This Sunday, we kick off our new fall sermon series, “Churchy Words: Unpacking the Vocabulary of Faith,” by exploring one of the biggest words in the Christian vocabulary: SALVATION. We may think we already know what salvation means—but have we made it too small? Through Isaiah 43:1–7 and the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1–10, we’ll discover that salvation is about more than what happens someday when we die. It is the good news of a God who calls us by name, claims us in love, meets us in the midst of life, and brings rescue, restoration, reconciliation, and new beginnings. Salvation isn’t only a promise for someday; it is God’s transforming work already unfolding among us.

And what better day to talk about new beginnings than Rally Sunday! As we begin a new season of worship, learning, fellowship, and service together, we’ll celebrate the joy of being part of a community God continues to shape and renew. After worship, everyone is invited to our annual Rally Sunday picnic, coordinated by our Deacons. Come for worship, stay for good food and fellowship, reconnect after the summer, and help us celebrate the beginning of another year of life and ministry together!

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This Sunday, we conclude our Forgotten Books of the Bible series with a book that may not exactly be forgotten—but is certainly one of the Bible’s most misunderstood: Revelation. With its dragons and beasts, mysterious numbers, cosmic battles, and strange visions, Revelation has sometimes been treated as a secret code predicting how and when the world will end. But for its first readers—Christians living under the shadow of the Roman Empire—Revelation offered something much more important: hope, courage, and the assurance that the powers of fear, violence, and oppression will not have the final word.

Rather than inviting us to escape this world, Revelation ends with God coming to dwell among us and declaring, “See, I am making all things new.” As we finish our summer series, we’ll explore Revelation as a book of faithful imagination: an invitation to resist the forces that diminish life, to trust that God is still at work even when the world seems chaotic, and to live right now as citizens of the new creation God has promised. In the end, Revelation is less about predicting when the world will end and more about helping us decide how we will live while we wait for God to make all things new.

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This Sunday, we continue our Forgotten Books of the Bible series with Philemon, one of the tiniest books in Scripture—just 25 verses—but one that asks some enormous questions. In a deeply personal letter about Onesimus, an enslaved man, Paul challenges Philemon to receive him “no longer as a slave…but as a beloved brother.” Together, we’ll explore what happens when the gospel changes the way we see another person: beyond labels, status, past mistakes, or the categories that divide us. And we’ll consider an even harder question: If Christ teaches us to see one another differently, shouldn’t that also change the ways we treat one another—and perhaps even the systems we are willing to accept?

Then, following worship, stick around for our annual Milestone Birthday Bash! We’ll celebrate everyone who is turning an age ending in -5 or -0 this year—with plenty of joy, fellowship, and birthday fun for the whole congregation. Whether or not this is your milestone year, come worship, celebrate, and remind one another that every member of God’s family is worth honoring!

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This Sunday we continue our Forgotten Books of the Bible series with perhaps one of Scripture’s most surprising books: Song of Songs. Filled with poetry about love, longing, beauty, and desire, this little book reminds us that Scripture does not treat our bodies or our longing for connection as distractions from holiness, but as places where holiness can actually be encountered. Together, we’ll explore what Song of Songs can teach us about delight, embodied love, and a God whose love for us is not distant or merely “religious,” but passionate, persistent, and deeply relational. As the Song declares, “Many waters cannot quench love.”

We’ll also celebrate our annual Blessing of the Backpacks, inviting our children and young people to bring their backpacks to worship as we surround them with prayer and blessing for the new school year. Join us as we remind them—and one another—that God goes with us into classrooms and workplaces, friendships and families, ordinary days and new beginnings. All are welcome!

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In the often-forgotten book of Esther, God never speaks, performs a miracle, or is even mentioned by name—and yet God’s presence seems to whisper through the entire story. When a plot threatens the lives of her people, Esther must decide whether to remain safely hidden or risk using the influence she has been given. Her famous calling “for such a time as this” isn’t accompanied by certainty about what will happen next. Instead, Esther reminds us that courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s choosing faithfulness even when we don’t know how the story will end.

As we continue our Forgotten Books of the Bible series, we’ll explore what Esther can teach us about trusting God when God seems silent, finding courage in community, and recognizing the influence each of us already has to make a difference. God’s silence is not the same as God’s absence—and sometimes God’s work becomes visible through ordinary people willing to take the next faithful step

Special words from our Clerk of Session on Mission

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