The First Baptist Church of Redlands
T A PE S T R Y
JUNE 2021
Wo v e n To g e t h e r I n L o v e : C o l o s s i a n s 2 : 2
Issue No. 6
I’ve Been Meaning to Ask… A Message from Pastor Shawn
Graphic design by Rev. Lauren Wright Pittman | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org
We are excited as we begin the month of June as we are now worshiping in-person again in our sanctuary. After 14 months of learning new ways to connect, study, fellowship, worship and do business without being physically present with one another, we now have some work to do. We must move into a future with one another after living through a very difficult, challenging, but powerful season due to this pandemic. We need to catch up with one another. This past year has been filled with experiences and events that have been unprecedented. How did it impact each one of us? What have we struggled with? What have we learned? There may even be questions and conversations that have not come as a result of this pandemic--they may have always been there, but we haven’t talked about them. This new beginning gives us an excuse to share with one another on a new level.
This summer, as we often do, we are taking a break from the lectionary and we are encouraging all sorts of conversations that will hopefully lead us to get to know one another better, to get to know ourselves as a church family, to get to know our neighborhood, community, and world. With these conversations we are hoping that we begin to see how God has been shaping us and leading us to the call God has for us as we move into this next 100+ years of life and ministry as the First Baptist Church of Redlands. We will begin (June 20-July 18) with a series that is guided by a group called “Sanctified Art” that will provide us with a number of resources to explore conversations of “curiosity, courage, and connection.” Our goal is that this will prepare us to talk with one another in the context of focus groups that we will be organizing in July and August. As we think about following Christ into the future as a church, we will need to do it with curiosity, courage, and connection. It will be exciting, scary, messy, inspiring, frustrating (I’m sure that we will come up with other words as time goes on). But we are inviting the Holy Spirit to lead us. What have you been meaning to ask? Grace and peace in Christ, Pastor Shawn
