|
|
From Pastor Bill
(Sarah Castillejo, All Saints Administrator is this week's guest columnist. Pastor Bill's column will return next issue)
Finding Family...
A week ago my husband Miguel and I found ourselves in Guadalajara, Mexico visiting Miguel's precious family. Aside from about 5 pounds of authentic tacos, tamales, and pan dulce that I managed to smuggle back in my belly, I also returned with a renewed appreciation of family. Miguel is fortunate that for him, family consists of his parents, six siblings, two aunts that are like second mothers, a couple of amazing in-laws and two energetic nephews. They don't all live in the same house, but whenever we are in Guadalajara, anyone who isn't working or in school is together - hanging out, enjoying our visit.
As I stood around a table last Saturday afternoon, in a production line of tamales I took a second to take in what was going on around me. Family - visiting, laughing, and teasing as they filled the corn leaves with tamal goodness. Fast forward a few hours and there we all were playing volleyball with a child's bouncy ball - not just the athletes in the family, but pretty much anyone who could stand was on the court enjoying the most hilarious games of volleyball in history. Fast forward a couple more hours and we were sitting around the living room laughing histerically about the pranks Miguel and his siblings had played as children. Some stories I hear every visit, but they always provoke gut-wrenching laughter when you see two or three adult siblings dramatically collaborating their version of the story.
Now I'm back in Seattle where the family I share my time with basically consists of Miguel, my mom and step-dad who we see every couple of weeks for a little while, and one of Miguel's brothers who lives across the water with his wife and 2 kids who we see every couple of months. I love my family so much, but this feels quite different. At home it's been easy for me at times to turn into a home-body and be busy with all of the stuff I "have" to do. But as I reflected on how precious time with family is, it lead me to realize I have more "family" to share with than I had realized.
It is uncommon in the
United States for large families to stay close to home, let alone get
together several times a week. Rather than make an event of preparing
a meal together, we often zap something in the microwave. Furthermore,
we do not find nearly enough time to really play or reflect on times
gone by. I think we all have that need to connect and be known and
accepted.
Several months ago, I became part of a life group of the most amazing women I could dream to meet. I knew that being part of a life group would be a good thing, but I never anticipated what a huge part of my life it would become. These women have become like family to me. I see them every week, we all know what's going on in each other's lives, we pray for each other and check in with each other, we laugh together and we cry together. And much like family, we don't always see eye-to-eye, but there's always love and acceptance. I didn't realize what a difference this kind of community could make in my life until I experienced it and now my wish is for everyone to be able to find such a "family." Life is so much more rich when shared!
|
|
Church Updates
Business: On February 22nd following the 11am gathering we will be holding our Annual Business Meeting in the auditorium. We ask members to make it a priority to participate, but anyone who is interested is welcome to attend.
Board of Trustees: Brad Root was voted in by our members as our newest member of the Board! We're grateful that he is willing to serve in this way.
Website: We are working on being able to upload podcasts onto the site and make use of features such as the life group leader sign in. The survey link on the site has been being used successfully. Look for more features in the future.
Childrens' Ministries: We are excited to really consider what it looks like to create a "believe, doubt, seek" culture among children. Having Hilltop Children's Center here has been educational and decorationally inspiring.
Spiritual Formation: Journey: Beginnings and Journey: Leadership Development are under way and going very well.
Speaking: This Sunday Tim Southerland will be speaking. Tim is the Area Director for Eye on Northern Europe, an organization committed to caring for Christ-followers serving in Northern Europe, cultivating national church partnerships, and helping northern Europeans who haven't connected with Jesus to be able to do so. See more at eyeonnortherneurope.com
|
All Saints Beanaddiction Library
Whether you have a collection of "must read" books stashed at home, or are looking for the next read that could rock your world, the Beanaddiction Team has an answer for you. It is in the form of a little bookshelf they have set up downstairs in the Beanaddiction Cafe. Their goal is to invite people to donate books at the Concierge Desk which will then be made available for anyone to pick up.
The "Library" will function on an honor system. You can pick up and return books as you desire. If you find one that you know your Aunt Sally must read, feel free to pass it along! The idea is to keep great literature circulating. Book donations are now being accepted at the Concierge Desk. Please use your best judgment about the appropriateness of the books you contribute, as the books will go through a screening process before being added to the Library.
Thanks and enjoy!
|
And the survey says...
We're just short of having 100 surveys completed as we go into our final week. This is a huge improvement over the level of participation in our 2008 survey, but we're still far from our goal of 100% participation. The more feedback we can get, the more effective we will be able to be at continually improving your church experience. If you haven't completed a survey yet, please help us out by doing so this Sunday or click here: online survey
|
|
The All Saints Newsletter is sent out regularly to the community to engage and inform people of all that takes place through All Saints Church. This and previous issues will soon be available on the All Saints website.
If you have any ideas, submissions, or comments, please send them to life@believedoubtseek.org
|
|
|
|
|
