October at Yates begins with Homecoming and ends with All Hallows Eve. These bookends frame a season full of gratitude, decision and joy. It all comes back to the vine and branches Jesus spoke of, where life flows not from our own effort but from abiding in him.
On the first Sunday we gather to remember the 148 years behind us. It’s a wonderful experience. The church smells of food and friendship. Old stories come to mind and faces of those we miss flicker across our hearts. We know we are not the first to pray on these grounds or sing in the old songs heavenward here. Our forebears were branches in their own time, and we now take our place beside them, grafted into the same life.
New Growth Among Us
In September, three adults entered the waters of baptism and told their stories of faith. Their words became the sermon of the day. Baptism is not a solo act. It is joining a body that is held together by Christ.
The Personnel Committee is guiding us toward the formation of a search committee for an Associate Minister of Youth and Families. On October 19 after worship we will gather for a special business meeting to take this next step. These choices are not only about jobs or money. They are moments where we must trust that God is cultivating growth among us and opening new ways for fruit to flourish.
The Lesson of the Vine
John 15 provides us the connecting thread in all of this. Jesus says “I am the vine you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in them will bear much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). He does not ask us to polish our leaves or prove our worth. He asks us to abide, to stay close and to trust the flow of his life in us.
This month at Yates we are given many chances to practice that—through memory, through joy, through decision, through change. My prayer is that we will remember the promise of Jesus and rest in the vine that holds us together.
Grace and Peace,