Summer is quickly approaching and following worship this coming Sunday, Michelle and I will be heading up to Boise to see our three grandsons for a few days and then heading on out to our Minnesota family cabin. I will be returning to California and be preaching three Sundays at the end of July and early August.

Since Davida Foy Crabtree will not be joining us this summer due to the lingering challenges of the pandemic, I thought it would be a wonderful time to draw on the richness of our congregation by having several members share something of themselves over the next few months. We have been isolated from one another for the past 15 months and this will provide a special way to reconnect as a church family. Six people have graciously agreed to offer reflections on their faith journey by sharing formative foundations, faith experiences, beliefs and what the church means to them and how they have contributed and been shaped by it. Peppered throughout the summer, their faith journeys will be in lieu of the sermon for their respective Sundays. Each person will be featured in our regular 10:00 a.m. service in the sanctuary and as part of our online worship opportunities. I am really looking forward to what promises to be a very enriching and meaningful part of our summer spiritual journey as a people of faith on the grow.

“If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else.”
- Yogi Berra

Being on a journey of faith is something we can all relate to. It was certainly true for the people lifted up in the Bible. The motif of journey is referred to over 30 times and permeates the movement and purpose of God working in the lives of people of faith in both the Old and New Testaments. Facing an unknown future with faith is different than not knowing where we are going in life. We believe that God is truly with us on the journey even during those periods when we don’t sense it or feel it.

I hope you will join me in celebrating our participants and their stories by receiving and appreciating their unique perspectives, experiences and beliefs. I trust we will all be strengthened on the way of life as we hear from these fellow journeyers: Jim Hendrickson, Karen Tucker, Karl Snider, Roberta Philbrick, Grace Crofton and Meena Lagnese.

Blessings on the Journey,

Rev. Dr. David D. Young
Senior Minister

This article appeared in the Wave on May 26, 2021