Dear Members and Friends of Abiding Presence,

A quick midweek update to remind you that in the waters of baptism:

• You are named and claimed as God’s beloved child

• You are joined to Jesus’ mission in the world to bring good news to the poor

• You are called to work for justice and peace in the world 

We are living in a moment in history in which being the church - the body of Christ for the sake of the world - matters. It is important. The world needs people like us to keep showing up to boldly proclaim God’s love for all people, bring good news to the poor and work for justice and peace. 

As you go about the work in the world God has called you to do this week, write the words of Isaiah 43:1-3a on your heart. Memorize them. Repeat them often. Let them bring just enough strength, hope and peace to carry you from one moment to the next. 

Abiding Together as the church, here are some things we are doing this weekend…

Food Pantry - Saturday, February 1 from 7:00-11:30 a.m.
Once again, we will be feeding our neighbors in need – no questions asked! As we do, we will also be providing hospitality and care by serving breakfast while they are waiting in line. Sign up to volunteer for the hospitality team and/or the distribution team here. 

Federal Employees Support Gathering - Saturday, February 1 from 10:00-11:30 a.m.
Join me for a time of support, prayer, scripture, sharing and learning. Federal employees and federal contractors are welcome to attend. Think about vocation and the work you do in the world through the lens of faith. Connect with others in the church who are navigating these times. Draw strength and hope from God and one another. No RSVP needed, simply show up. 

Worship & Sunday School - Sunday, February 2 
As I preached last Sunday, worship and what we do on Sunday mornings are what grounds us when the world starts to spin. Make a point to worship this Sunday. Be fed and nourished by scripture, prayer, sacraments, music and community. At the Abiding Table we will be talking about our Food Pantry ministry, how to get involved and why we feed people the way we do.  

No matter what happens in the world around us, we will keep being the church for the sake of the world.  

If I can be of support to you, please reach out. I’m here. None of us have to feel like we are walking alone right now. 

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A few of you have reached out concerned about our food pantry ministry, especially our guests, given the recent change in immigration policy. This week, the "sensitive location" designation that churches previously held was removed, making it now possible for officers enforcing immigration laws to arrest migrants at churches. This is a scenario for which I have been preparing alongside other food partners for several weeks. 

As a church, we live out of our core values. Our value, "We see people as Christ sees them," has always guided our food pantry ministry. From the first moment we opened our food pantry doors over a decade ago, we have sought to see our guests through Christ's eyes, treating them as fellow children of God with respect, dignity and a sense of shared humanity. Today, this way of seeing people is more important than ever. 

I am working alongside wise members of the church who have particular expertise to put in place procedures for us to follow if officers enforcing immigration laws show up at our food pantry. Beginning this Saturday, our food pantry volunteers will be trained on the procedures we have developed. I will be on site during our regularly scheduled food pantry this Saturday as a pastoral presence. 

Procedures cannot be our only response to what is happening around us right now, however. As a way to "see as Christ sees" our pantry guests, we would like to increase our hospitality during the pantry. This Saturday, that will look like serving coffee, tea and breakfast items while people wait. It is a small gesture of kindness meant to communicate Gods’ love for and our shared humanity with our pantry guests. 

To do this, we need to build a "hospitality team" of new food pantry volunteers. If you have been looking for something tangible to do this week (and you don't mind getting up early!) this is your opportunity. We are looking for volunteers age 18+ to come from 6:00-8:00 am or 8:00-10:00 am to provide hospitality to our guests. Responsibilities will include making coffee, serving guests and offering a friendly face. If you can help this Saturday or would be interested in helping in this way on a future Saturday, please let me know. 

In the book of Hebrews in the Bible, we hear, “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.” (Hebrews 13:1-3).

Acting in love, showing hospitality and remembering the struggles of those around us, we will be Abiding Together through this next season to see our pantry guests - and all who we encounter - as Christ sees them. 

It’s a good time to be the church. More than that, though, it is an essential time to be the church, the body of Christ, for the sake of the world. 

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Here at Abiding Presence, we take Jesus’ command to “go make disciples” seriously. Disciples aren’t made by accident. Following Jesus doesn’t come naturally. It is something that is taught and caught by living together in the community that is the church, the body of Christ for the sake of the world.

One aspect of discipleship is stewardship. Following Jesus looks like faithfully stewarding the resources entrusted to us by God and living generosity. Jesus talks a lot about money in the gospels. Why? Because he knows it is a huge stumbling block that gets in the way of our relationship with God and one another. It is too easy to love and place our trust in our money instead of God.

Last Sunday, Pastor Kelsey introduced to our Abiding Fellows the idea of a generosity journey, which is the journey of being a good steward, making a financial commitment to the church and joyfully giving. She created the “Dove Club” as a way to teach, inspire and launch our Abiding Fellows onto their generosity journey as they continue to be disciples of Jesus.

Twenty out of 26 Abiding Fellows chose to join the Dove Club by making a financial commitment to the church through a payroll deduction. All together, they have committed $211/month in offering. The average donation is $10.55/month, which is 8.5% of their monthly pre-tax income. That’s significant! These young people are off and running on their generosity journey. Pastor Kelsey and I are inspired by them. We hope you are, too!

Beginning their generosity journey now, these young people are Abiding Together to be the church. The church is invested in these young people through our Abiding Fellows ministry. Abiding Fellows are part of a stipend faith formation, leadership development and vocational discernment ministry in which we as a church pour into them. At the same time, they are given the chance to be investing in the church as Sunday School workshop leaders who mentor, teach and inspire the children of the church. Our church kids look up to the Abiding Fellows in big ways. They make following Jesus and being part of the church cool, relatable and the thing to do. Through the Dove Club, our Abiding Fellows get to be investing in the church in a new way, too, by giving offering. They are choosing to live as followers of Jesus.

What we do here at Abiding Presence matters. We are changing lives. Watching our Abiding Fellows grow in their discipleship is simply amazing. The faith that is nurtured, the skills that are learned and the relationships that are formed here don’t just make a difference to our young people who are Abiding Fellows. These Abiding Fellows then go out into the world to put their faith, skill and relationships to work. They are making a difference and reshaping the world.

May the generosity journey of our Abiding Fellows inspire you in your own journey. It’s never too late to take the next step - or to start - your generosity journey, too.

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January is annual meeting month at Abiding Presence. Our church constitution states that we must gather in January for an annual meeting to pass the operating budget for the year as well as elect council members and voting members to the synod assembly. As a church, council and staff, we will spend the month getting ready for the annual meeting that will take place on Sunday, January 26 at 10:00 a.m.

The “State of the Church” address has become a favorite tradition for me. I love sharing with you during the annual meeting where we’ve been and where I hear God calling us to go as a church.

Annual meetings at Abiding Presence are fun, joyful and Spirit-filled. They aren’t contentious. We pray, vote, laugh, dream, discern and...the youth play BINGO!

While spending a Sunday morning going line by line through the budget like we will do at the Cafe Session on January 19 may not seem like the most exciting thing to do, it is important. Fiscal transparency is one of my guiding principles. I want every one of you to know the nuts and bolts of your church budget.

We pay for an audit with an outside CPA firm every two years, which is something few churches do. Being the church, we act in faith and follow best non-profit business practices. That sets us apart!

You are the church. In our Lutheran tradition, we aren’t led by a hierarchical figure. Our theology of the “priesthood of all believers” means that the highest decision making body in the church is not me as the pastor, but you as the congregation. I hope you will join me in Abiding Together to be the church at the annual meeting.

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Happy New Year’s Eve! Today is Christ the King Sunday and, in the church, that means that it is New Year’s Eve. Christ the King is the last Sunday of our liturgical year. Next Sunday, we will begin a new year with the season of Advent.

“Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost…then we’re back to Advent.” As a child in my church’s children’s choir, this was the song we sung about the seasons of the church year. (You would never know it by my singing today, but I sang in church choir from preschool through 12th grade!) We would be assigned a season based on the color clothes we were wearing that day and get to stand up when we sang that season’s name. Today, I still sing that song in my head each time I go through the church year.

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This is the day  the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24

As we do every week, we come to worship this Sunday filled with a variety of emotions. This Sunday, those emotions may feel even weightier than usual. It has a been a week!

Throughout this week, the words of Psalm 118:24 have been running through my head, especially on my morning drive to work. This day - and every day - is of the Lord’s making. The powers of this world do not cause the sun to rise or set. That is God’s doing. For me, that has been a helpful grounding point. The rising of the sun is something in which I have been able to rejoice. 

Sometimes, I think our society pushes us too quickly to get to the point of being “okay.” When it comes to grief - whether at the death of a loved one or an impactful life event - there’s this need for us to get over it. Sitting in other people’s discomfort, hurt, pain and fear can be uncomfortable. So, we want to rush to things being “okay” once again. 

You don’t have to be “okay” yet. Whether your candidate won or lost the election, you can feel unsettled with what and how things are unfolding. We can hold space for one another without rushing through the discomfort. 

As people of faith, we can not be okay and wake up each day to give thanks that God, the Creator of the universe, is causing the sun to rise. Rising and setting each day, the sun is our reminder that God is not yet done with us or our world. Living in that certainty, we can rejoice and be glad. We grieve with hope. We grieve and rejoice that God is God. We grieve and sit in the discomfort knowing that God sits with us, too. 

It is okay to not be okay right now. Grief doesn’t need to be rushed. And, each morning when the sun breaks on the horizon bringing about a new day, let’s be sure to rejoice. God’s got this. God’s got us.

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Dear Members and Friends of Abiding Presence,
 
On this day after the election, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the wide range of emotions held in our community of faith. We are not of one thought when it comes to the outcome of the election – nor should we be as a faith family. 
 
Today, I know many of us grieve. The world does not feel okay. We are not okay. For people across the political spectrum, much has been lost through this election cycle of divisive and hate-filled rhetoric. As people of faith, we embody what it means to grieve with hope. When all the signs before us point to the end, we trust that God is not done. We hope in what we cannot yet see. The promise that God is with us and still at work in our lives and our world allows us to grieve with hope. 
 
Tomorrow (and maybe even later today), we pray. We pray our way into the love for our neighbors and enemies which God calls us to have. Love is the only way of Jesus and his followers. There are no exceptions. Love for neighbor. Love for enemy. Love for all God’s people – and all really does mean all. We cannot allow hate to become normative. When we struggle to love people, we must pray. We keep praying through every moment, encounter, conversation and social media post for God to work in our hearts, swaying them towards love for people we would instinctively choose not to love. Love is the only way. 
 
Having taken time to grieve and spent time in prayer so our hearts are swayed to Jesus’ love, we will be ready to act. God has never relied on the powers of this world to be the in-breakers of God's kingdom. From Moses and Pharoah to Jesus and Cesar, scripture tells us that earthly powers have never been the primary fighters for justice, bearers of peace or proclaimers of hope. That work – the work of justice, peace and hope – has always been done by ordinary people who God has called out of ordinary places. The same is true today, as it was yesterday, and as it will be tomorrow. 
 
You and I might not have been elected to anything last night, but we are most certainly called. Each one of us, by nature of our baptism, has been called to be God’s coworker in bringing forth the kingdom of God to earth. We are God’s fighters for justice. We are God’s bearers of peace. We are God’s proclaimers of hope. God has called us – all of us – for such a time as this. 
 
At Abiding Presence, we live out of the core value “All are Welcome.” Our unity has never been found in political parties or votes cast, but in the cross of Christ traced on our foreheads in baptism. However you voted, whatever feelings you hold this day, there is a place for you in this community. There is also a calling here for you to be the body of Christ for the sake of the world. 
 
God’s got this – whatever this might be today, and in the days to come. God’s got us. God dwells with us and calls us to act. Abiding Together, we will continue to be the church for the sake of the world. 

Blessings, 
Rev. Meredith Lovell Keseley
Senior Pastor 

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Writing to the early church in Rome about the suffering of the present moment, the apostle Paul asks, “What then are we to say about these things?” (Romans 8:31) He goes on to say, “If God is for us, who is against us?” Then he talks about how nothing - absolutely nothing - can separate us from the love of God.

Heading into this election week, I draw strength from Paul’s questioning of what we might say in the face of the evil forces of this world and the promise that no earthly powers can overthrow God. I am writing Romans 8:31-39 on my heart. I encourage you to write it on yours, too. These are scripture words to hold close.

Then, once those words of scripture are written on our hearts, I encourage us to start asking questions, too. As people of faith, what are we to say about the time in which we are living and the state of our world? Our faith drives us to the voting booth and it shapes the choices we make when we get there. What will we say about who we believe God to be through the votes we cast?

To be clear, when Paul speaks of God being “for us,” he is not suggesting that means God is “against” others. God is for all of us, all those who are created in God’s image (that means everyone!). God’s promise is that the forces of sin, death and evil are no match for the God who came down from heaven to die on the cross for us and for the world. No power of this world can - or will - ever top that.

On the eve of the election, we will pray. Our prayers will not sway the election. God is not sitting in heaven counting prayers like ballots. Instead, our prayers will sway us. They will strengthen us for whatever is to come. They will drive away hate from our hearts. They will move us towards peace. They will give us the words to say about these times, the courage to act and the assurance of God’s for all people. Write scripture on your heart, pray and vote. God’s got this. God’s got us. God is for us, and that means for all of us.

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And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long, steals on the ear the distant triumph song, and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong. Alleluia, Alleluia! (For All the Saints)

All Saints Sunday, which we celebrate today, is my favorite Sunday of the year. I wait all year to belt out all seven stanzas of “For All the Saints,” my all-time favorite hymn. It tells the story of the saints who surround us in the great cloud of witnesses.

There’s something about verse four of the hymn that makes me tear up every time I sing it. The lyrics acknowledge that here on earth, the strife is fierce and the warfare long. We know that reality all too well, which is why the promise of brave hearts after all that has broken them here on earth and strong arms after all the ways our bodies have failed us brings me so much hope.

Together, let us sing with gusto. Let us sing about glimpses of heaven and proclaim the promise that hope is on the way. Let us be the living saints who draw strength from those who have died and gone before us, trusting in the reunion that is coming. On All Saints Sunday, and every Sunday, let us be people of hope and expectation.

As your pastor, one of the most sacred things I do is read the names of the newly baptized who have joined us as living saints this past year and the names of those who have died, taking their place in the great cloud of witnesses in heaven. It is a holy moment when together we celebrate what it means to be the body of Christ.

It is a good time to be the church, Abiding Together as the people of God in this place. Thank you for the holy privilege of being your pastor - today and all days.

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Happy Reformation Sunday! Today we celebrate our Lutheran heritage, giving thanks for the reforming of the church that began with a monk named Martin Luther and continues today.

Reformation Sunday can often feel like “God bless the Lutherans” Sunday. What we are celebrating today, however, has little to do with a dead monk, a historical movement or even a denomination. What was at the heart of the reformation movement and the reason we celebrate is that we have a God who is with us, who grounds us in moments of chaos and who is the hope to which we cling when we cannot see a future past our present struggles.

Once the presence of this loving, ever-present God had washed over him, Luther could not keep silent. His set out to reform the church in order to make this God known and accessible to the people. The heart of Luther’s reformation movement was that God was with the people, loving them, forgiving them and saving them from death not by their own actions or merit, but by God’s free gift of grace manifest in Christ. Luther wanted all to know this good news.

It is this good news that is the crux of our celebration of the Reformation. It is a knowledge of God’s love, forgiveness and constant presence with us that is so transformative that we cannot keep silent about it. It isn’t about growing a denomination, but instead about offering hope to those who have been swept up in the chaos and cannot find a way out.

So, happy Reformation Sunday! Spread the good news. The God who created heaven and earth is a God of love. Jesus’ death and resurrection offers grace and forgiveness to all. God is reaching out to us - always and forever!

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You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.”
Psalm 139:13 (Message Bible translation)

These words from scripture describe the reality in which we live. We are fully known - inside and out - by the God who created us. God held our unformed substance in God’s hand and sculpted us from nothing into something. As God’s creation, we are loved forever and always. We cannot flee from God’s presence. God will always chase after us - arms extended - ready to carry us.

This is both our reality today and God’s promise for our future. Nothing will change God’s love for us. We are fully known and fully loved by God - always and forever.

Today we wrap up our sermon series “God Knows Us Inside Out.” For the past seven weeks, we have been exploring the emotions of joy, sadness, anger, disgust, fear and anxiety. God has woven these emotions into our being. Emotions are good and of God, so we can embrace them.

May you write Psalm 139:13 on your heart this week. Carry it with you. Know, trust and believe that God knows you and loves you.

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Last Sunday we began a seven-week sermon series titled “God Knows Us Inside and Out.” Together, we will explore what it means that God knows us inside and out as we look at the emotions that dwell inside of us and exude out of us – joy, sadness, anger, disgust, fear and anxiety. The movie Inside Out brought these emotions to life as characters operating a control board in our brains. Now, we will look at them through the lens of what means for these emotions to be created by God, known by God and part of the way we were woven together to be made in God’s image. Our emotions – all of them – are created by God for good.

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Sitting in worship a few Sundays ago, I received a text message from one of our college students. Tuned into worship on the livestream from her dorm room, she text me and Pastor Kelsey a picture of her computer screen. She was in worship that morning and messaged to let us know. My heart overflowed with joy!

It is moments like this that I realize what we are doing at Abiding Presence is working, which is to say we are making disciples of Jesus. We are passing on the faith to the next generation. We are sending people out into the world equipped to be the body of Christ, the hands and feet of Jesus. We are being the church. Being the church matters!

Then there was the picture of the Bible from a different college student’s parent. It was texted to me and Pastor Keseley with the message that it was among the last minute items packed by our college student to take with them to college.

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Hopefully by now you’ve heard me talking the past few weeks about hypothermia shelter. Abiding Presence has signed up to host the Fairfax County hypothermia shelter the week of December 29, right after Christmas. Each week of hypothermia shelters, two churches sign up to provide shelter space for up to 50 individuals for a total of 100 hypothermia shelter spaces in the county.

As I preached last week, I’ve been clear and convicted in the decision that this what we need to do (even if might not be what we want to do). This past week, that clarity was reinforced in two big ways.

First, I drove into the church parking lot early one morning to find two unhoused individuals sleeping on picnic tables in the parking lot. They weren’t disturbing anything, just sleeping quietly with all their possessions around them. The goal of hypothermia shelter is simple - keep people from freezing to death. The need for this is far greater than most of us realize.

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In this season of Advent, we are celebrating Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday is a day set aside for supporting causes that people care about. I hope you will consider participating in our Giving Tuesday campaign to support our food ministry. You can do so at AbidingPresence.net/give and choosing “food ministry” from the dropdown box. Your gift of $50 can help to provide food for one household at one pantry distribution. Your gift of more can support multiple households. Many of our guests come every pantry, so I encourage you to consider a reoccurring gift once or twice a month. Doing so will allow you to support feeding a family all year long.

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