East Church 2011-2012 Theme
Searching for God
This year we are excited to introduce a new theme for our worship and our programs. The theme is ‘Searching for God’. It is based on Jesus’ words to his disciples as found in the Gospels according to Matthew and Luke. It is a hope-filled message, for it reminds us that God longs to be present with us, all we need to do is ask, search and knock. So, throughout the year, in our worship, in our small groups, in our Committees and Teams we will be focusing our energy on ‘Searching for God’. We’ll explore questions like; What does it mean to ‘ask’ and ‘search’ and ‘knock’? What do we ‘receive’ or ‘find’ when the door is opened? How do we share this discovery with the world and one another?
We will begin this asking, searching and knocking on September 11, 2011 when worship returns to 10:00. During our service that day we will remember the tragedy ten years ago, lift up our grief and ask for help healing. Sunday school students will be invited to register for classes during worship.
Our theme will continue this fall with a new adult education series called “Approaching Mystery”. Through this series we hope to give people different modes for approaching, or searching for, the divine. We’ll experience and discuss forms of meditation, prayer, body work, dance and spirituality. Meetings will be on the 4th Tuesday of the month, generally at 7:00. We’ll begin our series with the construction and practice of a labyrinth. See the article on page 2 for further details.
Also this fall, we’ll expand our searching for God through the program “Completing the Circle”, a new and exciting pilot program to gather feedback on our ministries and share our experiences of God in worship. See below for more details.
We’re glad to see you and look forward to searching, asking and knocking with you!
Completing the Circle
East Church is planning an exciting new project, and we hope you’ll participate! Over the course of the next year, we plan to conduct “Fellowship Circles”, which are intended to be feedback/reflection groups. The goal of these groups will be to solicit high quality feedback for our pastors, staff, and lay leaders about how our members are experiencing the life and mission of our church. Some of you may remember the “Timothy Project” groups that met at people’s homes, or the process for our church becoming “Open and Affirming”. We are envisioning similar groups where participants will have an opportunity to talk to each other about their experiences. Each feedback/reflection group will have a specific focus. We plan to start with worship, since that is an area that everyone in the church experiences. We then plan to move on to other topics, such as Christian Education, Music, and more to be determined.
More information on these feedback/reflection groups is available on our Fellowship Circles Info page. We are hoping that everyone in our congregation will participate in at least one group. We hope that you will be as excited about this project as we are!
