Anyone remember a bumper sticker that seemed to be everywhere just a few years ago? “Commit random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.”

Where did that go? The prevailing norm these days seems to be just the opposite. Alarmingly, public discourse is more often marked by polarization, demonization, ugliness and fear. As songwriter Joni Mitchell once observed: “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”

How did we get here and how do we find our way back to genuine communities of respect and compassion? As people of faith, we turn to God, prayer, and Scripture to help us find and re-find our way. Sermons through August in the “Bind Our Hearts in Love” series will explore the Letter to the Ephesians and its many teachings for the church about how to be a community worthy of the gospel, lessons essential both to the church and to our larger community.

And, week after week, we will gather together for worship, study, and service. A new year begins in the Preschool as it celebrates its 70th Anniversary. Sunday School classes, Youth group, and Children’s Church will gather. Opportunities for fellowship and service will be in full swing. Committees will meet and plans will be made.

All the “normal” stuff of church life will be happening, thanks be to God. For this is where we learn to “practice what we preach,” creating community united in love, and through it all, witnessing to kindness, beauty, compassion, justice and peace.