to add “or a relative.” Much less “or yourself.” Strangers. I’ve been thinking about how we all are, to 99.999% of the people on earth, strangers. As I’ve been visiting our homebound members these past few weeks, and heard their stories, I’ve been struck by how I’ve been a ‘stranger’ to places I drove by daily for years. And me to them. Skylight…Shiloh UMC…Goshen …these past few weeks all these places became populated by new faces, new stories and new friends.
And we’ve become less of strangers to each other this month,
Come and join us during the month of August as we begin a new sermon series, “The Stranger Among Us”. We’ll explore through familiar and unfamiliar stories in Scripture how we can come to know those we don’t know in our community, families and church, through God’s eye and heart-opening Spirit. We’ll begin where all spiritual growth begins, and that’s with ourselves. It’s not just Billy Joel who asked if you’d ever let another see the stranger in yourselves…it’s God, too.
It may be the hot days of August, but the living water of God’s word quenches many thirsts. Don’t just come alone…bring family or friends we may not have seen for awhile (or ever). Here’s the schedule:
August 3rd
“Oops, Did I Say That Out Loud?” (the stranger in ourselves)
August 10th
“We Don’t See Each Other Much Since…” (the stranger in our family)
August 17th
“You’re Sitting in My Pew” (the stranger in our church)
August 24th
“We Haven’t Met, But… (the stranger in our community)