Dear Friends,

Greetings from Lost River, WV!

Last Sunday, we were blessed with the insights and reflections of Mia Jett, who shared her personal spiritual pilgrimage from an abusive upbringing, through addiction, and now finding ways to serve God through her blog: https://www.thebeautifuldisaster.com

Before the service, when she and I were the only two online, she explained that she needed to move outside to speak. It was over 100 degrees in Missouri, where she lived. However, it was even hotter in her RV where she lives with her children. I share this detail because she helps put into perspective many of our concerns. If you'd like to support Mia, you can send a gift to the church, and our benevolent fund will match your gift.

Trauma

We didn't plan our summer speaker series to feature the theme of trauma. However, the many different voices have all helped us understand how pervasive it is and strategies to deal with it. We followed up with Dr. LaVerne Adams about ways we might partner with her in implementing her PACE model to address trauma as a church community. I'll keep you posted.

Spiritual Entrepreneurs

Last week during our virtual coffee hour following the service, the group who stayed imagined ways our church could become a national leader in the spiritual entrepreneur movement by serving as an incubator for new ministries. It was a fascinating discussion, and I'm convinced we'll achieve this dream in the coming years. I'd love for us to be known as the place where beautiful visions for doing good are matched with business plans that get them into the world through sustainable models.

This Sunday

Our speaker this Sunday is our Church President Annabel Park (bio enclosed below)! Her sermon will explore what philosophical, moral, and spiritual connections may exist between Christian beliefs and democracy. Please join us for what promises to be a fruitful discussion!

See you Sunday,

Rich

Annabel Park is a a filmmaker, political consultant, and activist known for creative activism, community organizing, and narrative strategy. Her passion is to promote participatory democracy and social change with innovation and community building.

Annabel has made numerous TV and radio appearances, and has been invited to speak throughout the U.S. and also in Europe and Asia. Her writings have been published by CNN.com and the Washington Post.

Annabel's 2016 Washington Post op-ed, “I don’t like Hillary Clinton or the Democratic Party, I’m Voting for Them Anyway", was one of the most shared opinion pieces of the 2016 election.

Her activism has been featured by People, The Real News, CNN, NYT, Washington Post, Rachel Maddow, Washington Journal, and Newsweek.

Annabel founded the Coffee Party, a grassroots organization promoting civil dialogue and democratic reforms, in response to the Tea Party in 2010. She also launched a number of popular online communities since then: Main St Democrats, Bridge the Divide, America Welcomes Refugees, Libyans and Americans United for Peace and Friendship, and Facing Humanity.

Annabel was born in Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to Houston, TX when she was nine years old with her family. She grew up working at a truck diner owned by her parents.

Living with her three dogs, Annabel splits her time between Lost River, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Readings for the Coming Sunday:

Matthew 22:15-22

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

Swedenborg Insight

Heaven and Hell §218

Good leaders do not control and command but minister and serve, for doing good for others out of a love for what is good is serving, and making sure that it happens is ministering.

Last Sunday with Mia Jett: 

"The Beautiful Disaster"

Last Sunday we heard from Mia Jett. Her honest and tenacious story was powerful for all of us who heard it. She reminds us that wherever we are in this world, there are people we can minister to and serve.

She has a unique outreach to those often ignored or abandoned by the church. If you missed her message, we encourage you to take a few minutes and listen to it below.

The Misunderstood Reason Millions of Americans Stopped Going to Church

By Jake Meador

Photo Credit: Spencer Platt / Getty

Nearly everyone I grew up with in my childhood church in Lincoln, Nebraska, is no longer Christian. That’s not unusual. Forty million Americans have stopped attending church in the past 25 years. That’s something like 12 percent of the population, and it represents the largest concentrated change in church attendance in American history. As a Christian, I feel this shift acutely. My wife and I wonder whether the institutions and communities that have helped preserve us in our own faith will still exist for our four children, let alone whatever grandkids we might one day have.

Thought for the Week

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