November 2016 Tapestry

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The First Baptist Church of Redlands

TA PE S T RY Woven Together In Love: Colossians 2:2

NOVEMBER 2016

ISSUE No. 11

A MESSAGE FROM PASTOR SHAWN

Thanksgiving and Healing For many reasons November promises to be quite a month. The question is, when we look back, what will we say about this time in our year, maybe even this time in our history? After what seems like years of campaigning, primaries, debates and a barrage of news stories and comments, Election Day is finally here. No matter what happens, most of us will have strong feelings. Whether our candidate wins or not each of us will continue to wonder about the future of our country, of our neighborhoods and of our world. No matter who wins the election, we will have to wake up on November 9 and try to figure out how to get along with those we have argued with, rolled our eyes or shook our heads at, “unfriended” on Facebook or those we have tried to avoid the last few months. We are going to need a time of healing. No matter who wins, we are going to need to get back (or simply continue) to work in our neighborhoods and in our world to make a lasting difference in the lives of real people. Our prayer, in the words of St. Francis, once again is, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.” With November we as a community approach the first anniversary of a terrifying day in

our history together. Though I was not yet a part of this church and this community, and I didn’t know if I would be, I will always remember standing in the basement of our ministry building at Purdue in Indiana on the evening of December 2 watching the news unfold, and quietly wondering how all this was affecting all of you. A few months later you welcomed me into this church and this community. I have heard the stories and learned of not only how this horrible tragedy has touched your lives, but also how you have worked to bring healing to the community in so many different ways. The work continues as fear

Our prayer, in the wordsof St . Francis, once again is, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

continues to try to take hold and divide us as a community along religious, ethnic and political lines. One of the ways that we are working to heal and bring healing is to work with the Interfaith Council to bring Miroslav Volf to speak on Saturday, November 19. Our Local Outreach Commission has contributed a significant amount on our behalf to help pay for this event. Dr. Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and the Director of the Center for Faith and Culture at Yale University. Professor Volf was born and lived much of his early life in Croatia. As a result one of his areas of study and writing is the relationship and understanding between Christianity and Islam. We are bringing him to our community during this significant season to help us heal. More information about this event is on the back cover. Put it on your calendar. As Thanksgiving becomes the gateway to the holiday season, and the beginning of Advent, may we, like those who have gone before us, wait upon God with hope and anticipation, as God once again meets us in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with the Good News, “The Kingdom of God is at hand!”


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