Before the First Commandment

Friends, an honest note before the rest: I’ve been sick this week and working from home only a few hours here and there. I’m finally feeling better and really looking forward to Sunday, but I’m also woefully behind, which is why this email is reaching you Friday afternoon instead of Friday morning. Thank you for your patience with me. It feels fitting that this is the week we read about a God who carries people before asking anything of them. I’ve needed that one.

This Sunday the story reaches Sinai. Three months out of Egypt, Israel camps at the foot of a mountain, and God has something to ask of them. But before a single commandment, God tells them to remember how they got there. We’ll read Exodus 19 and 20 together, all the way through to the people standing at a distance from the thunder and smoke, and we’ll sit with what kind of asking this is.

It’s also a communion Sunday. Everyone is welcome at the table, whatever you believe about it and however long it’s been.

Right after the gathering, this fall’s Exploring Membership cohort meets for its last session. On October 18 we’re trading the usual morning for brunch together at Lazy Dog, and on October 25 we close Bound Together with the Joining Celebration and our Reformation Sunday Fall Festival. More on all of it below.

We gather at 11:00 AM, in person or online.

See you Sunday, Pastor Matthew