Welcome September

We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
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Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
—Hebrews 13:1-2
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​Dear Friends,
    September. Children are headed back to school, meetings suspended for July and August pick up again . . . so soon?! 
    In myself at least I can detect a bit of reluctant purposefulness. I love summer. I love sitting on the deck and watching the butterflies. I love the soft breezes. The intense heat? Well, not so much.
    When I dig a little deeper however I find that in the midst of that reluctant purposefulness there rests a sense of growing delight that, with most vacations now ended, we will see one another on a more regular basis. That is the great thing about September!
    Truth to tell, even in the summer both the AdMinistry Team and the Elders have been meeting to plan our fall activities. Let me highlight just a few. 
    On Sunday, September 11 we will bless all our children, youth and their backpacks as they begin a new year of learning. After worship that day we’ll take a congregational trip to the Seattle Center for the Live Aloha Hawaiian Cultural Festival; a sort of a church picnic with food trucks and beautiful hula dancing.
    After worship on Sunday, September 25 I’ll meet with anyone interested in baptism and/or church membership. This will be an informational meeting after which we’ll set up some class sessions for those who would like to engage in further conversation or learning. However the event I particularly want to draw to your attention to takes place Sunday morning, September 18 at 10:30am. That morning we will NOT worship at QACC but instead will head over to Beacon Hill to worship with our sister congregation, Welcome Table Christian Church.
    Very rarely do we not hold worship on a Sunday morning at QACC but this occasion is especially important. Over the course of sixteen years, Findlay Street Christian Church (now Welcome Table Christian Church) engaged the question: What does it mean to be church in the 21st century? Their answers to that question led them to sell their building in the Rainier Valley and purchase land on Beacon Hill to build a new sanctuary. You might imagine this was a simple process; you purchase land, you build a building but it was not simple in any way, shape or form.
    For ten years Welcome Table nested with Mount Baker Park Presbyterian Church. They worshiped in the afternoon. In the wake of the financial housing collapse they struggled to finance the new construction. 
    Over the course of those ten years Welcome Table gathered with us for worship on so many occasions. They gave us opportunities to learn and practice the fine art of hospitality. And guess what, over those years we grew such that the practice of hospitality has become second nature to this congregation. Now the tables have turned and it is our turn to practice being gracious guests. 
    Who knows, just maybe, as the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews suggests, there are already angels among us at QACC just waiting to be entertained! May we be so blessed.
    Blessings + peace,