Common Threads - Summer 2023 Edition
From the Editor’s Desk
~ Kathryn Burling
Our mission is to encourage, to bring hope, to unite our church body by weaving a common thread through our faith community in Christ—with our stories, prayers, and praises
Transformation—Summer’s Here!
The longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice, June 21st, has just occurred. The first day of summer has arrived! The question might be -- Why do the hottest temperatures arrive later in the season? Transformation must take place. The land and the oceans must warm up. The berries on our bush in our back garden ripen into glorious red raspberries with more heat. Caterpillars form their chrysalises and cocoons, yet it takes this warming for us to see and enjoy the many butterfly and moth varieties. There is even a name for this called, “the lag of the seasons.”
That “lag” resembles us when we become “a new creation” in Jesus. We are immediately made new, yet we “warm up” to our relationship with the Lord. Our new life in Christ is like a “solstice”. The change is complete, but walking out that change takes time as we grow in our faith. Just as summer brings the hot sun, our transformation in Christ mimics our advancing to warmer and warmer days of change creating us to know Jesus better and become more like Him. There’s even a name for this called, “growing in the LORD.”
The old has passed away, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17b
The worship song, Take My Life, highlights our transformation in Christ.
Enjoy opening the “patches” of our Common Threads Summer 2023 Edition: “Our Stories” gives us a glimpse of the quickly growing up Pass family triplets. We’ll discover how our SLPC campus is transformed into Camp Treasure Island in the “Children’s Ministry” Square. Check out “Youth Ministry,” and learn about the plan for community service at Amnion, as well as discipleship meetings, and more. Don’t miss “Special Features” with cool activities for our dads, moms and kids from Allison Frassoni. Also, Ana Avila has suggestions for adult summer reading, and an excellent musical selection for the whole family to enjoy. The “Pastor’s Note,” the “Devotional,” and “Missions” articles are also not to be missed. In other words—spend time reading all of “Common Threads” to bolster your faith, keep up with our busy life at SLPC, learn about some good books to read, and just have some great summer activity family fun.
As a team, we thank all who have contributed to this Summer 2023 Edition. Also, we appreciate all of you who “click on” the summer butterflies, moths and dragonfly “patches” to read about and enjoy God’s graciousness to our congregation. Most of all, we thank the Lord Jesus Christ, and pray that you will find His Love and Joy reflected in this newsletter which is a gift from Him.
We welcome comments and suggestions, and would like to hear from those who may want to contribute to a future edition. Please email: kwburling@gmail.com
Common Threads Newsletter Team: Kathryn Burling, Becki Marshall, Judith Lake, Ana Avila, Allison Frassoni, Rebecca Pennock, and Webmaster, Ben Orthey
