Have a Minute? Thoughts from Pastor Matt…

Categories: Carillon Newsletter,News,Reflections

Pastor Matt

Just a couple of quick “News and Notes” items from me this issue, since there’s lots of other great info for you to take in here in this issue…

First, many thanks for the expressions of concern and care at the end of July and beginning of August after I ended up with appendicitis and the requisite appendectomy, right at the conclusion of my summer vacation.  Overall I’m doing fine now, albeit from time to time still with some energy level issues from the surgery, but that will subside in due time.

Second, I’m happy to share—with many thanks to Duffy Brookes for the leg-work on this—that we will have September to December tenants for our 2nd-floor office space.  As many of you will recall, by way of the inclusion of lease income in the annual budget, the congregation gave approval for the re-leasing of the office space on the 2nd floor of the CE wing that was occupied for over a year-and-a-half by Turner Construction.  A different workgroup with Turner Construction is looking to lease the space from September to December of this year, and we’re in the process of making that happen.  I’m also pleased to share that we’ve already had an inquiry from a potential lessor to begin in 2020.

Third, elsewhere in this issue you’ll see many exciting things happening in this “fall start-up” period, including events, groups reconvening, and even an exciting constellation of guest voices in our pulpit.  I hope you’ll check out the info… and more importantly, I hope you’ll be a part of it all!

Finally, I simply want to give voice to the sense of dismay, discouragement, and even disgust that so many of us are feeling about the state of the world around us as of late.  I myself have struggled to know what to say in the face of it all, in large part because it feels like there’s little to be said that hasn’t been said already.  And yet, I also know that even when we feel we have already said what there is to say—when we have already called out the evils of racism and white nationalism and misogyny and xenophobia, when we have already decried our politicians’ inaction on real solutions to mass shootings and other gun violence problems, when we have already voiced our laments and our protests about the injustices of our economic systems—if we who seek mercy, justice, and peace stop speaking up now, it is precisely how the forces of evil and darkness succeed.  We must continue to speak, to act, to stand up—even in these moments when we feel less and less sure of just what else there is that we can say.  I’ll continue to pray for you all, that you may have the strength to stand, the courage to speak, and the wisdom to know what to do in this time in which we find ourselves, and I ask you to do the same for me.

Yours in the journey,

Matt

Leave a Reply