As I have talked with folks over the past couple of months, one of the key desires of the congregation was to have opportunities for regular Christian Fellowship. It has been suggested that dinner at people’s houses and other ways of furthering relationships is important in our faith community - to be building one another up in Christ.
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We read about this in Acts 2:42-47, as being important to the first Christians…

46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. - Acts 2:46-67

This brought to my mind something I had heard about a few years back where a group of 4-6 people agree to come together once a month for 3 months (a different host each month) and simply share a meal and possibly invite others (it is recommended that groups be no larger than 8 people).
Some call it “Dinner with Friends.” After 3 months, the members of the group rotate into other DWF groups.

This falls right in line with what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica…

11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. - 1 Thessalonians 5:11

If you might be interested in starting a “Dinner with Friends” group, please contact the Church Office and we will start setting things up.

Encouraging? I pray you continue to do so…

Grace and Peace in Christ,

​Pastor Jim Kirschenmann

After reading the title above for the MAY newsletter, some of you are probably thinking that Pastor is more than one egg short of a complete basket! After all, Easter was in April, right?!

Then again, some of you (who were at the Easter Sunday service) are beginning to realize that Easter is continuing and is certainly MORE than just one day of the year.

And that is really the point of this month’s newsletter – EASTER is, indeed, still part of our daily lives. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ that we celebrate is more than can be contained in a single morning – it is all year long, every year. We can see it if we look for it. And we can embody it if we truly believe it.

Among the congregational activities this month, you will have many opportunities to fulfill your own expression of your resurrected life in Christ, and you are encouraged to share that with others.

Are you allowing your life to interrupted by God? Remember that we heard Dietrich Bonhoeffer write, “God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together [San Francisco: Harper, 1954], 99).

St. Peter says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15).

So, are you giving everyone a reason to ask?

Consider how you might go about doing that in your daily life, and then share the
things that have worked for you with your fellow members, so we can all learn new
ways to continue to show that Easter [still] Matters in our daily lives.

Blessings in the Risen Christ,
Pastor Jim