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Good morning Covenant family. As we enter the fall and the unofficial start of a new year, I've been thinking about the fact that this “beginning” starts with an ending of sorts. We are beginning with the fall and moving into winter. It's quite a while before we get the new life of spring emerging on the other side. So is it really a beginning at all? Let's talk about that on today's Covenant Weekly for September 15, 2026.

In the story we read on Sunday morning, there is this gap of time where Noah is basically just sitting on his boat. He's done some work, and then the disaster happened. Now Noah's sending out birds just waiting for the land. New life is coming, but in the meantime - waiting.

Waiting is something we often struggle to do. I often see people in the very early days of a tragedy asking, “Why is this happening? What is God trying to do through this?” In a desire to make sense of the struggle, they're looking for an ending before they've even had a chance to grieve. They're trying to get through to the other side before they've even faced the reality of the struggle.

It is true that God promises the possibility of new life on the other side. We read about weeping lasting through the night, but joy coming in the morning. But that alone suggests that there is a night. There is waiting.

In the Jewish way of thinking a day starts in the evening at sundown. It starts with a final meal and going to bed. If one spent their whole night simply trying to figure out what God was accomplishing through sleep they would miss out on the rest that God was offering. What we often see as forced waiting is given to us as a gift.

In my ministry experience there have been several times where I have found myself rushing ahead. I have seen an imagined future of what could be and have pushed for it. Sometimes I've run over people in the process. Sometimes I've actually missed out on a more full picture that would have helped a beautiful future to thrive. And in pushing ahead, I've never accomplished what I'd actually hoped. I struggled to wait.

At Covenant, our recent waiting has been hard. We were talking about an Accessibility Project before Covid. It's been a long time of waiting. We're now getting closer, but we are still waiting. I pray we don’t have to wait through winter to build, but we are waiting to even find that out! I wonder how much this waiting has been necessary for whatever God is going to do among us next.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be entering into a strategic planning process. Truthfully, I’m not a huge fan of that language. What it really is, is a discernment process - a chance for us to listen to God and each other to bring clarity to what areas of focus we should have over the coming years.

About eight years ago we did this and it led us to our current staffing emphasis. It has borne fruit as we have celebrated youth being baptized who very probably never would have been introduced to Jesus otherwise. Dozens of students have learned about God’s love for them through the ministry of Brent and an amazing group of adult leaders.

Our process of discernment isn’t a critique of anything in the past. But since we laid out strategic initiatives in 2018 a lot has changed. The world has changed. The makeup of our church has changed. Individuals within our church have changed. And our staff members have changed as people. It is time again to prayerfully and patiently listen for where God is leading.

And while we work through this process through the fall, be aware that this doesn’t mean that we’ll be jumping into a brand new thing in 2027. It may be that where God is directing us involves more waiting and preparation. Think about the Ark for a second. Noah was waiting, but there was still a lot of work to do. God was working in him. And God was working through him. There was, to be crass, a lot of literal crap to be dealt with while he was waiting, so that thriving could happen once they got off the boat.

In your personal life, if you’re in a time of waiting, I pray God gives you the strength to deal with whatever stuff you need to in the meantime. And I pray that you’ll be able to receive some rest in the waiting as well. Know that God is not absent.

And as a Covenant family, we are starting into a new year. And we are working while we are waiting - listening - discerning what God is continuing to birth among us. May we be encouraged to know that while we wait, God is already at work - among us and getting things ready for us on the other side, however long it takes to get there.

That is a reminder for us to hold on both for the coming years at Covenant and as we, as Jesus’ followers, think about forevery.