- Transitions, Grief and Joy
It wasn’t until I sat down with the Pastoral Counselor at the Center for Ministry back in 2003 to explore my call into full-time Pastoral Ministry that I began to understand and unpack the small griefs in my life. When I thought about grief, I thought about the loss of my Granddad, Father, Pastor, and dear friends. It wasn’t until the counselor asked me about leaving a much loved job I held before I became a stay-at-home mom that the floodgates opened up and tears began to stream down my face. I had not allowed myself to grieve but forced myself to be “happy” and “joyful” as I settled into my new life as a parent. So almost 20 years after, there I sat grieving my past life. In all of our life transitions and change, grief is present. Joy can and I believe is present as well in the middle of the grief. God turns our mourning into dancing in the small and large griefs. Thanks be to God!
“You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you for ever.” – Psalm 30:11-12P.
-Pastor Denise
Photo Credit – ChurchArt.com - Our Ongoing Anti-Racism Work – August 11
I just RSVP’d for our neighborhood block party and I am very excited to attend for the second year in a row because it seems we’re on a roll after a many-years gap in neighborhood gatherings. Especially emerging from the worst (we hope) of COVID, it feels all the more rejuvenating to be spending time getting to know our neighbors better. In recent years we’ve had so much turnover, that last year I took out my phone to keep track of everyone’s names and house numbers. I love how Garrett Bucks captures the joy and possibility that are generated when we organically create community. It makes me more optimistic for the future to think about what everyday folks can accomplish.
-Jennifer Drury
- Festival Sunday is Here
Festival Sunday is this Sunday, June 12. Please join GSBC friends for a “bring your own lunch” picnic! (weather permitting) As we continue to be cautious around sharing potluck meals together, we will not be having our traditional picnic potluck. So bring a sack lunch and enjoy visiting with friends in the backyard of GSBC church after worship and our church congregational meeting. Ice cream treats will be provided!!
See you then! - Our Ongoing Anti-Racism Work
– Jennifer Drury, June 9
As we sit between Memorial Day and the 4th of July, when many flags are waving across our nation, I find this statement by the Black Caucus of the Evergreen Association of American Baptist Churches a good reminder of all that Black Americans have endured and sacrificed to build and protect America. Langston Hughes’s poem, Let America Be America Again, originally published in 1936 in Esquire Magazine is striking in that it still speaks the truth of our reality today. We have come so far but we have so far to go to realize the American Dream for all.
Black Caucus Statement – Evergreen Association of American Baptist Churches
It has been 401 years since the first enslave Africans numbering about 20 were brought to the Eastern shores of what would become the United States of America. Click HERE to read the whole statement.
www.ea-abc.org
WORSHIP WITH US:
Sundays 10:30 a.m. in person or
Sundays 10:30 a.m. on Facebook
First Saturday of each month: 4:00 p.m.
Worshiping and Office:
6915 196th St SW
Lynnwood, Washington 98036
Mailing:
PO Box 1044
Lynnwood WA 98046
425-774-1010
email Pastor Aanenson at: aanend@gsbchurch.com
