Seven Years of Sacred Place

Hey Sacred Place Family,

This Sunday, Sacred Place turns seven. I was there for the first gathering, and I’ll be honest about the strangest, best part of standing here now: most of the people who’ll be in the room this Sunday weren’t. You found this table later—some of you only recently—and that isn’t a lesser belonging. It might be the whole point. Seven years isn’t a trophy a few of us get to hold; it’s just how long the door has been open.

So we’re going to celebrate like it. It’s communion Sunday, it’s Trinity Sunday, and it’s our anniversary all at once—and afterward there are cupcakes and no agenda except being together a little longer. If this is your first Sunday or your fiftieth, you belong at that table. Bring someone. Pull up a chair.

This week, I look back on the last seven years and I’m amazed at what we’ve built, and how bright our future looks. Let us celebrate together this Sunday.

Coming up:

June 7 — Found Family, Week 1: Loss and Loyalty

Our summer Pride series launches in the Book of Ruth. Naomi has lost everything and tells Ruth to go back to her own people, her own future—and Ruth refuses. It’s a story about what it looks like to choose someone when you have every excuse not to. I’ll be away June 7 & 14, but you’re in very good hands: Bryan is back to lead the gathering both weeks.

June 14 — Found Family, Week 2: Gleaning and Hope

Ruth could have gone home. Instead she goes to work, gleaning in the margins of Boaz’s field—the corners of the harvest that belong to the poor and the stranger. And then Boaz notices her. Week two moves from loss into something tentative and unexpected: the possibility that provision shows up in the places you didn’t think to look. Bryan leads us again.

June 21 — Found Family, Week 3: Daring to Act

Ruth doesn’t wait to be rescued. She names what she needs and goes after it, taking a real risk at the threshing floor—and changes everything. Week three sits with the audacity it takes to claim your place, especially when you’re an outsider, especially when you’re not sure you’ll be welcome. I’m back, and glad to be.

June 28 — Found Family, Week 4: Pride Sunday

Save the date. We will celebrate Pride Sunday together as a community—and it’s where the whole series lands: with new life, a community gathered to witness it, and Naomi, who came home empty, no longer bitter. It’s a communion Sunday, too. Details soon.

See you Sunday! Pastor Matthew