Dear Friends,

Can you believe it? Summer time is here! School's out,I believe the sun will come out again, HOT weather will arrive, and life's winding down just bit. It's time for some porch sitting and visiting, pool parties, maybe even Vacation Bible School! The month of June is a full one for me personally and emotionally. It's my birthday month (39) --really, honestly, it's hard to believe. And it is also the time that I celebrate my call into ministry. I've been working in the church since I graduated from high school. My first full time summer job was at a church camp-Camp Glisson. It was 14 years ago this month that I was ordained into full time ministry. While this journey of life and ministry has moved forward with many unexpected twists and turns, I have known the faithful presence of God at work always. God has always been there - keeping me close, guiding me, making a way for me to do what I've been called to do. And this year, as I celebrate and give thanks for this call, you can't even begin to know how deeply grateful I am to be living it out with you at Kirkwood UCC. It is such a privilege and honor to be in ministry with you, with all the twists and turns of a new church and all the faithfulness and guidance of God with us. You mean everything to me, and I thank God for the opportunity to serve with you now, and in this journey ahead.

Keep each other in your prayers! You know I pray for you daily and love you deeply.

With grace and peace to you,
Susannah

I am so excited about the month of Sundays in September I can barely stand it! We’ve claimed the month of September as our Invitation Initiative, Bring a Friend Month, Invite Somebody to Church…you get the point. We, all of us, have been sharing stories and invitation cards with our friends—inviting people to come worship and serve with us at Kirkwood UCC. Put down roots. Grow. Branch Out!!!!!! Through the grace and goodness of God, that’s what we’re praying and hoping to be about these next several days—years.
It’s been a great August, gathering for worship, gathering for food and gathering school supplies that were given to about 200 children and teachers at Toomer Elementary and Coan Middle School in the Kirkwood Community. There are many generous hearts at Kirkwood UCC! We ate supper together every Sunday following our worship this month and it was so much fun to be together and talk and share and eat, of course. A very special thank you to Chris Mayer and her family and to Kelly O’Connor for having us over to their houses and extending such wonderful hospitality to the whole crowd!
I want you to pray with me about these next couple of months. I am certain that the church is experiencing some forward momentum and excitement right now and if we continue to reach out in love and kindness to others, inviting them to be a part of a community of faith that is following Christ, loving others and sharing life together in genuine and relevant ways, people will come and visit and eventually stay and serve. This is a lot of work my friends—to build a church—to gather together as the body of Christ, but because of who God is and because of who you are and are becoming, it is happening! Thanks be to God! And thanks be to You! I do hope you know how thankful I am for you—that I pray for you daily and love you deeply. Susannah

We're moving...

Dear Friends,
It follows the rule —the experience of planting the small seed, the digging in at first, the watering, the fertilizing—waiting—watching—hoping—praying and then it begins to happen, little by little. That’s what it feels like this month. Kirkwood UCC has been growing—slowly, but steadily, little by little, day by day with much waiting—watching-hoping and praying.

May 18th marks our first move—- creating space for more. We will gather for worship in our new space at Bessie Branham Community Center @ 5:00. This is an opportunity for our congregation to grow-space for our community of faith to invite and share and offer hospitality to all people.

It will be a change from our coffee house worship-we will still need to Create Space and be Creative with this space. If you have some special/sacred art or artifact, creation or construction to add to our worship space that would be great-bring it with you on the 18th. We will stay after worship on the 11th and work on some community banners, too. I am excited and a little nervous of all that is ahead, but I do believe that God is leading and guiding us to this next place.

Following are several prayer requests, dreams and visions that I ask you and encourage you to pray about with me:
A good move for all of us
Loving child care for our children
Meaningful & creative worship, offering God's love and new life
New friends and neighbors to fill this space
Our Kirkwood UCC Church and Community
Our larger UCC community

Waiting, Watching, Hoping, Praying and with much love,
Susannah

Ash Wednesday's coming...

Grace and Peace to you my sisters and brothers. I have been so thankful for our worship together during this season of Epiphany and look forward to journeying with you through this season of Lent into the glorious celebration of Easter! It has been a busy time no doubt...for all of us. End of the year stuff, what a pain in the neck and head. Recovering, in many ways from Christmas--easier--calmer--lighter next year, right. Making coffee, selling coffee (thank God), a little time in the mountains, more time with you and a couple of fires in the fire place at home.

Christmas Eve was a one year mark for us in our gathering together and I will join with the Southeast Conference of the United Church of Christ New Church Development Committee to share with them all that has happened in that year. It is exciting to think about, even hard to believe at moments, amazing and holy in so many ways. I've put together a year in review power point and it's powerful, to realize all that God is doing in and among us. Praise the Lord!

Some highlights include all the 1st annuals, like the blessing of the animals and our Christmas Caroling. We participated in 8 service-mission projects and gave about $5700. to mission projects in our neighborhood and different places around the world! Come to church Sunday and you can see the powerpoint.

Ash Wednesday begins our Lenten journey and we will gather for an early morning service Feb.6th at 6:30 at the coffee shop, please join us if you can. AND, if you are interested, here are some other resources that might give us strength on our journey. Go to i.ucc.org and click on the Lenten Journey...some good stuff. I love you so much and thank God for you, everyday! Please pray for me and for each other--prayer makes alllllllll the difference in the world. S

Ash Wednesday and the Season of Lent

Lent is a forty-day period before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday. We skip Sundays when we count the forty days, because Sundays celebrate the Resurrection. Lent begins on the 6th of February 2008 and ends on the 22nd of March which is the day before Easter. It's really early this year--it came this early in the 30's but only twice in 250 years.
Lent is observed throughout the Christian Church and all may participate. And why would we want to participate…
Well, it is a time of self reflection—soul searching. Before Jesus began is full time ministry, he went out to the wilderness to pray…(Luke 4:1-13) and this is a time when we are invited to do the same, to wander in the wilderness with Jesus. During this time, we are invited to pray, to fast, to forgive, to love and to open ourselves wide to the transforming grace and goodness of God.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!!! Oh my heavens what a night! What a year. Our Christmas Eve service tonight marks a years since we first began gathering as a community of faith at the coffee house. It was a Holy night tonight, beautiful music and beautiful people, the Christmas story--the love of God made known to us in the little baby boy. And we laughed and we cried and listened and sang and some of it was familiar and some of it was new and God was there in the coffee shop and the light of Christ was lifted up and people were shining with God's love--amazing and real and holy. Thank you to all of our readers and singers and set-up and take down and our worship crowd---it will not happen without all of us! Thank you God for Kirkwood UCC and alllllllll the people that you claim in this church that is becoming. Thank you God for loving us so much. Thank you my kind friends, sisters and brothers for all of your prayers as we seek to be the community of faith that God is calling us to be...keep them coming. You know that I pray for you every day. Love you.

BTW 63 people crammed into the coffee shop!

Is it really November?

Oh, it has been so long since I have been blogging. I'm feeling fairly certain I'm the only one worried about it--but I feel like I owe to our process--I'm working on it!

Autumn has happened since I last blogged--Sept, Oct, and now in the middle of Nov--how does it pass so quickly? God has been faithful in this busy season--God is always faithful. Our faith community has gathered for worship, for outreach, for Bible Study that has been just incredible--really, we've been studying the book of Acts--the early church and talking about our church--our lives our journey--it has been good. Our last monthly gathering will happen on the 18th of November, and then we will begin worshiping every Sunday on December 2--the first Sunday of Advent. I am very excited and nervous about this shift, but I feel like and the community too feels like it's time to move forward and to worship on a weekly basis. Please pray for us--please pray for God's will to continue to be lived out faithfully in this church that is becoming--please pray that we continue to be open day by day to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the life of this faith community.

My days are still full of coffee and milk runs and we have been praising God for cooler weather!!!! Folks have been showing up more and more buying big LATTE coffees--I do thank God for our coffee drinking brothers and sisters--they are great people--great people who show such kindness and support of Gathering Grounds. I invite most of them to church and some have taken my up on it, some are willing to talk with me about it---some are of other faith traditions and some are not interested--all of them (well most all of them) reach out in support in some way and it means so much.

This work--this new church planting work is so different than my past church experience--new in so many ways---for better and worse. Please continue to pray for me---the Lord knows I need it. I pray for you--I do--believe me wherever you are whomever you are--I know I need to grow and love and I'm working on it--everyday--I promise. God is faithful, right--always. There's more to come--lots more. Praise the Lord. S

So, now I am sitting in 311 in Bishop's Hall at Emory. I had several classes in here, several years ago. It's good to be back. I am in the middle of the Church Planting Conference (that's what we're doing y'all--planting a new church) sponsored by the UCC http://www.ucc.org/ http://www.secucc.org/ check those out--one of them is talking about you.



Anyhow, I am here and have been since Tuesday morning. Just today, I have heard from a black pastor in Chicago at the fastest growing UCC churhc, next from a gay man born and reared in South Georgia as a United Methodist, now serving the largest LGBT UCC in church in the nation (Cathedral of Hope Dallas TX) and now from Yvette Flunders, City of Refuge UCC, San Fran reaching out to people (all people) living on the margins in that city and starting small ministries all over the nation. WOW! I am overwhelmed and it is awesome (thank you erica)!

And then, this is just a portion of what this week has been. I can't talk about it all right now--it's just too much, but it is good to be with about 20 other pastor/planters who are attempting to do what we are attempting to do--reach out in love and kindness--forgive and be forgiven--give and receive grace--remember how much God loves us--how much God loves all people---serve and love others--I do believe that is what we want to be about and I thank God, I thank God for the opportunity to be in this with you. I love you and I thank God for you--and for this UCC church.