Potluck Update

Please see the Update, two posts down from here.

Bob King

Bob King passed away this week.  You may remember him as the 90+ year old man who often made announcements about the Gideons.  The funeral is Thursday at 2 at Blacknall.

Potluck Tradition

We’re going to try a new “tradition” to provide some consistent opportunities for us to get to know one another outside the church walls.  Every other Sunday, we will meet up at someone’s house for supper.  Everyone will bring their own food, though the host will provide drinks. 

UPDATE: The first one will NOT be at my house this Sunday the 1st, at 5:30.   I had originally planned it but didn’t realize that Katie is working that day.  Therefore I can’t commit to it being at my house.  We will reschedule for the 15th.  In the meantime, if anyone wants to be a host for this Sunday the 1st let me know.  If you haven’t heard one way or the other, feel free to email me and I’ll let you know if anyone has volunteered for the 1st.  For my email address, look under “About CIA”

Building Community: Hospitality

This past week we talked about the role of hospitality in building community.  I then mentioned how one useful tool for extending hospitality to our church community has become difficult to use in recent years, namely the after-church-group-lunch.

Back before kids, it seems like a major part of how I built relationships with people from church was to go to lunch with them after the service.  I no longer do that much, for a number of reasons – one, it conflicts with kid naps; two, we now try to go to the early service if possible, so we are heading home at 11:15.  Many of you are in the same boat.

My question to everyone — which I would like us to discuss this Sunday — is, can we come up with a replacement to meet the needs of those many folks in our class in a like-situation?  Something informal, but that would happen regularly so that people could easily fall into it when they are there, but not feel like they are missing an “event” when they are not?  Regular enough that people are kind of pre-planning on it, so that it can coalesce at the last minute, like before class or after the service? Possibilities include

1) going to lunch someplace after church and seeing if the kids make it;

2) picking up to-go lunches and convening at different houses after church;

3) once a month having everyone try to go to the early service who is interested, so that we can all go to an early lunch;

4) once a month having everyone try to go to the late service so that we could meet for breakfast or bagels that morning;

5) having a tradition of going to someone’s house for supper on Sunday nights with a “bring along whatever you are eating” rule;

6) wait until it gets warm and then have a tradition of late afternoon park-gathering;

7) other?  I welcome ideas.

This sounds not very important, but I think it is actually crucial to two things — first, growing closer to one another, and second, having an easy forum for extending hospitality to new faces.

Deacons and Elders, Part II

Well apparently I was wrong about the election occurring this past Sunday, so stay tuned for when that will actually occur.

Deacons and Elders

Have you made a nomination for who would make a good deacon or elder to the nominating committee?  I’m not sure what the deadline is, but we will be voting on folks this Sunday at the congregational meeting during the Sunday School hour.  Take a moment to think about who would be good for either position.   Email your nominations to Lloyd Ley (he’s in the directory).