Last time & Next time

Hi everyone! Last Thursday we had a great time celebrating and hanging out together at McAllister Center. We enjoyed the goodness of God by eliminating a sense (hearing with ear plugs, touch with gloves, sight with blindfolds), one for each person. We then tried to differentiate 2 coins from each other, to hear a whispered message, and to see what was going on. It could be viewed as frustrating, not being able to effectively do one of the those 3 things as well as usual, but we chose to see the temporary deprivation of the sense as a chance to appreciate it and our other senses even more! We took time to celebrate the coolness of the God who made us so amazingly and had some laughs doing it!

After this time of celebration, we took some time to share any concerns people felt like sharing - most prefer to be anonymous though - and then prayed together, wrote a concern on a piece of paper and exchanged them anonymously. This way we can talk to God about these concerns often over the next 2wks. We believe that inviting God into the middle of the issue not only helps the issue, but brings us closer to each other.

Next, we had some time for discussion and learning. We reviewed the last weeks of talks about all the things we search for in this life. The "mores" of American life - money, stuff, success, health and fitness, relationships, acceptance, religion, pleasure, escapism, etc and how we have talked about them and where they end us up if we chase them with all our might. We reread the passage from Ecclesiastes Ch 1 that talks about pursuing all these things as like smoke- quickly fading. We then tried to begin to grasp how we begin to get away from chasing the "mores" of society and to chasing the More of God. This happens when you begin to notice God all around you, his creatvity and coolness (like we talked about at the beginning) and begin inviting Him to be a part of all the things in your life. When you begin to put your trust in Him for where your life will go in the next moment. This is hard to do, especially when you are totally not used to it, but all He expects is that you begin the conversation with Him at the place you are right now and trust as much as you can right now. Just be straight with Him. We ended with a story about our family and trusting and then gave out prayers inside matchbooks - to remind us that letting go of the smoke of this world is key to living the life we were made to live.

We had a time of celebrating God's goodness to us in that He sent Jesus His son for us by sharing communion, which in this case was Jessica's Famous Oreo Balls and grape juice. It was a strange but really tasty combination!

For those of you who are usually with us and weren't able to, we missed you...if you have never made it, this is typical of our times together - easy going, laid back, fun and approaching the difficulties of life honestly. Searching for some truth about God in a basic and fun way - away from the "usual" of church. We would love to have you anytime. Next time together will be next Thursday 3/5 - 6:45-8:00Pm at McAllister Center - 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette.

Hope you can make it - it is often the high point of our weeks!