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Village 2005
Its odd writing an end of the year postcard. Odd, because 2005 saw the demise of the paper version of this little weekly note. Villagers no longer receive little postcards in the mail with info about the goings-on at the Village. A lot of things have happened this year that I've forgotten about. For example, the Smackdown(the men's monthly meeting) started at the beginning of the year and ended in November. Rod, Russ and I attended the emergent conference in February. The conference's most notable impact on the village is our dialogue oriented sermons. Speaking of sermons, our community has walked through 1 Corinthians, Malachi, 2 Samuel, Ephesians, and small bits of Micah.
Easter was pretty cool. Rod and I cooked a meal for the entire Village and you guys invited your friends. I think we served about 100 people at the bottom of the Muse (our old meeting place). The Williams moved into their new home and had a party to celebrate it. Both Ryan and Cheryl put on very successful art shows that were well attended by people in the larger community. One of the sad happenings this year was our departure from the Muse on 4th Ave. In July, we were forced to leave our home and move to the Lutheran church. Pastor Lars(one of the pastors at our Saviors) was reading our website and realized that we were going to be homeless. He made some calls and managed to provide space for us at his church. Our Savior's Lutheran Church has been extremely patient and loving in their care for us.
Spiritually, a couple of things have happened that I think had a considerable impact on the community. The practical theology group started at the beginning of the year. In that class, we spent a lot of time discussing how what we say impacts others, and how fear of exposure often motivates much of the way we relate to one another. Also, this year, many of you started to take the leadership up on our offer to pray for you . . . so much so that I've considered hiring a scheduler so we can keep track of who is coming to leadership meetings to be prayed for and when. I have seen some dramatic results in many of your lives after you spent some time praying with the leadership. God has done a lot in our community this year. I love that the Village is very organic. I often hear second hand how God is using you in each other's lives and the lives of your friends.
I'm very excited about this next year. They say that the fourth year of a church is its hardest-if it can survive that-it can survive most anything. Well, last year was our fourth, and it presented us with some very interesting challenges. This year is going bring some new challenges. For example, we need to find a new space, the Christian Reformed Denomination wants us to consider joining them, we will continue to have to deal with financial issues, we want to continue to keep our focus on God and not ourselves, and lastly, we want to think missionally as we continue to be in the world. On Jan 13, which is a Friday, we will have our first Drumming Circle(members gathering) to discuss this coming year.
Pastor Eric |
