Ephphatha

tomorrow night, we are hosting a community dinner that will be followed by an open forum to discuss church and faith. i must admit i am a little nervous as we plunge into this- but feel that it will be a good event. we have hung numerous signs in the area and also put an add in the paper the last two weeks that say "do you have a problem with church?" we are hoping to get a good mix of our regular community and of people in the area that do not currently go to church. the hope is this will be an evening where all people can come and share their stories, questions, comments in a loving way without being judged. there are specific guidlines to the conversation that will be laid out initialy as to keep the conversation gentle. i took this idea from a new church service at a moravian church in Northfield- they did a similar thing, and then actually turned it into another service aimed at feeding those that "hated church". we shall see....please pray for us.

on another note- my first ever batch of home-brew beer is fermenting nicely. payton and logan continue to be well, while anna and i continue to run on little sleep- gotta love it.

jg

though i must admit i don't often listen to christina aguilera i do like this song, and the video to me speaks volumes about some of the injustices of our world. as i try to figure out how to preach this sunday regarding the leprosy text i began to think about this video. all of these different snapshots of modern day "lepers" in this video really made me stop and think about how we humans are so cruel one to another. now i realize aguilera is taking a stab at perhaps some controversial issues here, but good for her. i think so often the oppression that takes place this day and age is much more silent at times than what the leper had to go through in crying out that he was unclean and drawying attention to himself- but still silent oppression kills. kills the spirit, kills the person. all people deserve to be loved with the love of Christ- right? how do we begin to stand up against the injustices right outside our own doors?

okay, enough of that thought- just what is going on in my head at the moment.


life continues to be great with the addition of payton- man, i am blessed to have such a wonderful family - 2 kids and a beautiful wife that i love dearly.

peace
jg
ps- if you are sick of the video you can stop it :-)