Midweek Moment

Over the years, one of the aspects of our congregation that I have tried to be very intentional about is our outreach. I want us to make sure we are doing all we can to interact with our community and make sure they understand the love and grace of Christ in their lives. I want them to know that God loves them and that we love them as well. We have done that by emphasizing the ways we already reach out though the work of other organizations, the ministries we sponsor on our own, as well the ways we use our campus. If you look around our fellowship hall or talk to any member of our family about that type of work you will find we are very active.

All of this is fulfilling what Christ asks of his church. Matthew 5:13-16 calls for us to be the salt of the earth and to let our light shine so that others may see God through us. That is what the church is called to be; the salt and light of creation. This means that we are not here for ourselves, but for others.

We have another way for you to practice being salt and light people. On April 26th we will hold our first, and hopefully annual, Church Has Left the Building Event. This will be our opportunity to leave behind the comfort of our four walls and enter into the community doing a good turn for another person(s). We have several opportunities lined up for you to volunteer, but the bottom line is we need you to volunteer to make this happen.

The places we have lined up are:

• Arnette House – cleaning up a bit of overgrown landscaping around their facility. 

• InterFaith – doing room makeovers for several of their residential suites. 

• Open Arms Villiage – painting a few of their living spaces. 

• Ocala Health & Rehab – singing hymns and serving Holy Communion to the residents. 

• Women's Domestic Violence Shelter – throwing a party for and reading to the young children. (Women volunteers only) 

• Pack hygiene kits here in Fellowship Hall – we need to package and prepare for shipment 200 hygiene kits.

The plan is to gather that day promptly at 9am in the Sanctuary where we will have a brief 10-15 minute worship service. You will then be dismissed to go to your place of service. You will work till 11:30am and then return to the Fellowship Hall where we will have our customary lunch as well as a time for testimony and reflection.

There are signup sheets at the Connection Station for you to volunteer yourself and your family for this very important outreach event. I pray you will consider and seize this opportunity to help our community in the name of Jesus Christ, the one that loved us first.

Have a great week and I will see you soon!