Pastor’s eNote: Weekly Update

I recently read a very short work called “Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less” by Jim VanderHei and Mike Allen of Axios. Like many public speakers and writers, I struggle with making my ideas concise and clear.

Back in the days of preaching classes with Dr. Ian Pitt-Watson and Dr. Bill Pannell at Fuller Theological Seminary, we were trained to preach a 15 to 17 minute sermon. Hard to do in class. Even harder to do Sunday after Sunday!

To give some context, preaching a sermon each week is like preparing a meal for every possible allergy and food preference…for 200 people. To speak a word to everyone all at once, things can get vastly too long and over-explained. Simplicity and brevity are held in tension by detail and analysis. Balancing this in every context requires a careful hand I am still trying to attain.

Our new “old” worship series called “Gathered to Go” begins this week. Yes, this is the same series we covered last fall. We are retracing our steps for a reason.

As we think, pray, and wonder about our future, it would do us well to name it in a simple and brief manner. Can you describe what our church does in a simple phrase? We are Gathered to Go for what? By whom? Why?

The next five weeks of worship together along with our Annual Meeting on June 22 might help us. May we listen to the quiet and often “brief” voice of the Spirit in the days to come.

Grace to You All,

Pastor Craig Brown
(May 27, 2025)