Views from The Ridge 01.03.2024
Sunset Ridge is a church that desires to follow Jesus, reach people, and radiate God’s love and hope to all.
This Week
Sunday, January 7
9:15am Combined study in the fellowship hall (book study: Good and Beautiful and Kind - Becoming Whole in a Fractured World by Rich Villodas), children’s Roots gathering, teen gathering (see website for more info)
10:30am Worship in the Sanctuary (Matthew 4:17-25 - Hear The Call)
4:30pm Supper Church
6-7pm Parent Group: Every Season Sacred
6-7pm Youth group gathering
Upcoming…
January 13, Second Saturday (Yoga @ 9am, Storytime @ 10am)
New Year, New Me?
-Riley Stirman, Preaching Minister at Sunset Ridge Church
A new year brings mixed emotions for me. On the one hand, I love thinking about the possibility that a year can hold. I love the idea that I may have an unexpected adventure or accomplish an amazing goal. I love the idea that an incremental change made to my daily or weekly routine could turn me into an entirely different person than I am today.
On the other hand, the new year invites me to look back on all the big plans I had last year that fell by the wayside. I can reflect on where I was a year ago and realize all the goals I had for growth that I abandoned or just plain failed at. And I can see that in some ways I am no different, no better, than I was 365 days prior.
As Robert Burns said, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”
This year, I choose to look at this conundrum through a lens of hope. I choose to remember that I worship a God who believes in new. I worship a God whose mercies are new every morning, who is pouring out new wine, and who calls me his new creation.
Whether it feels like it or not, I’m a new person than I was last year, last month, or when I woke up yesterday morning. Because Christ is being formed within me through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because I have been called to participate in the love that God has for his creation. Because God has called me his beloved in a gentle, unbroken voice stretching back in time to the very beginning.
Who you are today may not look or feel much different than who you’ve been. Yet God is in his holy temple, and he is at work among us. Because of this, the road before us stretches forward into limitless possibility.
This year, may we choose hope.
From Our Leaders
The 2024 church budget is posted in the Fellowship Hall. Copies of the budget are also available in the church office. If you have any questions, please contact Dick Ihfe or Gregg Alba. The general meeting for a vote on the budget is set for Sunday, January 7, 2024, at 10:30 AM.
Praises & Prayers
Long-time member Shirley Sanders passed away January 2. A celebration gathering will be held at a future date - watch for details.
A Blessing for the New Year
Adapted from To Bless the Space Between Us by John O’Donohue
On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.
And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The gray window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flick of colors,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the oceans be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so many a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.
