Winds of Change

This will likely be our last shared sunrise service under the arms of the giant oak in St. Cloud. The congregation of St. Cloud Pres has received an offer on the property and, if the way be clear, will sell it in the next few months.

We've met the community under this oak each Easter morning since 2011 -- even before Hope officially launched public worship.  Rev. Steve Graves, then the pastor at SCPC, invited me to preach as a way of introducing our soon-coming congregation to the Narcoossee Corridor. It's been a lovely partnership.

The St. Cloud congregation calls it "The Tree of Life." And, like life, it's stood sentinel over many changes in the wider community -- and even among those who've gathered beneath its leafy branches to celebrate the Lord's resurrection. The road has expanded; shopping plazas and gas stations have popped up near its closest intersection. Pastors and other leaders have come and gone; so have congregation members. And still it raises its arms to God.

On Sunday 3/27, we'll meet there again. Worship begins at 6:30 am, when the skies are still dark. And as light breaks through the limbs of The Tree of Life, we will celebrate the One who conquers death ... who speaks life and possibility into the land of despair and finality. What a Savior! Thanks be to God!