What's up everybody at the Gathering?!
I hope all is well with you this week.

We are now beginning to move into understanding what the future looks like for us as a community. Two Sundays ago I talked about remembrance and thanksgiving in times of transition and confusion. It is in remembering the works of God in the past with hearts of thanksgiving, that we can begin to take steps into the hope and future God has for us. We spent time remembering the work that God did through the leaders that were a part of the Gathering in the past, writing those memories down and offering them as a thank-offering to God before we took communion. I also shared Jeremiah 29:11-13, a verse that I feel God is speaking to us during this time. So it is that we stand on the memory of God’s faithful hand in the past, with hearts of thanksgiving, that we begin to take our first steps into the hope, future, and wholeness that God has for us.

Last Sunday marked the first Sunday under the idea of wholeness. We looked at one aspect of our purpose statement, that is, what it means to be a community of believers. I shared the story about a father with his two sons, and how the younger son belonged in his father’s house before he ever believed it. Jesus came from heaven to tell us that we belong. I also shared about how Jesus leveled the playing field by eating with "tax collectors and sinners," and in doing so he was sharing himself, the living water and the bread of life, saying by his actions, "you might not yet believe, but I tell you, you belong." So it is that we are called to be a community where people can belong. However, we are not just a community, but a community of believers, and for that reason we are to be a place where people can belong, and safely explore what it means to believe. It is my hope and prayer that we would be a community of believers that models the life of Jesus by inviting people to belong, and helping them come to a place where they believe.

God bless you all this week!
See you next Sunday at the Gathering.
-Tim