Rev. Dr. Katherine Willis Pershey Guest Preaching

Sat November 9, 5:30pm Chapel

Sun November 10, 9:00am, 10:30am, & 11:59am, Sanctuary

Rev. Dr. Katherine Willis Pershey is the Co-Pastor at First Congregational United Church of Christ, in Appleton, WI. Rev. Pershey received her Master of Divinity degree from the Claremont School of Theology in California. She recently completed a Doctor of Ministry degree from Western Theological Seminary in Michigan. Katherine is a member of the Board of The Christian Century and is also a regular contributor to the magazine. She is the author of Any Day a Beautiful Change: A Story of Faith and Family and Very Married: Field Notes on Love and Fidelity. Katherine and her husband, Ben are raising two teenage children.

Practicing Good News

A few weeks ago, I shared with you about my bass lessons. Since then, many of you have asked me how I am doing in my process of learning to play the bass. I am happy to report that I am still at it. I’ve thought about stopping my lessons more than once, my fingers not moving fast enough, the difficulty of learning something new, and the feeling I will never get better. I am sure that you can relate, learning new habits is difficult.

It is no different in our life of faith. We have an encounter with divine life, and we are transformed by it but it is not immediate. This love we encounter is a love that we are to share with the world, we are meant to practice it, the more we practice it, the more loving we become in the world.

I recently read that there are a few practices that help in this process. Prayer has historically been the basic practice of the Christian life and certainly taking a moment in our day to pause and connect with divine life is pivotal. Don’t try to do it for too long, maybe 60 seconds of silence and paying attention to love around you would suffice at first. Gratitude is another important practice that will help us in our journey towards a good news led life. Once a day rehearse what you are thankful for and the many ways you experienced love through the day. Finally, to grow in love, to practice good news, it is important to gather. Often, we think of worship and that is important, but it is also important that you have dinner with others, that you grab a cup of coffee with a friend, and that you reach out to that new person at your workplace.

Practicing good news can feel like a burden sometimes and yet it is only in practicing that we will get better at being faithful bearers of the good news of God’s love for all that we encounter. Let us commit to this practicing together!

Peace & Love, JC+