Dear First Church,

Every morning, after I wake up and get some coffee, I do the New York Times games on my phone — then often open Instagram. What I’m hoping to see are pictures and videos of baby goats, baby sheep, baby cows, baby dogs… basically any baby animals! I have not always cared this much about farm life, but I think I gravitate that way now as a way to avoid — or offset — the news headlines of the day. There is so much bad news coming at us every day, and the sweet faces of these baby animals just make me feel better!

This week in worship, as we continue our What We Need Is Here series, we’ll look at our need for good news. Spoiler alert: you can find it at church! We’ll read from Luke 4:14–21, and we’ll sing and pray and celebrate communion together — at First Church and online — while some of us worship in the beauty of nature at Camp Indianola with the All-Church Retreat. It’ll be so good to be together in either space, worshiping the One who created all the beauty around us and had the wisdom to arrange us in communities!

With you on the journey,
Pastor Elizabeth