Things are continuously building and changing with our new church start.  We’re always learning and that means adjusting as we go.  To that end we are moving back to having only one dinner a week, starting the week of February 8th.  Our core group of 9 has felt a little disconnected between the 2 dinners, so we’re responding to that.  We also feel like we’ve gotten away from hosting parties and from gateway events for new people, so reducing the dinners allows our core group to focus on these other aspects of our model.  We’ve got exciting new things in the works like a website and a possible spin-off community.  There are cool new projects afoot such as a meditation hike for the spring and an idea for a children’s ministry.

Some of this came together last night after spending January focusing on our spiritual goals as individuals and as a community.  As we drank wine and ate dinner we shared the hopes we had for this community. It was easy to see the decisions we needed to be making to really stay true to our vision of living present love in our neighborhoods.  We lingered over the table, filled with hope and excitement about the possibilities of what God was calling us to.

Now, I don’t actually think alcohol needs to be involved, although it did help last night to free us from some of our inhibitions so we could share our wildest ideas.  What really got us to this space where possibilities can develop was the sort of relationships described by that metaphor of sharing a bottle of wine over a meal together.  Laughter, trust, openness, faith, friendship, risk, it takes all of that to be a community where authentic life unfolds.

This resonates with the image of communion, where Jesus shares bread & wine with his friends around a table and asks them to remember him whenever they do so in the future.  It’s a tangible way to experience Christ in our midst.  When we share in this way something of God is revealed in our community.

 I’m so fortunate to be sharing the journey of this new start with such amazing, dedicated, called leaders and I’m looking forward to the next steps we are taking together.

-Eilidh

By John Snyder