A Note from Christina.
Hi Team,
I wanted to send an update on Outreach this month and some encouragement. Please read along to find out what's in the works.
First, a note of Encouragement
At the beginning of May, the NY Times published an article on Flourishing. I thought it funny the NYT was talking about Flourishing at the same time PC was delivering weekly messages on Flourishing. Maybe not as much funny as relevant, and reinforcing that God is always speaking to us if we tune our hearts to listen. The Times approach was obviously focused on "self-improvement in a post-pandemic world". But in reality, all of the principles they shared to create a more Flourishing life are very relative to so many things Pastor Chuck has preached about the past few weeks if you turn the self-focus to God-focused.
Last Sunday, I took some notes during the sermon and wanted to share them with you. PC's second note last week was " God's plans for my future are good" and inspired me to ask how are we flourishing and what does it look like? One definition of Flourishing is "A sense of fulfillment, purpose and happiness." The Times article noted that Gratitude, Acts of Kindness, Building Community and Connection, Finding Purpose in your Everyday routine, and Trying Something New are all ways to help yourself Flourish. Funny how all of those "scientific" studies are principles from the bible. That section about Finding Purpose quoted Dr Santos, Psychology Professor at Yale, “Many of us think we need to change our circumstances, get a job where we earn tons more money, or switch our relationships, buy something new. But what the research really shows is that flourishing comes from a different set of behaviors and habits.”
Pastor Chuck has given us weeks of sermons to help us understand exactly that. How to change our behaviors and habits, focus on God's Plan (Where we are to where God wants us to be), and live the life of a flourishing believer (Discovering your purpose and Making a Difference).
I had this analogy of planting seeds. I feel like most people have probably planted one physical seed in their lifetime. Perhaps not a huge garden, maybe just a single flower or even grass seeds, so I hope you can relate to this imagery. Are we planting seeds for others to grow? When you plant a garden, there is this great concept called Companion Planting, where you plant groups of plants together that strengthen each other and fend off pests and diseases, sometimes even use each other for support. The result is plants that are happier and stronger, and more fruitful and beautiful together. This is exactly how I see the Church body. A group of people holding each other up, helping, giving and receiving. When we sow seeds into others, we are also growing ourselves. "We are trusting God to provide for us because we have trusted him with our gifts." The beauty of community.
We can extend that sowing of seeds into our greater community through service and outreach. Specifically, I've been thinking about our Housing Forward House to Home Kit. By creating this huge housewarming gift, we are sowing seeds for a family to Flourish. The family who moves into this new apartment are not sent out and told to figure it out. They have seeds sown for them so that they will be able to do their best when they transition out of supportive housing. They will have a community of people behind every item in their home who have prayed for them and believed in them - sowing seeds into their life. I see so much beauty in serving others, and whether you see that or really love to be the hands and feet, we are thankful you are serving with us.
As we continue with our Outreach Projects, please read below for updates and additional info.
Housing Forward House to Home Kits
First, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has purchased something from the registry for our May-June Outreach Project. If you've missed it, we are gathering items to give to a lucky family who is ready to move into their permanent apartment, out of the temporary housing they've been provided by Housing Forward. Our church family gets to support this new family by providing the essentials they need to get started. This means everything from a toothbrush to kitchen equipment and items range in price from $.99 to $299.99! So far, we've had a LOT of items purchased, but we still have 45 to go and only two weeks to complete the list! If you would like to buy a gift, you can either have it shipped to church directly from the registry, or you can buy it online or in-store and bring it with you to church. There is a small table set up by the entry doors and usually, Christina is available after service to answer questions. Feel free to reach out if you need anything. You're also welcome to donate online to Local Outreach and we will use what is given this month to purchase any remaining items.
Beyond Hunger
You all are on top of it this month because we have already filled up spots for June 26th! THANK YOU!! If you missed sign-ups, you can always reserve a spot in advance for any of the events on the Outreach Calendar Page. Take a look and sign up for the next BH on July 24th!
Ronald McDonald House
Lastly, we wanted to find out if anyone was interested in cooking dinners again at Loyola's Ronald McDonald House. Pre-Covid, we took a team once a month to make dinner and eat with the families staying with RMHC. There are some new protocol measures in place to keep families safe, but we wanted to see if this was something our Outreach Team was interested in doing again. If you are, simply reply to this email and let us know so we can start planning to serve with this organization again. Thanks!!
Thank you for making it to the end! Reach out to Michael and I via email if you need support.
Christina
