Abound in love...

1 Thessalonians 3:12 - And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. NRSV As some of you may know I have taken a new position at UMFS or United Methodist Family Services as the Chaplain. I have only been here for a few week but have already experienced the incredible ways God is at work here. The following is an introduction to our call as the church of sharing the love of God. Personal information has been changed but the story is no less true. Jake, age 12, has a story that is not that uncommon to UMFS. Jake was taken from his biological parents because his father was incarcerated and his mother suffered from a mental illness. Over the next several years he would be in and out of foster care and other intensive residential care. Jake is now at United Methodist Family Services, a ministry, we as the Church, support. During his time at UMFS, he has experienced a love that knows no bounds and is being equipped with the knowledge and skills he needs to succeed in life. UMFS has also helped Jake find a family that will continue this loving support. Jake is finding hope and this is evidenced through the future that is ahead for Jake, made possible through love. It is love for one another and love for all. It is this sort of love that we are called to Abound in and to share with others. May we never forget that we love because God first loved us.

A Response for my friends at RISE

The Kingdom breaking forth is really about all of those things , the tension between joy and sorrow, hurt and healing , mercy and grace, Chaos and creation. The Church and more importantly the people of God stand in the unique position to be able to speak into all of those things, it is the Gospel revealed in our life and actions . It is the concept of love over powering hate and operating with the understanding that as John Perkins said, we have to need each other. The tension we experience is a reflection of how things are and the hope of what is to come, our challenge if we choose to accept it is to help the Hope to be revealed in and through us in the name of Jesus who sends us. Rise may you continue to bring forth the Kingdom in your neighborhood..

Students serving the world

It use to be I would have a ton of students show up for the fun stuff we did like bowling, laser tag or whatever but in the last 7 years or so I have seen a real shift. We now have twice as many students come to our community service Saturdays as we do to any "fun night" we do and these Saturdays have become our best way to invite new people into our ministry. I believe there are several reasons for this, one is that most schools now require community service hours to graduate the other is that students care about the injustice they see in the world. Most of our students live in a culture where their parents do most things for them, they really do not have to do much for themselves. Providing places to serve is different though, students like to be needed they want to physically do things but they really do not know what to do and so they often do nothing. That is why things such as Invisible Children have really taken off. It is flashy and cool and it is empowering to students that they can be the change they want to see in the world. IC taps into the things they are already doing such as facebook twitter and other social media. Students today have incredible resources at their finger tips the problem is that we as a society have never really asked them to do something productive with those resources. They just want to see the difference their giving makes and it inspires them to do more. Our largest challenge is connecting what they are doing with how they live as Christ followers in the world. It is more then just a good deed , we love others because God first loved us. When we can make that connection this Service Revolution will revitalize the Church.

The Big Listen

New post on Christ Church Children's Ministries from Rebecca Guzman

by Rebecca
Last Tuesday, I forgot my lunch. Then staff meeting went long (which is actually pretty unusual), and in the end, I had about 25 minutes to get lunch, get back to the church, and eat before I had to leave to tutor. I approached Wendy's (the Baja Salad is great!) and immediately started to park my car even though there was nobody at all in the Drive-Thru.

Why?

Well, there's a really good reason. I almost parked because I always park.

And I wish I could tell you that it's because I have some principle against drive-thrus. That I believe one should have to walk inside and slow down. Or that I think it's wasteful to use the gas to sit there (which it can be, if the line is long). But the truth is not either of those things.

I always park because I used to have a broken driver's side window motor.

It was fixed in July of last year after it failed inspection.

Now, I don't go to the drive-thru often. Probably not even once a month.

But still. That was 7 months ago. And I paid a solid $300 to be able to use that window.

Why am I telling you about my window? Because I think we get caught up in this pattern so easily in the church. The nature of congregational work means that it is passed down from one person to another.

And it means that they way we are doing things might not be the best way. It's just the way that we do them.

So this year, at Christ Church, we're looking to try things a new way. We are trying not to do things a certain way because we used to have a broken window. We're inspecting our structure to see if it works for who we are now and for who God is calling us to be. We're hoping to add some more staff to help us (all of us) live more faithful lives rooted in a deeper spirituality. We're going to break out of old patterns that don't fit and try on new ones that reflect our understanding of how we live into God's kingdom here and now.

But before we can do all of that, we really need to hear your voice. Yes, your voice. You, sitting behind that computer screen or holding that smartphone. Especially now, parents of nursery, preschool, and elementary aged kids are an important part of the conversation about where we're headed. There was a day in September when 30% of those gathered to worship were 10 years old or younger. On a normal Sunday, it's around 25%. Do you know what a rare and special gift that is? Come to a listening session so we can hear you.

And we need to hear from your children, too. No one has to convince me of the value of the dreams of children. Bring them to the listening sessions too. They'll see things that we've forgotten to see. They'll remind us of the possibilities that exist with our great, great God, and they won't be afraid to dream too big. They'll consider constructing an amusement park. They'll imagine an outdoor arena for Christian rock concerts on our property. They'll ask us to build a shelter for the homeless in our backyard.

Come on. Let's go!

Grace and Peace, Rebecca

P.S. Make sure to sign up: http://www.christchurchrichmond.com/christchurch21

P.P.S. I was not paid to advertise Wendy's Baja Salad. But maybe I should have been.