The First Baptist Church
of
Redlands
TA PE S T RY
Woven Together In Love: Colossians 2:2
ISSUE No. 11
NOVEMBER 2017 In many places around the country it is evident when you look around you that it is a time of change. Usually in October, though you can’t predict exactly when, the trees will change color. At the height of the change it can be unimaginably beautiful, with colors ranging from bright yellow to brilliant red, browns and golds. Eventually, the leaves fall and there’s the work, and sometimes the fun, of raking the leaves. Depending upon how many trees you have, it can seem like an endless job. When the leaves are gone and the trees are bare it can look pretty bleak, especially if it is a cloudy day. It makes you look forward to that first snow when there is a layer of white on all the branches of the tree. It can be a lovely sight. But after a while all you want is for spring to come and bring new life to the trees, green to the grass and flowers springing up in the beds. The church year ends in November. Then we have Advent in December when we talk about waiting and anticipating and hoping. It is the time when we remember and acknowledge the times and spaces in our lives, and even in our church life, when we are living on hope, anticipating God’s work, and waiting for it to happen. It can be scary and exciting all at the same time. But Advent is followed by Christmas and then Epiphany! As we enter November as a church, we are experiencing all kinds of change. It has been happening little by little for some months now, but with the cumulative staff changes that we
A MESSAGE FROM PASTOR SHAWN
The Lord is Near! are experiencing, we are ending the calendar year with a time of anticipation as we wonder who God will bring to be a part of the leadership in the church. What will it mean? How much will we miss the people who were here before and the way things were? As we have studied Philippians in the first part of the fall season, we looked at the following passage of scripture: Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad! Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise. Practice these things: whatever you learned, received, heard, or saw in us. The God of peace will be with you. (Phil. 4:4-9 CEB)
This is a good time to be glad in the Lord! It is a good time to treat each other and those around us with gentleness! We need to remember that The Lord is Near! This is a good time to pray. I am not just saying that. It is a time that we pray for discernment as the search committee for an Associate Pastor is at work. Pray that God will lead us to the right candidate and the best configuration of the staff to move us into the future. We want to continue the tradition of being relevant as we share the Good News of the Kingdom of God in the lives of those who are a part of our church, and those who are in our community and as we continue to have a part in the global impact of the mission of Jesus Christ. Pray that we will not be afraid of the new places that God is leading us. Pray that we will be of the same mind . . . the Mind of Christ, as we work together to make the most of all that each one brings to this church family. May we concentrate on the positive and the good and the noble and the just – say “Goodbye” to negativity and hopelessness - and God will give us peace; real peace, based in the reality that The Lord is Near! So, let us enjoy the beauty that we see in fall. Let us lean on hope when things look bleak. Let us look for signs of life and focus on what is good. Let us treat one another well and allow God to give us God’s peace, all the while praying, remembering The Lord is Near!