Views from The Ridge 08.14.2024
Sunset Ridge is a church that desires to follow Jesus, reach people, and radiate God’s love and hope to all.
This Week
Sunday, August 18
9am Worship in the Sanctuary (Scott Heare preaching: John 6:51-58)
10am Conversation regarding fall Bible studies/discipleship classes (see Update below)
11am Worship in the Chapel (Scott Heare preaching: John 6:51-58)
Watch previous sermons here, and listen to this month’s worship inspiration here.
Update from Adult Education
This Sunday, August 18, we invite you to join Randy Rutland, Scott Heare, and Jess Lowry for a conversation around our fall Bible studies and discipleship classes. We are excited to hear your input and look forward to being with you at 10:15 in the Fellowship Hall.
Upcoming
Tuesday, August 20, 5:30pm Children’s Ministry Volunteer Meeting (Fellowship Hall)
Saturday, August 24 Please join us in celebrating Noëlle Lowry and the arrival of a baby boy this fall.
Sunday, August 25, 12:15pm Preaching Minister Scott Heare Welcome Luncheon
Sunday, August 25, 1:00-1:30 Parent Meeting for Grades PreK-6th Grade
Wednesday, August 28, 10am Women’s Wednesday Fellowship
Around Our Community
CAM (Christian Assistance Ministry) is currently in need of the following:
Men’s tennis shoes/athletic shoes (all sizes)
Men’s jeans
Men’s shirts
Women’s tennis shoes/athletic shoes (all sizes)
Men’s belts
Travel-size deodorant
Bibles in English.
Please deposit items in the CAM box in the Fellowship Hall.
Open Hands
Jess Lowry, Executive Director, Sunset Ridge Collective
Church, we opened a park.
This week in our second service, pastor Scott Heare named that something is initiated spiritually when we do something like open our hands and say “Lord we give this to you”.
He went on to say that there is a great challenge for us here now. We are only at the beginning of a new chapter at Sunset Ridge. This chapter is woven into the beautiful 75-year history of our church, a place of welcome, warmth, and care. It is no surprise that our particular calling from God in this time is to create what Scott described as a front porch. This front porch is an open space for people that we don’t even know yet to find a place of belonging in community.
In less than one week the park has been filled with people. Parents and children are playing together, neighbors have just discovered one another, there is rolling down the hill, quiet prayer in the meditation garden, and in the way that only God can do, it is so much more than we could have imagined.
One of the most common questions I’ve heard as I’ve visited with neighbors throughout the weekend is “Why would the church do this for us?” And the comment, “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
But I have. Haven’t you? I have seen something like this before when 30 people from our church flooded the courtroom halls week after week to pray for our family as we navigated Shiloh’s adoption journey. I’ve seen the fellowship hall packed with supplies and home goods for the Afghani families at Camelot with barely any notice but a great need. I’ve seen a stocked food pantry, a chapel of prayer warriors, a moving truck and some muscle, meal trains, and hospital waiting rooms filled.
This is who Sunset Ridge is. A people of radical grace and welcome. A people of hospitality, warmth, and an abundance of love. A people who seek to follow the example of Jesus.
Why would the church do this?
Because it’s who we are and who we believe that the God we love calls us to be. And I just can’t wait to see how this next chapter of our mission unfolds.
Love-Jess
Prayers & Praises
Congratulations to Whitney Webb on her baptism this past Sunday. Whitney is the daughter of Cody and Heather Webb.
Bill Jackson is in rehab awaiting a heart valve replacement.
Meta Mancinelli is recovering from COVID and is scheduled for knee surgery on August 21.
We express sympathy to the Derickson, Alba, and Lowry families on the death of Elizabeth Derickson, Kathy Derickson’s daughter and Kelly Alba’s sister, in Florida.
