January 25, 2008
Dear Resurrection Family,
As you read this email I am finishing my preparations for this evening's All Church Gathering. I am really excited about tonight! Everyone is welcome to attend - both members and visitors. I'll tell you more about the evening and what why you should attend in this email.
Here's what's included in my email today:
1. Don't Miss Tonight's All Church Gathering! Five Reasons To Attend
2. This Weekend - Most Important Sermon in the Series: Spiritual Maturity and Gray
3. Do You Have an Old Fashioned Balance/Scales with Weights?
4. Souper Bowl Food Drive
1. Don't Miss Tonight's All Church Gathering! Five Reasons To Attend
I want to encourage each of you, members and visitors, to be a part of tonight's Annual Church Gathering. For those who pre-registered online, the evening begins with a chili and soup supper from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. You'll enjoy food and fellowship with fellow Resurrection attendees. At 6:30 we'll move to the Sanctuary and begin our annual Church Conference - a brief meeting where you have the chance to vote on our officers, our budget and my compensation. Following this we move to a time of celebrating what God has done in our midst in the last year, and looking ahead to where God is calling us to go in the next year. You'll hear about new initiatives and visions for the very first time here this evening. Finally we'll end with Holy Communion. This is four hours you won't want to miss - Great food, great fellowship, interesting and important business, terrific worship with Lance and the band, a celebration of what God did through us in 2007, an inspiring look at where God is leading us in 2008, and Holy Communion - these are the reasons this is an event you don't want to miss! If you did not register for dinner, please join us for the rest of the evening beginning at 6:30 pm in the Sanctuary. We'll be done by 9:30 p.m.
2. This Weekend - Most Important Sermon in the Series: Spiritual Maturity and Gray
We're in the midst of a series of sermons entitled, Seeing Gray: Faith, Morality, and Politics in a Black and White World. Black and white represents, in this sermon series, a way of seeing the world that tends to oversimplify, absolutize, and polarize. At its worst it produces Christians who are narrow, judgmental and uncharitable, whose spirituality looks nothing like what Jesus taught and modeled for us. I've seen both liberal and conservative Christians whose spirituality was characterized by this approach, and I have been one of these kinds of Christians. This weekend we'll seek, in the words of Paul, “a more excellent way.” We'll consider what Jesus and the apostles teach us about growing up spiritually and how our faith is meant to change and develop over time. One example of this I'll lift up is Billy Graham, who I have had the opportunity to meet on several occasions and whose spiritual journey is a picture of what spiritual maturity may look like. I believe your friends who are not Christians will find this sermon interesting and compelling so invite a friend!
3. Do You Have an Old Fashioned Balance/Scales with Weights?
I am looking for a couple of old fashioned balance/scales with weights for this weekend's sermon. If you have one of these kinds of scales that you would loan or donate to the church, would you please let my assistant, Sue Thompson, know at sue.thompson@cor.org? Thank you!
4. Souper Bowl Food Drive
This weekend we begin collecting canned foods in our annual Souper Bowl Food Drive. Here are the items that are needed, Canned Chicken/Tuna, Chicken or Tuna Helper, "Chunky" Soup, Canned Fruit and Vegetables, Peanut Butter, Jelly (plastic jars only), Macaroni and Cheese, Dry Pasta, Canned Pasta Sauce (no glass please), Boxed Cereal. Last year we collected 150,000 pounds of food to distribute to people in need here in Kansas City. This is a fun and rewarding way of sharing the love of Christ with those in need. If you are in a small group, take the small group challenge. The Sunday School class, Bible Study or small group (or any other Resurrection group) that collects the most pounds per person in the group wins. The prize will be my joining your group in delivering canned goods to an area food pantry then spending the morning with you for brunch and a round of “stump the preacher”. There are rules for the competition and special bonus foods that count for more than their actual weight. For the complete rules click on this link.
I want to end by thanking the team who organized our Martin Luther King events this year. We had a great turnout of people, including lots of families, who went to serve throughout the community on Saturday morning and Monday morning. We had more than 550 people who came to hear Denver Moore and Ron Hall share their story; and we packed out one of the theatres at AMC Studio 30 in Olathe to see The Great Debaters. In addition, so many of you offered yourselves for mission ministry by returning the missions forms at the end of worship this last week. I am so proud of the way in which you seek to live out your faith by serving others!
See you tonight, or in worship this weekend!
In Christ's Love,
Adam Hamilton