I'm back

Friends:
I am back in the Motor City after a refreshing week at the Glorieta Retreat Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico praying, playing and engaging in conversations about the Emergent Church . I’m finding myself drawn into the Emergent Church movement more and more and look forward to discovering how we can incorporate some of the basics into the life of St. John’s as we continue to discover and figure out how God is leading us.

We had an excellent turnout for our first Faith in Film series last Sunday night. We watched An Inconvenient Truth and followed it with an inspiring group discussion about how God is calling us to react to the issue of global warming. The most valuable lesson was the acknowledgment that we are all play a role in the crisis and all have the opportunity to make changes and become part of the solution. A small committee agreed to begin meeting to address how St. John’s can become more “green”.

I am excited to announce the re-start of Sunday school on October 21st at 10:30 am. We look forward to building this program over time and sharing God’s message of love and hope during our normal worship time to children in a unique way. If you are planning on joining us that day or know anyone who could receive a special invitation please let me know ASAP.

Last Sunday we began to take a look at how God may be calling us to engage in a new way of thinking about our faith lives using the GPCJ philosophy. For those of you who could not make it last week the philosophy encourages us in the following ways.

By the end of 2008 we will focus on these four areas as we live out our faith walk-

G-God-we will concentrate on worshiping together, learning of God’s love for us and sharing with others that God’s love includes them as well.

P-People-we will make efforts to remain connected to those closest to us and take risks engaging in those relationships may have become strained or lost.

C-Calling-we will be open to how God may be calling us to acting on our faith in new and different ways.

J-Joy-we will identify the things in our life that bring us joy and be intentional about making time in our lives for them.