What’s Going On? Caring Encounters

The sermon and small group series for this fall is called “Caring Encounters.” I must begin by giving credit and making an introduction. Dr Morgan Braganza is an assistant professor at Redeemer University and in her Phd thesis she created a framework entitled “Caring Encounters”. The purpose of the framework is to make encounters across difficult differences more caring. I heard her make a presentation on that material and then had a few conversations with her and ended up inviting her to lead our staff/council retreat this fall. I received her permission to use her title and to draw upon her work for our series.

Our conversations took place because her thesis and my sense of where the church needs to focus were closely aligned. In my words, “the church needs to keep learning how to be real and honest and vulnerable, even when we see things different from others, and then learn how to hang on to each other no matter what.” Dr Braganza’s work leans into everything you need to know in order to deal with differences well. Her field is social work which I would suggest is about making how we are social, work.

Last year many of us participated in Challenging Conversations. Last spring, I learned about the 2.0 version of that called Wayfinder. As Mountainview staff we worked our way through “The Leader’s Journey” which is also about figuring out how to be honest and stay together. There is widespread recognition, it seems, that people need to dig deep into building meaningful relationships that transform life. I think that is a pretty good definition of what Jesus was trying to teach us and give us.

So, starting on September 11 and for the next few months, most of the preaching will be on variations of that theme. As has been the Mountainview habit, we will be encouraged to join together in small groups for conversation and reflection on questions that will be provided to go with each sermon. Please use this link to fill out a survey that will help us know your small group status and help you find a place as necessary. If you are participating in worship on-line, it may be all the more important to be connected in conversation with others. We can likely accommodate you with an online group.

Recognizing that most groups do not meet every week, the sermon series is divided into sections. Each section will have a theme, and so even meeting every three weeks a group will cover the different themes.

This is the introduction and a call to get groups going. The key to this journey, however, is that we learn and practice meaningful and transformative relationships. Let’s pray that God guides us in our next steps in that direction.

Pastor Erick