A New Beginning
There seems to be two times each year when there is a renewed sense of arranging the order of our lives and working towards new habits and routines. One is the obvious one, January 1. Many of us make resolutions and commitments to live in better, healthier ways...often times physically and sometimes spiritually. The other time when renewal often happens is right now, when the new school year begins.
In church life there is often a commitment to make a greater commitment to involvement and faithfulness to this beautiful, yet imperfect, "bride" called "the Church"...also known as "the Body of Christ". One of the greatest challenges is simply feeling connected.
Sunday morning gatherings are important to remind us that the Kingdom is bigger than the friends who are like us and also as a place to be reminded of our responsibility and opportunity to reflect our "bridegroom", Jesus Christ, to our neighborhoods and cities. But deeper community formation rarely happens in "rows", as one pastor stated recently, but more often in "circles"...smaller group settings. Rows and circles both play vital roles in the life of the Church and should in our lives, too. You will be hearing more of this in the next week as we are working on building more opportunities for you to find those circles that will help nurture your faith and give you opportunity to encourage others.
I look forward to seeing you this weekend as Gene Leutzinger challenges us to "not worry about it" and Steve Prottsman returns to lead us in worship through song.
Grace and peace,
Dave