New Year Plan - December 7, 2022

You may want to put off reading this until after Christmas.  However, from a planning perspective, we need to start thinking about what happens next year.  And it should prove to be pretty interesting.

In November there was a retreat for Council and Staff.  We went to what most know as “Camp Shalom” for a Friday evening and a Saturday.  The act of being away together overnight works as a bonding experience all by itself.  The experience was multiplied by our speaker Dr. Morgan Braganza who shared with us the framework she has developed around Caring Encounters.  You may remember that our fall worship series borrowed its title from Dr. Braganza’s dissertation.  The retreat content was a mix of learning about how to approach a caring encounter (a conversation where there is difference involved) and practicing having such conversations.  My main take-away was that we are actually pretty good at this.

With that as my take-away, I am convinced that we are ready as a congregation to move past talking about caring encounters into actually having the conversations.  So, in the new year, small groups will be encouraged to have the following sessions.

1.    A preparatory conversation in which guidelines, boundaries, concerns, etc. are raised and dealt with.
2.    A conversation on money/stewardship based on a sermon or two on this topic.
3.    A reflection conversation about how that went and what adjustments might help.
4.    A conversation on dating/sex/marriage based on a sermon or two on this topic.

After those 4 small group events, we will evaluate and decide where we go next.

A likely next direction will be a discussion around communion.  It looks like the plan for our Lent Series and into Easter will be to focus on the many aspects and themes of communion.  We would do this throughout the Lent season and participate in communion each week in a different way.  After that, there will likely be much to discuss on this sacrament in small group conversations as well.

For now, enjoy the blessings of the Christmas Season, praying in anticipation of all that God has in store for us in the new year.

Pastor Erick