A few weekends ago MANY of the people in our church rolled up their sleeping bags, gathered their toiletries, bible and journal, and of course the obligatory flashlight, and drove en masse out to Camp Friedenswald for our much anticipated all-church retreat.
Time was spent relaxing, having good conversations, going on nature walks, eating particularly good camp food (kudos to the kitchen staff there), reflecting on our church community and the role it has in what God is doing in the Rogers Park neighborhood, and what gifts and passions we all have to bring to Living Water. In particular, we reflected on the number of refugees that have recently been coming to LWCC, from Burundi, DR Congo, and even Burma, and what a joy this has been for our church family. There are already a large number of Cambodians in the church who came over long ago as refugees, and so this is not something particularly new to the church - but it certainly is for those of us who are newer to the LWCC family ourselves.
We are changed and are changing because of these new faces and stories among us. Sometimes it is hard - mostly because LIFE is hard for them as they struggle to adjust to their new life here, learn English, try to find work, etc. So we do what we can to walk alongside them, befriend them, care for them and welcome them into our midst. Some of these families came to the retreat - and it was great for them (as it was for all of us) to get out of the gritty city and enjoy nature and trees and space.
I feel like LWCC is a place where I see the Gospel being lived out - particularly when I think of Ephesians 2:16.
Time was spent relaxing, having good conversations, going on nature walks, eating particularly good camp food (kudos to the kitchen staff there), reflecting on our church community and the role it has in what God is doing in the Rogers Park neighborhood, and what gifts and passions we all have to bring to Living Water. In particular, we reflected on the number of refugees that have recently been coming to LWCC, from Burundi, DR Congo, and even Burma, and what a joy this has been for our church family. There are already a large number of Cambodians in the church who came over long ago as refugees, and so this is not something particularly new to the church - but it certainly is for those of us who are newer to the LWCC family ourselves.
We are changed and are changing because of these new faces and stories among us. Sometimes it is hard - mostly because LIFE is hard for them as they struggle to adjust to their new life here, learn English, try to find work, etc. So we do what we can to walk alongside them, befriend them, care for them and welcome them into our midst. Some of these families came to the retreat - and it was great for them (as it was for all of us) to get out of the gritty city and enjoy nature and trees and space.
I feel like LWCC is a place where I see the Gospel being lived out - particularly when I think of Ephesians 2:16.
16-18Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us
to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached
peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so
made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access
to the Father.
Enjoy some photos from the weekend, which I've added to this post, and will include in some posts to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment