Dear Covenant Friends,

In case you didn’t get a chance to attend, here is the link to last Sunday’s service with a jazz trio. The service culminated with Amazing Grace - jazz style. We are so blessed to have musicians and music staff who work hard to amplify the themes of scripture in worship services so that we all experience the rhythms of God’s grace. While I’m no expert, I do appreciate the layers of sound in jazz music and their creative improvisations.

Improvisations and layers of meaning are important in the life of faith as well. No one can possibly anticipate all that will happen in our brief time on earth, which means we often find ourselves with the need to respond creatively. We make plans and change them. We set goals and adjust them. Important people are in our lives, and then gone. Our faith is built with layers of meaning and nuance, and what we believe goes may change throughout the course of our lives.

Sometimes entire denominations change too, like when the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) allowed women to be ordained as elders in 1930, and pastors in 1956. It took a lot longer to ordain LGBTQ individuals who are called to ministry (2011). Our siblings in the Methodist Church only recently overturned 50 years of bans on gay clergy and same sex marriages and embracing their public motto: Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors. Even the Catholic Church is taking steps in the right direction, recently approving baptism of transgender persons and offering blessings of same sex couples.

A growing faith is open to a broader view, and a bigger table of welcome. Here at Covenant, we open our doors to people of all faiths to use our sanctuary for prayer or quiet study during the week. While that is not without problems, openness is an important stance for us to have as a Christian community. During the past few weeks, our sanctuary has housed people praying for loved ones in hospital, students praying to pass exams, protestors lamenting the loss of family members in the Israel-Gaza war, and Jewish students seeking safe and quiet space to reflect. We welcome them all, even though it’s taken a bit of improvising, with a crane working on the Tower, and fresh new steps waiting for an iron railing. Some days we are amazed people find a way to get in at all!

Please help us in our efforts at hospitality by inviting friends and family to church, and making a point to welcome guests who find us. It takes courage to walk into an unfamiliar church and a friendly face goes a long way in communicating God’s grace. Remember the accessible ramp to Christ Chapel is open, and the front doors facing Euclid.

With gratitude,

Pastor Jessie

pastor@covenantweb.org