Hi Friends,
I am so grateful for the leadership and presence of our youth in last Sunday's service! They bring so much to our community, and it was a privilege to amplify their voices and hear more of their hearts as they led us in gratitudes, prayer, scripture, offering, and The Church Organized for Work. Thank you to our families for sharing your kids with the church and for allowing us to learn from them as we continue to pursue God and the way of Jesus. They are a source of good questions, valuable insights, and renewed hope in the midst of such a challenging and heavy time in our world. I pray that we can continue to cultivate and honor the gifts of being a diverse body, including diversity in age. Thank you all for being a special place for them to belong!
There are some important updates for kids and youth this week that we are excited to share with you. We hope to see you Sunday if you are able to join us in the garage!
Next Family Liturgy for Families with Kids
It's almost time for our families with kids to gather, see one another, sing, and grow together in faith at our family liturgy in the park! Mark your calendars for Saturday May 8th at 10:30AM. We are so thankful for our families and these times we get to be together, and we are dreaming up new ways for us to connect and learn in this format. If you know other friends who need a church community, this is a great event to invite them to join. Be on the lookout for an RSVP form next week. We hope you will join us!
Important Youth Group Changes
We have been so thankful for the ways that our youth have chosen to stay plugged in to our church community during the pandemic. Through Zooms, outdoor and spaced-out movie nights, and safe gatherings in the park, they have been so flexible as we have shifted our plans and adapted to the ever-changing world we live in. They are amazing!
With things opening up and vaccine levels rising (our youth leadership team have all received at least one of two shots!), we are grateful for the increased safety we have in meeting together. While Zoom has served us well in many ways, it feels like the right time to shift to mainly in-person gatherings going forward. We are also going to change the time we meet in order to make all-church worship accessible to our youth as it was before the pandemic .
So, this Sunday we will not gather as a youth group (we hope you enjoy time with family!). Next week (May 2) we will be in the park, but our gathering will be after worship. Our hope is that youth can attend worship at 10:30AM if they want and that they will serve on our Pit Crew if that is something that interests them. After worship we will head to the park for lunch and our time together in fellowship and Bible study. We will continue to maintain our safety precautions and adjust as it is safe or necessary to do so. If you have any questions about these changes, feel free to reach out. I will, of course, send reminders in the coming weeks.
Sending you so much love and virtual hugs!
With gratitude for you,
Pastor Lindsay & Pastor Mary
P.S. Here's a poem for our children from author Kayla Craig in honor of Earth Day.
