​What is “normal”?
 
I’ve never been good at scheduling and planning. In fact, much of the time my brain doesn’t seem to turn on until my back is against the wall of a deadline. Things get done, tasks are accomplished, but always just under the wire, and without margin for error. It’s always been infuriating to me, but I also knew that it was my “normal.” This is probably one reason why I’ve gravitated towards a career in the arts, where ever-changing rehearsals and performances and such mean there’s never really a “normal” schedule.
 
Like so many of us, whatever sense of a regular schedule I did have was wiped out by the pandemic. No live performances, working remotely, our son attending school from his room. As weeks became months and stretched out past a year, this topsy-turvy life became our “new normal” – but rather than settling into it, there was always one eye towards when things would return to the “old normal.”
 
Now that we’re ever-so-slowly emerging from the worst of the pandemic, I realize that, in spite of the unpleasant reasons for our world changing, there were some truly wonderful things that we experienced that will be unique to this moment in time. On the top of this list was the increased time we had with our son. Although in the moment it felt like we never had a free moment to ourselves, looking back at watching him go through kindergarten, our near-daily walks to the park, the games and puzzles and books, and yes, the tears and frustrations, we got an opportunity to bond and grow as a family that may never be replicated.
 
Now we’re getting back to the “old normal.” Rebecca’s going back to her office more; I’ve been doing nights and weekends at the theatre, Joshua is at school and in soccer and swimming lessons. And while it’s familiar (and often quieter!), I find myself missing some of what I just recently considered craziness. I was so caught up in what was or wasn’t “normal” and how we would get back to “normal” that I almost missed the extraordinary.
 
As we go through life, looking for comfort in answers, patterns, rationales, and a sense of normalcy, we need to remember that human life is unpredictable, chaotic, and irrational. There is no such thing as “normal” – and if we can embrace that, maybe we can find the comfort we seek in the extraordinary, in the astonishing, and in the miraculous.
​                                                                      -Daniel 

For this season of thanksgiving, I just want to share some excerpts from a sermon by Rev. Dr. Ron Barnes of Anchorpoint Counseling Ministry. I believe we will find these very helpful and relevant as we go through this season once more in the midst of a pandemic.
- Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ~ James 1:2-6
“A heart of thanksgiving is a loving heart. A heart often becomes grateful because it has experience in being ungrateful. It has become a grateful heart because it has realized there is much to be grateful for despite life’s trials and difficult times. A heart becomes grateful when it experiences the significance of the Love of Christ. A person develops a deeper appreciation for the life he or she has been given, even amidst difficulty.
A heart of thanksgiving is usually a heart that has been tested.  Despite all the challenges a person has experienced, he or she has realized that living gratefully and appreciatively is the high road to travel. Ask someone who has had an organ transplant, who has survived a traumatic accident, who has dealt with tragic loss, who fights chronic pain or chronic illness about having a grateful heart. The challenge of living appreciatively or depreciatively is ever-present. It is present for all of us, but it is more obvious when there are ongoing struggles.
So what keeps us from having a heart of thanksgiving?  A lack of an appreciative mind and heart is the obvious answer. But what is creating an ungrateful spirit within us? There are very difficult problems in this world. How are we to have a grateful heart when facing intense problems like a global pandemic? The Christian faith calls us to take the high road even when the low road is closer and more convenient. James challenges all of us about this issue. This scripture in James is a hard one for most of us to understand. It confronts our humanness, our human condition as many scriptures tend to do. James never suggested to his readers that Christianity would be an easy way. The truth is we need this scripture and in reality, we need hearts of thanksgiving. 
Hearts of thanksgiving enable us to develop a spiritual perspective. A heart of thanksgiving helps to nurture our spiritual nature which moves us beyond our human nature and human condition. If our heart is not grateful, it is difficult to be a loving heart which we are called by God to have towards our self and others. God’s love is indeed a healing love, and having a spiritual understanding of God’s grace can only lead us to having a grateful heart. May each of us continue to live our lives in full reception of God’s grace and love.”
                                                                                                  -Rey Lambatin, Choir Director

  Call Committee Newsletter article #3  (Nov.3, 2021)
 
   The Call Committee (Randy Presuhn, Chair, Paul Thomas, Sarah Janigian, Matt Byom, Adolfo Ramirez, and Julia Tranchina) continues to meet on a regular basis. Following the meeting with the bishop of our Synod, the Committee has begun work on seven brief essay questions from the Ministry Site profile designed to help us summarize the current life of our congregation. These essays should help us understand better who we are, and once the Committee has finished, they will be presented to the Congregation for its feedback, and eventually they will be made available to the pastoral candidates to help give them a better idea of just what CGS is like.
     While we are doing this, the Call Committee really wants your thoughts on what it is you would like to see in our next pastor. We are very pleased and grateful that a few of you have already approached us with ideas, but we need more of you to talk to us.  Please track us down at coffee hour or before services or whenever or wherever you can find us or send us an email ([email protected])
     The week of November 15, we plan to make ourselves available via Zoom for those of you who may prefer to contact us that way. The details of that process will be forthcoming soon.
     The important thing is that the Call Committee needs your input and we hope you will let us know what you think is important.  You can not only tell us what you want and feel is important to have in our next pastor, but you may also tell us what you don’t want or don’t like.  Two sides of the same coin perhaps, but however you put it, we want to know what you think.
    Please continue to pray for the Committee
                                                                                                                                        - Paul Thomas 

Happy November CGS! 

With November’s arrival the holiday season is officially in full swing. Calendars start to get booked with time slots of people and events fighting for attention. I’ve heard from those around me that this year they plan to make the holidays extra special or the celebration on a larger scale to amend for lack of time spent together in 2020.  

While I understand this perspective, I was inspired by Pastor Jill’s art that hangs in the office space. “ Be Still Life” it reads over my desk space.

Taking the time in the whirlwind of the season to put it all on pause, to enjoy the moments as they are without placing pressure can provide little pockets of peace.  And so no matter the level of commitments or pressure you might feel during these next two months, I hope you find little pockets of stillness to relax and enjoy this season of life. 

​                                                                                                                                                - Christina U

Please join Emma Steger in participating in the Synod-wide service day. 

Items needed are as follow:

* Light weight bath sized towel ( between 20' x 40" and 52" x 27"), dark color recommended

*Bath size bars of soap equaling 8oz to 9oz

*Adult- size toothbrush

*Sturdy comb

*Metal nail clippers

 Personal care items can be donated in the bin by church office. Thank you for the support!

Call Committee Update: 
 
The Call Committee is hard at work, taking very seriously our responsibilities on behalf of the congregation to find our next pastor.  First and foremost is completing the Ministry Site Profile.  This very important document is given to the Office of the Bishop and to prospective candidates to tell them who we are, to help identify candidates and for candidates to decide whether this ministry would be a fit.
 
We need everyone’s help in letting us know your thoughts about our congregation’s life, personality and future direction.  Conveying an accurate picture of our church community, our “feel”, realities and aspirations is important as we prepare documentation for the Office of the Bishop.  Please take the time to talk to any of the members of the Call Committee in person, or by email.  You can contact team members individually or send an email to [email protected].  There will also be more formal ways to give input to the committee through surveys and focus groups as we move along in the process.
 
At our last meeting we met (via Zoom) with Bishop Rohrer, who is going to be handling our call process.  Our bishop is familiar with CGS and has worked with several of our former pastors over the years. The bishop gave us some thoughts about the process, and the importance of the Ministry Site Profile (MSP) and the information that is provided.  It was stressed that congregational trust is vital to the success of the process, and providing the most complete picture of who we are is very important.  Again, the Call Committee is looking to members of the congregation to let us know your thoughts about our church life.
 
How long this is going to take is unknown.  The Call Committee is committed to meeting weekly and working hard to gather data and put the Ministry Site Profile together. We do not want to rush the process.  Call Committee members want to make sure that we submit a final Ministry Site Profile that accurately reflects who we are and the type of leader that will be best for our congregation.  Our goal is to submit the Ministry Site Profile in the beginning of the new year.
 
Call committee progress updates will be provided on a very regular basis through announcements and bulletin articles.  Please use the ways that have been set up to let us know your thoughts, hopes, and dreams.  We want to hear from you.
 
Please pray for us.
 
SARHA JANIGIAN
 
The Call Committee
Randy Presuhn, Chairperson
Matt Byom
Sarah Janigian
Adolfo Ramirez
Paul Thomas
Julia Tranchina