Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Wisdom Wednesday: Reaching Out

Grace and peace to you, I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor of Peakland United Methodist Church in Lynchburg Virginia. Today is Wednesday, January 31st, 2024. Reaching out, Serving All, Extending God’s Table, that is the vision statement that we at Peakland adopted for ourselves a year ago in December 2022. Reaching Out, Serving All, and Extending Gods’ Table. That’s what we felt Christ was calling Peakland to do and to be. In the weeks prior to adopting our vision, we at Peakland talked with each other about our dreams and hopes for our church. We were committed to helping those in need in our local and world communities with our time and our talents and our financial gifts. We also wanted a greater sense of Peakland unity coming out of the covid era. As part of our discussion, we also listened to the helping agencies around town to learn what their needs were. And what we realized was that in the intersection of our dreams and hopes for Peakland and the needs of the community, that is where Christ is calling us to reach out, serve all, and extend God’s Table. So one year and one month later, I’m eager to share with you the ways Peakland is going to be reaching out, serving all, and extending God’s Table in the weeks to come. At the start of January, Bedford Hills Elementary school gave us a winter wish list of things they needed for their students and classrooms. Bottles of water, snack bags of pretzels, crayons, bleach wipes, hats, coats, and gloves. I put the wish list in front of our people and in just 2 weeks, we collected 53 packs of crayons, 144 bags of pretzels, 96 bottles of water, 7 bleach wipe containers, 12 coats, 25 hats, and 13 handmade buffs. I delivered those yesterday to the school. That was actually the third delivery to Bedford Hills that we made this academic year. At the start of the school year, we gave all the staff, some candy containers decorated as pencils, and last December we delivered nearly 400 snack bags of pretzels. A few of us have also been tutoring each Thursday at the school. We’ll keep reaching out and serving all and extending God’s Table at Bedford Hills Also last December, Park View Community Mission asked us to collect food items for the their Food for Family food pantry, where folks can pick the specific food items that work best for them. We collected dozens of canned good and boxed goods for them, our largest haul ever for Park View! Park View also launched their Teal Bag initiative, distributing teal bags with a QR code on them, which lists the specific items Park View most needs at any one time. We filled dozens of bags here at Peakland, and this upcoming March, Park View will do another Teal Bag collection, and I know Peakland will be quick and generous with our response. Park View asked me to serve on their board of directors, and my great hope is to strengthen the ties between Park View, Peakland and the other United Methodist churches here in Lynchburg. Miriam’s House, which provides shelter and housing assistance for folks in our area, is having their annual Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser. Peakland sponsored a team last year, and I participated. We’re going to walk and run again this year at the end of February. BJ McGraw is a Peakland member and board member of Miram’s house, and she’s going to talk more about the Coldest Night of the Year walk this Sunday in worship and the ways we can support our team and support Miriam’s House. This Lent we’ll be reaching out to other helping agencies in town like Daily Bread, Interfaith Outreach, and the Jubilee Center, and discerning together how we can best serve them and extend God’s Table. When we talked about our vision for Peakland we wanted to do more to strengthen our congregational unity and fellowship. On Saturday, February 10, we’ll gather around God’s Table and have ourselves an Italian potluck feast! We bring the food and share some good fellowship around God’s Table. All are welcome! As a united congregation this Lent, we’ll be focusing on the Psalms of the Bible. One Psalm a week in Sunday worship and we’ll read and discuss this book Pause: A Lenten Journey with the Psalms during the week with in persons studies and these weekly videos. Those are just some of the ministries Christ is calling us to do. I’m working with our church leaders and our church staff and the community leaders to listen and discern together more and more ways that Peakland will keep reaching out, serving all and extending God’s Table. If you’d like to learn more about our ministry here, and your place among us, then reach out to me at PeaklandPastor@gmail.com Thanks be to God.