Up here in the Twin Ports, our February flew by. It came in like a lion with a mean spell of finger-freezing, face-numbing, below-zero temperatures. We’re talking more than -20 degrees below zero, for multiple days in a row (yikes!). We bundled up, muddled through and reminded each other that suffering builds character. Then, just like the sisters sang in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, “You’re about to forget the whole thing, but one day, all at once, it’s Spring!”
Sorry to start a blog post jabbering on about the weather, but it’s what we Midwesterners do best. On top of that, springtime in the North has got to be the most hopeful time of the entire year — it’s hard not to talk about! Our snow is finally melting, the birds are singing and after enduring a year of COVID-19 safety precautions, we’ve been able to be together as a church more than ever (still six feet apart, of course). Here’s what we’ve been up to.
What we’re learning
On Sundays, we’re deep into our Anatomy of a Christian series. Here’s a fun trailer we made to promote it. Throughout this month, we covered the Tongue, the Heart, the Stomach and the Lungs. They’ve all been really helpful, but my personal favorite was the sermon on the Lungs.
In the Lungs sermon, Justin talked about how the Bible describes Christians as being athletes. We’re running on a race course that we didn’t design, like an Ironman race. It’s crucial that we accept what God sends our way as a spiritual workout and let it develop the endurance in us that He intends it to. How else are we going to get the spiritual equivalent of rock-hard abs? It was a great reminder and seemed to be exactly what a lot of us needed to hear that week. I recommend giving it a listen.
On Wednesdays, we rotate between three different topics: Tony Evans’ Horizontal Jesus series, men’s and women’s groups, and the book of Jeremiah. When we split into gender-specific groups, the women are going through a series by Lauren Chandler called Steadfast Love, and the guys are going through a series that draws on the Navy Seal experience to further explore the Christian life.
How we’re getting to serve
With the start of the new year, we were able to start up a few new ways to serve on Sunday afternoons. Throughout February, we continued this and are getting more comfortable with the new schedule.
Some of us are in Community Group. These folks go out into the community, talk to people, give away treats, pass out flyers and more. Others are in Media Ministry. This group produces print materials, hones in our social media game, updates the website, makes videos and works on Burning Dog Radio. Last, but certainly not least, is our Maintenance Crew. These gentlemen fix anything that needs fixing and make sure our church building stays ship shape.
Fun and fellowshipping
Members have been able to reserve RavenFed for hangouts, which has been really helpful. This means we get to do things together indoors (remember, -20 degrees below zero outside!), knowing that everything is disinfected, safe and COVID-free. Recently, we took advantage of this perk and I learned how to play pandemic-friendly rummy with three separate decks. I did very well for a first-timer, thanks for asking.
We’ve continued serving lunch on Sundays after church. It has been nice to have the time to talk to each other without getting hangry. (That’s when you get angry because you’re so hungry, for those of you who don’t know.) We were even able to pick a sunny Sunday and go on a hike together as a church.
On the Street Level front, Monday meetings in the garage continue on. We’ve even been able to meet a few new faces. We hosted a retro video game night, and I found out that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is definitively not as fun as it was in the 7th grade. Also, we’ve started having Friday Movie Nights complete with pizza and popcorn in hopes that we can reach more students. Even when nobody shows up besides us, they are a great way to end a week.
Please keep praying for us
If you feel so inclined, we’d love it if you’d pray for us. Particularly for help with staying connected with each other, meeting new people in our community and enduring to the end of this pandemic well. It’s easy to get crabby and ungrateful because things aren’t ‘normal’ yet. But God is still doing very cool things and I don’t want us to miss them.
Thanks for spending the time to catch up on what we’ve been doing!
-Claire
