VIENNA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH | APRIL 2022
THE MONTHLY MESSENGER
FROM HOPE'S HEART... I have been waiting for these days since I arrived at VPC in October --- spring is here! Many of you have commented on how beautiful spring is in Northern Virginia, but I want to use a different word to describe it: sweet. This word was shared with me by one of our members who hails from Texas. In parts of Texas, much like Florida, seasons don't really exist. Sure, there's a day or two of cold here or there, but when you live in a place where one pair of shoes (and those shoes being flip-flops) can get you through 99.9% of the year, you cannot really claim to have "seasons." And that's what makes spring especially sweet for me and our Texas native -- we see the growth and the beauty through a different set of eyes, a set of eyes that know what it means not to have change or to see new things come into bloom. God is ushering in a new season of ministry here in the church as well. We are so excited to welcome Nina Graves as our new Director of Operations. Nina’s love for the Lord, her experience of service to VPC, and her overall spirit of joy, make her a perfect fit for this role. We are starting to see the wheels of motion accelerate as our Transformation Teams make more and more recommendations for the Session to act upon. Our staff was delighted by the overwhelmingly positive response to the return of this newsletter, but also the excitement surrounding the rebirth of a church-wide Fellowship Team led by Elder Patricia Bronson. Be sure to look through this edition to see what kinds of new ways to connect will be cropping up this month. In our Youth and Children's Ministry, the hunt is on, not for eggs but for new, dynamic, Spirit-filled leaders! We are grateful to Greg Cullison and Tara Fredericks who are leading the search teams for these two vital areas. If you have someone that you'd like to recommend for either position, please contact the teams at hr@viennapres.org.
It's been really energizing to see how the Word of God in Nehemiah has been sweeping through the church! We are all catching the vision of building ministry that will bless our community and the world for the next generation, even as we seek to be vibrant and vital to the current one. We see this in participation, in giving, in worship, and especially in the overall spirit of the church which is filled with hope for a joy-filled future! There is a sweetness that is sweeping through the entire church -- we can feel it, we can see it, and we can sense it everywhere we turn. We cannot wait to welcome you to services on Resurrection morning (details about that and all of Holy Week are inside), as we celebrate the new life that we have in Christ Jesus! All of that is the Resurrection spirit of Easter! New life! New beginnings! New hope! Like on that first morning each year when you walk outside and are surprised to see that the first daffodil has risen from the ground -- the sweetness of that joy never gets old. Indeed, these are the days that every believer should be waiting for with great anticipation, the days of Resurrection, when the promises of God are fulfilled and our joy is complete! Spring is here! Jesus is here! Joy is here! In the Grip of Grace, Pastor Hope hope.lee@viennapres.org P.S. A quick personal note -- thank you for all of your love, prayers, cards, and encouragement during my recent surgery. It is hard to be discouraged when you are surrounded by such an encouraging group of believers! To God be the Glory!