It’s amazing how the school calendar shapes our experience. The end of summer and the beginning of fall is such a great start-up time. I don’t know what going to year-round school in some areas will do to this cycle.
It’s a time of people transition. The Acuff family was glued to our granddaughter’s first week of kindergarten. L.E. was excited and brave, and she came home with a 103 degree fever, but she hung in their all week. I couldn’t resist calling her nearly every day, getting a report. When I asked her if they took a rest during the day, she was insulted. “No!”, she said. “We don’t have time for that.” Apparently, I had failed to recognize the big-kid threshold she had crossed.
She told me about some new friends, Cora and Gabriella that she is excited about.
Meanwhile, back at our house we are busy packing up for our daughter, Molly’s departure to college. (When you have kids early and late in your marriage, you have a strange way of mixing the generations: kindergarten and college.) She moves out this coming week. She is already meeting new people on Facebook. A tidal wave of new people is about to come her way.
Life is so relational. Or at least can be. We see that principle in the activity of Jesus and the beginning of the first church. The circle of relationships is always expanding, always including others.
This Sunday, we are going to look at that principle of expanding relationships, taking an example from Acts 2:42-47. If you want more background, read the first two chapters of Acts. How do we build an expectation about expanding relationships, receptivity, and habits that welcome and connect others? We will explore those questions.
Also: Laying the Foundation – Next Wednesday night, from 7-9 we will have a special planning time to consider the foundation we want to lay as a new church in respect to values, priorities and strategies. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. We will meet at United. Starting a church is a rare and wonderful experience. Everyone has an opportunity to shape it.