Happy snowy Saturday, everyone!
While I’m enjoying the sight of some snow falling to the ground out my window, I’m very happy to see weather reports indicating it should become mostly rain this evening and overnight. We shall worship tomorrow morning….really, we will this time!!
But I write to you mostly to let you know how two of our new ministry “experiments” have been going and some changes to which I believe the Holy Spirit has led us:
First, Crossroads has been a great opportunity for us to come together and have insightful conversations about God and faith. This is something we can and should be doing all the time, of course. We’ve had good participation from both Trinity and St. Jacob’s for two of the gatherings, making possible an interaction we would not have had otherwise. Understandably, weather and the holiday season have cut into our participation for the last two gatherings.
Second, in our first sessions of Walking the Way of Jesus at Trinity and St. Jacob’s, I’ve noticed both a hunger for learning and for the interaction between congregations that we’ve had at Crossroads. (For those of you who are confused, Walking the Way of Jesus is the 4.5 month introduction to or re-grounding in Christian faith and practice that I’ve just begun offering.) Independently, without any suggestion from me, Trinity folks asked if we could do parts of Walking the Way with St. Jacob’s, and St. Jacob’s folk asked if we could do this together with Trinity. I took a step back and thought, well, maybe the Holy Spirit is talking to me here… 🙂
So, here’s how I plan to proceed:
1) Hold Walking the Way of Jesus jointly on Wednesday nights, with the location alternating between Trinity and St. Jacob’s. We’ll begin holding the course jointly this Wednesday night, December 18, at 6:45 at St. Jacob’s. As before, you can come early at 6 with your dinner to eat together and have fellowship. The next meeting after this will be Wednesday, January 8, at Trinity and we will continue to alternate from there.
2) Merge our Crossroads conversation into Walking the Way of Jesus. As I’ve said, I considered both these new ministries to be experiments. As I “interpret our findings,” I believe what we’re trying to do with Walking the Way is to have precisely the kind of open conversation we’ve been having in Crossroads. So, in the interest of making things simple, avoiding duplication, and taking up fewer evenings, we’ll no longer meet separately on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays but having a joint gathering every Wednesday. As we learn new things, we will explore what it all means for our individual and corporate faith and practice.
I believe in this ministry because it will help each of us both increase our knowledge and grow in the experience of articulating our faith through witness, prayer, and action. I believe it will be an opportunity for transformation. And I am excited at the desire of members of Trinity and St. Jacob’s to build relationships and learn with each other. I am eager to see where the Holy Spirit takes us from here.
In Christ,
Pastor Evan