Church of the Mountains Truckee | Church Of The Mountains

Join us in Faith this Sunday!

Pastor Rebecca will be sharing her message:

"Can Jesus Come Home Again?"

Join us in-person or via Zoom at the link below.

By the time you read this, I will be in the midst of moving into the Sipes parsonage. It has been an absolutely unbelievable whirlwind of work since October 30th when the house was finally level on the foundation so the renovations could begin in earnest. Over a few short weeks, I saw a very old, sagging building become a new and charming home. Since I will be spending most of my Advent getting settled, I decided that “Coming Home” would be a good theme for my Advent sermons this year.

For the first Sunday of Advent, the lectionary gives us scriptures that focus not on the coming of baby Jesus but the Second Coming of our risen Lord. We don’t know when that will be or what kind of world Jesus will be coming home to. As we get closer to the darkest time of the year, we need God to shed some light on the question of whether we are ready to welcome him into our homes and into our hearts.

Over the next four Sundays, I invite you to think about your own homecomings. How did you get there? What baggage did you need to leave by the side of the road? When you arrived, how did you feel? For those of you who have long since left home, where is home now? And where is God in your homecoming story? These are some of the questions we will explore this season, and remember, wherever you spend the holidays, Jesus will be waiting for you to come home to him.

I’m not going anywhere, but I have a lot of thanksgiving to do for all the individuals and organizations that donated time, talent and treasure to the parsonage project. I am so grateful for the many monetary and in-kind donations:

-TLPC for the donation of $14,000

-Mountain Hardware for free paint

-Chris and Melinda Shea for free primer

-Kari and Lance Grosz for free lighting and bath fixtures

-ZLine for the free dishwasher and stove

-CalNeva for free bathroom vanity and shower glass

And I am feeling doubly blessed for the labor of some really great people: Vince Brennan, Tom Conk, Dennis Dodds, Sue and Dwight Hatano, Jen Jackson, Dave and Rob McCormick, Lisa and Eric McCready, Cathy and Earl Pearson, Jeff Rowe, Gordon Shaw and Sue Rae Irelan, Chris Shea, Scott Stafford, Marie Strassburger, John and Kathleen Zemaitis, Swenja Ziegler, Pastor Melanie Oliver, Scott Olsen and the volunteers from Loomis UMC, all the good folks at Madole Construction, and some hard workers: Fernando, Eduardo, Tim and his son Travis, and I know there are others. Whoever you are, I’m sure you are on someone’s gratitude list this year, and I pray that you will have a very blessed Thanksgiving.

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Colossians 2:6-7