Views from The Ridge 02.14.2024
Sunset Ridge is a church that desires to follow Jesus, reach people, and radiate God’s love and hope to all.
This Week
Wednesday, February 14 6pm Ash Wednesday service
Childcare provided for children 6 weeks-5 years old
Sunday, February 18
9:15am Life Groups, children’s Roots gathering, teen gathering
10:30am Worship in the Sanctuary (Say Less - Matthew 5:31-37)
4:30pm Music-centered Worship (on the front lawn weather permitting)
6-7pm Parent Group: Every Season Sacred
6-7pm Youth Group
Monday, February 19 Office Closed
Upcoming…
Sunday, February 25 Afternoon chapel worship
Wednesday, February 28 Women’s Wednesday Fellowship
Around Our Community
Second Saturday this past weekend was a special space for people in our community to spend time together and explore their creativity. We are especially grateful to Krystal Richmond, Jonna Rosas, and Suzan Browning for leading that time.
A Message from Jess
-Jess Lowry, Executive Director of Sunset Ridge Collective
This message also appeared in Goodness Weekly on 2/12
97 days ago my body shut down.
I was tested for stroke, for adrenal failure, for heart issues. No answers came. “It may be MS,” one doctor said. “It’s simply that your body has endured too much stress," claimed another.
I began to wonder if it was all in my head.
Regardless, for the past three months my life has been primarily confined to the walls of my house, being driven around by friends and family to appointments. On good days I might take a walk, or attend my sons’ basketball games—a far cry from life as I’ve been living it.
I’ve wailed, I’ve yelled, I’ve sobbed, I’ve questioned. I’ve sat in the dark silence for hours, turned days, turned months.
On a sunny day drive, we arrived at Arnosky Flower Farm, one of my favorite places to go when I need some time to decompress and a favorite day trip for my daughter Shiloh and I. We were excited to see whatever glimmer of beauty might be in store for us that day as we had so many times before. And yet all we saw was soil.
In the moment there wasn’t disappointment in my heart, but instead the realization that I was in the same place as this flower farm. In a time of dormancy, a time of preparation…for the beauty that was to come.
In our Sunday night Parent Group we are reading Every Season Sacred by Kayla Craig, last week’s reflection was “Mourning into Dancing.” In the chapter the author quoted pastor Mandy Smith saying, “We dance for what is to come. We dance for what we believe God is doing, even if we can’t see it. And somehow, that actually helps make it possible.”
I live that daily now—the dancing part. Still not physically well, but more whole in heart and spirit with an understanding that this time has gifted me the chance to be stripped of all of the things that I clung tightly to—my independence, resilience, strength, and self-sufficiency. To come to a place where I am dependent, where I am still, where I am clearer about my worth and value outside of anything I do.
This year the season of Lent starts today, on Valentine’s Day. What a beautiful thing—to hold Lent in hand with a theme of love. May this season of Lent be a time that we are being loved into reflection, stillness, and silence.
May we allow ourselves to be stripped of the things that hinder us from living in wholeness, no matter how uncomfortable or hard they are. May we have courage to stay in the discomfort to see what there is for us to learn instead of numbing out or running away.
May we be people who can sit in the darkness holding onto hope, regardless of our circumstance. May our quieter, simpler posture of living open us up to a more saturated presence in the world around us.
From Our Leaders
We have contracted a security company to install a new fire and security system that will greatly improve the safety and accessibility of our building, especially as we continue to invite more community partners and coworking members to share our space.
We are continuously praying for the work of the Sunset Ridge community and also for the generosity of everyone in this community to allow this work to continue. We are so grateful for the contributions we have received so far in 2024. Please see a YTD update below.
Contributions thru February 4th
Avg. Wkly. Contributions $14,769
Weekly Budget $11,489
Avg. Weekly (Deficit)/Surplus $3,280
YTD (Deficit)/Surplus $16,399
YTD Special Contributions $40,000
Praises And Prayers
Chelsea and Riley Stirman celebrated the birth of their nephew, Anderson, this past week. Mom and baby are doing well!
A Prayer for Ash Wednesday
Adapted from The Lives We Actually Have by Kate Bowler
God, today my finitude is rubbed on my forehead.
The reality of my limits, my fragile body,
Spoken over me like a curse:
From dust I was made
And to dust I will return.
Some days I need to be reminded
That I am not the perfectibility project
I set out to be.
When I don’t feel like dust,
Bless me, oh God,
In the ways I trick myself into believing
That my life is something I’ve made,
Victories added up to something independent of You.
But on days like today, when my head hangs low,
Sunk on the grief of my neediness,
Bless me, oh God.
Tell me again
Exactly how you made me:
From dust to dust.
Blessed are me, a mess of contradictions,
In our delusions and deep hopes,
In our fragility and finitude.
Amen
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