By The Rev. David Olson

What are you doing?” I ask my daughter as I look at her crawling around underneath our dining room table. 

“Looking for a piece of my puzzle that I dropped,” she says.  “I have to find it; every piece matters.”

Our dining room table does occasionally have meals eaten at it, but it seems as if most of the time it is used for the puzzles laid out upon it in varying stages of completion. It’s a place where anyone walking by can sit down for a bit and find some solace while quietly searching through puzzle pieces to find one that connects.

As I sit down next to my daughter, who by now has pulled herself out from under the table after finding the piece she had dropped, I stare down at the incomplete puzzle in front of me and realize how true it is that every piece really does matter. Without even one piece the puzzle would never be complete, the image it shows not quite right. Which makes me think about our church. 

For the last three years St. John’s has done a remarkable job of weathering the Covid pandemic. The people of St. John’s have remained faithful with their time, support and giving, which has truly been a blessing.

But for many people the pandemic has also changed the way that they connect and find their place at church. I guess you could say we have been missing some pieces of our puzzle. 

Which is why I am excited about our upcoming program year kicking off this September. Though the pandemic is most certainly not over, we are launching our first full programming season since the pandemic began in hopes of helping all of our parishioners find ways to connect with St. John’s and each other, while also strengthening their life of faith and how they live it out. 

Worship will continue to be the focal point of our life together, but in addition to that we will have wonderful Sunday morning formation opportunities for adults and children. Journey groups are back, with a diverse set of offerings that will meet throughout the week. There will be special community life events, music concerts, opportunities for children, youth, and adults to learn, grow, and have fun together, and you can learn all about these things and more in our fall program calendar that is included in this Record and will be passed out at church as well.

We have so many wonderful opportunities to connect and serve here at St. John’s. Where will you connect and find your place? Where will you serve?  If you aren’t sure, please don’t hesitate to ask the clergy, staff, and lay leaders of our church for help and we will be glad to do just that. After all St. John’s is a puzzle.  Every piece matters. 

Looking forward to connecting with you,

David+