Page 3 - Glory & Grace Issue 14: Sept 24

YOU ARE WELCOME
AND WANTED
Inspired by the storytelling instagram account @humansofny, in
February 2021 we published the first issue of “Glory + Grace”
magazine. In those days (during the COVID-19 pandemic) many
were keeping their distance from public gatherings, and life as the
church was anything but business as usual. Convinced that hearing
one another’s stories could build connection, even from a distance,
and possibly even grow affection for God and God’s church, we
imagined this magazine as a new ministry platform.
With the fourteenth issue now in your hands, we rejoice in the
ways that this magazine illuminates the “ties that bind” when you
feel isolated, warms your heart when discouraged, or encourages
you in your relationships with God and the church. Our prayer all
along has been that God would use this publication to help you
know that the people of God are not uniformly created, but
uniquely formed and that you (and all the stories your life
contains) are welcome and wanted in this community of faith.
Upon returning from our sabbaticals in August, we have again felt
this sense of being “welcome and wanted” (as our summer liturgy
proclaims) and we wish for you to feel likewise as fall programming
at KOG begins. In this issue you will find opportunities for you to
connect with God and with others as you live out your Christian
faith each day. This faith journey looks different for each of us, so
don’t hold back from showing up, thinking that you
’re “too
inexperienced” or “too outspoken” or “too far removed” to be
welcomed to the table. This fall we will listen for God’s voice and
wonder about the next faithful steps for this church and for each
of us, as God continues in the good work that God has begun.
Pastor Ben Pastor Jen
“May this place
always be
a house for all gathered,
a church that is
shared;
may this place
always be
our home”
“Welcome and Wanted”
GIA, text by
Zack Stachowski
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