Pastoral Reflection 8.30.15
Just a week later, I look back on Party In The Park with incredible gratefulness.
We were able to serve families and friends in our neighborhood with a fun event,
give some children much-needed school supplies for the upcoming year, and
continued our practice of being a good presence in our neighborhood. Our Father
in heaven, “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
just and on the unjust.” We see that both God the Father and God the Son have been
“unreasonably” generous to us, and in turn the Spirit drives us to show this kind of
generosity to our neighbors.
But there is something else that was incredible about this event: all of you! There
were over 80-something of you who volunteered your time, energy, and enthusiasm
to serve food, cotton candy, and drinks, play games with children, and welcome folks
to the event. Behind the scenes there was even more going on: someone offering to
pickup and drop off the cotton candy machine. Someone volunteering to take care of
all the grills and food. Someone else stepping up to create the volunteer manual for
you all to be aware of what’s going. Organizing school supplies. The list goes on and
on.
This is a picture of the body of Christ. When each of us sees ourselves not as a
consumer, but as a part of a body that works together for the sake of others, it is an
incredibly beautiful thing.
As our church grows, there is temptation to begin to sit back and be a spectator and
consumer of our church. Let me urge each of you to remember that there is no faster
path to discontent and a lack of joy than to go this route! The Holy Spirit gives us
strength to serve especially in moments we feel weak or unable.
If you are a visitor this week, and have always found that a church never seems
“right” for you, or you never felt “at home”, and you’ve never served at any of those
places, let me challenge you to try and serve with us and see where the Lord takes
your heart!
We have just gone back to two services and there are many needs we have in order to
continue to reach out to welcome both visitors to our church and increase our reach
of people in the community with the love of Christ. Please consider serving in some
of these ways as you attend our worship gatherings and grow together in Community
groups!
- CoaH Kids
- Welcome Team
- Party in the Park
- Alpha
- The 133 Renovations
- After School programs with Steps To Success
- ESL with Brookline Housing
There are other opportunities that are also surfacing all the time. Let’s seek to serve
as He served us, so that the Lord might be glorified in our lives, and that we might
experience all of the joy He desires for us!
– Mike Hong, Pastor of Worship and Mission