May 5, 2022

Have you ever found yourself not quite catching what someone said? Needing them to repeat themselves or slow down a bit or maybe rephrase the statement?

Maybe you were not quite sure they were talking to you, or you were not ready to listen, or something else was on your mind? Perhaps you were overcome with joy? with grief? Or it was just tough to understand and you wanted to hear it again?

In Sunday’s gospel reading, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, tells Peter three times to tend Jesus’ flock. He says it three different ways, “Feed my lambs,” “Tend my sheep,” “Feed my sheep.” But the charge is the same – show your love for me by loving and feeding and caring for those whom I love. 

It takes a few times and a couple of different phrasings for Jesus’ charge to really sink in and for Peter to not simply hear but understand clearly what his Lord is calling him to do.

We’re in a season of visioning and planning strategically for the future. Right now we are listening for the voice of Christ and looking for where God is already at work and calling us to join in. We are listening in three main ways – through scripture, through the members of Spirit in the Hills, through community members who are not members of our congregation.

The work of our strategic planning team is to listen for what comes up again and again. To find the themes that emerge with clarity. Sure, something might be phrased differently, but there will surely be things that we hear from all three listenings that are consistent and clear and will show us God’s call and charge for Spirit in the Hills.

Please help us listen.
By sharing your voice through the survey and listening groups (details below).
By listening to what others are saying and sharing those insights.
By telling us what you hear God saying in scripture and in the community.
By praying that we will, together, hear the clarity of Christ’s call and charge for Spirit in the Hills in these next years.

By this work and the grace of God, we will move forward with clarity and focus about how to share and show our love for Jesus as the church at Spirit in the Hills in the years ahead.

Blessings,
Pastor Drew