Have you been happy lately?

I’ve really enjoyed seeing a different side of Jesus this summer. We’ve spent July in Jesus’ prayer, and I think I’ve just always heard it as really intense, somber, even anxious-like (see Matthew 26:38). But now I’ve heard Jesus in between dinner and the garden, surrounded by his friends, layered in this intense evening an expression of eagerness, expectation, and even delight.

Jessus prays that, “they would be filled with my joy” (verse 13);

“You love them as much as you love me” (verse 23);

“I want [them] to be with me where I am” (verse 24)...

I can be guilty of taking life too seriously, looking at the future with too much intensity and even anxiety. But I want more of this layered Jesus. I want the eagerness for the future to come with hope and even delight.

Kitsap House, you’re teaching me how to embrace more of the latter, and I thank you.

We just did a look back at our congregational meeting/potluck and celebrated the moves of God among us this past year – baptisms and beloved Cher’s memorial; middle school boys and cafeteria worship; Bible 101 and neighborhood dinners. This community has taught me so much about looking backward and saying – thus far the LORD has brought us (1 Samuel 7:12). Hooray! We are growing together in such trust for God’s guidance and his timing in what’s to come.

And we looked forward with eagerness, expectation, and even delight. Toward Alpha and the questions we hope to walk with one another through; for a full 703 residency; for neighborhood groups forming; for a transformational rhythm we’d all walk in together; even potentially for a location in which to be rooted.

These are big things, and we I could take them to a level of intensity that would look too much like me and the way I used to walk. But Jesus is shaping me – shaping me through you, through your love, your willingness to be in the present, your care for one another, your holy unwillingness to be in haste, your feasting and your prayers– and I expect this to be a year of delight. I eagerly expect it ;)

Please know you’re invited to our final Sunday in John 17 and the delight of playful prayer that we will close with while we worship outside. And then come August, we’ll bask in the hope of 1 Peter together and let Jesus shape us further still.

Pastor Megan