09/03/2026
๐๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ก๐๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ข๐ฌ๐?
Pastor Amyโs article in the September Newsletter
โโ๐๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ฃ๐บ.โ ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ซ๐ข๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ท๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ซ๐ข๐ฉ?โโ (1 Kings 19:11-13)
Dear friends in Christ,
The air is still thick with the chirping summer crickets and bellowing frogs, and yet there is a gentle tide turning as well. There are signs of seasonal shift all around us, and I donโt mean all the fall dรฉcor in the grocery stores. The truth is, we canโt force a season to change any more than we can force a wave to turn up on the shore. Godโs power moves through the universe, bringing each season to maturity in its own time. If we are too busy writing our own scripts and pushing our own agendas, we may miss it. But if we stop to notice, we can smell it and feel it in the air. With no rush at all, we can bear witness to Godโs newness and embrace it when it comes.
In the powerful and surprising story from 1 Kings, Elijah waits patiently for God to show up, and after waiting through catastrophic winds, earthquake and fire, Elijah finally recognizes Godโs arrival in the โsheer silence.โ Elijah was given the spiritual gift of discernment to be able to say, โThis is not it. The time has not yet come. I will wait for God to speak; that is, I will wait until it is quiet enough to hear the sound of my own heartbeat.โ
As we are plunged into a new fall season bursting to the seams with Sunday School, Bible studies, youth group, choirs, academics, rec and travel sports leagues, school clubsโฆall this busyness can arrive with as much force as a fire or a hurricane, uprooting our schedules and rearranging our lives. And still, like Elijah, we can wait and listen for Godโs still voice. Can we hear our own heart through all the noise?
When we find that we have a lot on our plate, we might ask an Elijah question: Where is God in all of this? And we might listen for Godโs question to us in return, โWhat are you doing here?โ Truly, there is so much we plan to have in store for ourselves this seasonโฆand how much more does God have in store for us?? I pray that St. Johnโs will be a place for the sheer silence to break through, like the turning of the seasons, with a grace that feels familiar and yet altogether new.
In the Peace of Jesus Christ,
Pastor Amy Berger
