Devotion for Sunday, July 12

I don’t think that it will come as a surprise to you all that I love worship. Among the many things that bring me joy serving as your pastor — which, of course, include visiting with you all, praying with you all, and connecting with other members of the broader Newport community — it is worship that always feels like the bedrock that I can turn and return to. Gathering together as a worshiping community each and every Sunday provides a rhythm to the week, and sharing in God’s Word and the Lord’s Supper are powerful signs of our unity as a community of faith.

One other way that we are united is through our full communion partnerships. I don’t know if you know this, but from the very beginning of the ELCA in the 1980s, our denomination decided to be an ecumenical church. That means that we value working with other Christian churches for the unity of the Body of Christ, as Jesus himself prayed, “that they all may be one” (John 17:20). As a denomination, we are in full communion with six other denominations: The Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Moravian Church, the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, and the Reformed Church in America.

So, for the next month or so, as a sign of that unity, we will be using a eucharistic prayer from our siblings in the Episcopal Church. A eucharistic prayer is simply the words that I, as your pastor, pray on behalf of our community as we celebrate Holy Communion. It might seem a little different than what you are used to, but that is OK! I invite you to pay attention to the differences. Is there a word that stands out to you? A phrase? A way that I preside at the table? Does it help you see worship in a different, helpful way, or does it challenge you? Or does it not make a difference at all?

I hope that by asking you these questions, we might be able to have a conversation about who we are as worshiping people. Through this, may we grow in our worship!

God’s peace,

Pastor Kenton

Devotion for Sunday, July 5

I want to give a heartfelt thank-you to everyone who helped in any way or brought any thing to our outdoor worship and BBQ on Sunday. It was wonderful to have everyone gather in different way, and I think everything went extremely well! As things were wrapping up, I felt myself almost moved to tears about how content I felt.

Whenever someone asks about our congregation and asks me to describe it, I always say, “Saint Peter’s is a congregation that knows how to do hospitality well.” As I think more about who we will be moving into the future, this sense of hospitality is one of the best gifts that God has given our congregation! Now, I am not saying that we need to have a BBQ every week, as delicious as that might be. But as we together work to build the congregation that we want to be, our hospitality will be the bedrock that we build everything upon.

So again, thank you — thank all of you — for being who you are and for bringing your whole selves to St. Peter’s. I am so thankful to be your pastor.

God’s peace,

Pastor Kenton