It has begun!

It's good to be back in the Village.

As we gathered last night to reflect thankfully on a crazy and energizing evening , I was struck by how different this all feels than last year. As we talked and prayed, it became clear that the main reason is that we know people. Lots of people. We can walk around and greet folks by name, asking about things in their lives, their kids, their jobs, and they do the same to us. Last weekend we showed up to take a couple kids to get ice cream and we wound up walking about 10 of them to McDonald's (after we and a bunch of their parents pooled all our available cash)! The difficult, patient work of building relationships, of becoming friends and neighbors, is happening. And it's great.

We talked this week about the idea of community and connection. As we gathered on Monday evening for our "family night", we looked at a number of Biblical passages that speak about the reality of our connection in Jesus - the fact that when we're re-created in Him, when we come to Jesus in faith, we're born again into a new family: the family of those who know and love God. The reality of our connectedness is something we can experience both positively and negatively, it's something we can embrace or avoid, but it's something we CAN'T escape. Paul calls that idea as silly as a foot saying to the rest of the body to which it's connected, "I'm not a part of you!"

So we're dedicating our summer to living into this reality with joy. And we're going to be learning from and with our neighbors how to be community, how to be family, well. We thank you for joining with us by your interest and your prayers.

Love to you in Jesus.

ps. See pics from last night via the links in the post below!