Who We Are and Hope To Be

Last summer Laurel Heights engaged in a period of active listening for the prompting of the Holy Spirit that we called Grace Notes and Possibilities. The entire congregation was invited to participate in this time of sharing and reflection on what 6months of living in a COVID-world had taught us. I invite you to view this brief video for a short overview of what we discovered: https://vimeo.com/487295726

As the new year began, Paul, Sue and I, with the coaching of Tanya Campen, began to explore how the church might continue to respond to what we learned through Grace Notes and Possibilities. We began by reflecting on the values we sensed emerging in the ideas and conversations we had shared. Our thoughts are captured below.

Open Doors:
•Hospitality as a partnership
•The walls of the church are not limits or barriers
•Not barriers, but passages through which the church goes into the world and the world comes into the church

Discipleship/Growth:
•Through service, use of gifts, action, community
•Following God through service beyond our congregation, use of gifts, and action in the community
•Growing in faith through service in the world, use of gifts, prayer and study
•Service in the world, friendship, study and prayer•Prayers, presence, gifts, service, witness, hospitality and friendship

Family:
•Community as a family, relationships within the community
•We want you to feel like Laurel Heights is your family. Relationships within our congregation are like family
•The faith community as a place of love, warmth, respect and safety•Coming together in all configurations to love and support and cherish each other

Worship:
•Center piece of our lives together
•Joyful gatherings in which we sing and praise God and pray and listen and then go forth

Tradition:
•Where we have come from
•Where we have come from matters
•Holding on to that in our past which has served God well

This Saturday April 17that 10AM, the Administrative Council will be meeting and will consider what values reflect who Laurel Heights is and wants to be and how we believe God is calling us to live more deeply into those values. Like all Administrative Council meetings, this is open to the entire congregation and you too are invited to participate in the conversation.

As we began our long journey a year ago, I wondered in a reflection what seeds might spring up from the disrupted soil of our lives together. Just as we can see in the landscape all around us this time of year, I believe within our church we can see signs of life –of resurrection –in the budding of beloved perennials, the reinvigorated growth of things pruned back, and the tender new shoots of things that have just been planted. I look forward to sharing this growing season with you.

Katie Myers, Lay Leader