The Sawyers have undertaken two different do-it-ourselves painting projects this summer.

Project One: Amy is currently hard at work, painting the cabinets in our kitchen, which have thirteen years of wear and tear (and grit and grime) on them. It’s going to look awesome!

And, Project Two: Back in late May, I took my trusty Fender Stratocaster guitar apart and set about repainting and refinishing it….

I hope that you have been having a fantastic summer! Our own family has done a little traveling and is getting ready for a “Staycation” with plenty of things to do close to home. In the Summer, our daily and weekly routines slip into a different kind of rhythm, which we welcome. We do, however, have our sights set on a return to school and the daily and weekly rhythms that will be back in place come Fall….

There are so many things that are out of our control, but sometimes we are surprised by serendipitous grace.

Over the past few weeks in worship, we have been offering special prayers for Malalai and Agashirin Safi. I have kept the prayers mostly broad – “God please be with the Safis in this difficult time. . .” – instead of getting into specifics. In truth, because of some legal and personal concerns, we want to shield the Safis by not sharing too much, even though there is plenty more that could be said (and likely will be said when the time is right)….

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but in the past several weeks, I’ve been a little out of sorts in worship. I mean, I would like to think that as a “professional” with twenty-five years on the job, that I would be more than up to the challenge of comfortably leading in worship, but in the past several weeks, something has changed….

A few weeks ago, I was getting ready to go out of town and decided that I wanted to take a necktie. And then I thought, “Heck! When was the last time I actually wore a necktie?” You see, on Sundays – the main tie-wearing day for a lot of pastors – I always wear a clerical collar. And the rest of the time, I usually just wear a button-down shirt with no tie. I could wear a tie to the office, but things in our office are a little less formal than some offices.

So, I opened a little-used drawer and went in search of a tie and came across this historical archive of ties that I used to wear. Hidden away among these ties was a tie that I had forgotten – a real historic artifact from the year I was born. . .

I am writing this on Thursday, June 11 – a date that is 197 days before Christmas – but I am excited to say that this morning, at a small gathering of people in our Fellowship Hall, the topic of conversation was all about Christmas….

The word “polity” comes from Greek and Latin words that mean, basically, “form of government or administration of a state.” Just as the United States Constitution outlines the form of government for our nation, the Book of Order outlines the form of government for the church. How does/should the church be governed?

Just as a preview, this is the part of the “Foundations” section that we will be discussing this Sunday….