Planting

Spring is not too far away and it already has me thinking about things I want to plant. I would like to plant some flowers in the front beds of my home and with the Lake Cities United Women of Faith selling Spring flowers I might just do that. I also have a tree that was severely damaged and needs to be removed. In its place I have a young Cottonwood sapling that I have been growing in a pot for the last couple of years.

I have a lot of work ahead of me to plant that Cottonwood sapling. I need to remove the nearly dead Chinese Privet tree, grind out the stump, and prepare the soil. These steps are important not only for the young Cottonwood sapling to survive but also for it to thrive. Without removing the dead tree and stump the young sapling will not have the room to grow. Without preparing the soil the young sapling will not have the nutrients it needs to flourish. The work I will be doing to plant this young Cottonwood sapling is the same sort of work I believe we need to be doing as a church for young people to grow hera

We have work to do to remove harmful language and systems that do not give room for young people to grow. Many of us are afraid to do this work because we believe that the language and systems have done well for us so far and find no reason to change.

We also have work to do to establish a healthy environment for young people to flourish. This means actively creating programs and opportunities that are focused towards younger people. We often get very comfortable with what we have been doing that we don’t see that young people listen, learn, and respond differently than we do.

In order to plant we have work to do. Join us this Sunday for worship at 8:30 and 10:45 AM as we are encouraged to plant in places that we never considered.

In God’s grip,

Pastor Chuck Church