After considering several apparel choices at ICHTHUS (annual Christian music festival outside Wilmore, Kentucky we go to with our youth group), I chose this one:
The simple message is appealing and I am inspired by its directive. In our Alpha course video, founder Nicky Gumbel comments on a Japanese woman learning English phrases who converted "What on earth are you doing?" to “What are you doing on earth?”
Our Monday morning adult class is studying the book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations (Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-taking Mission and Service, and Extravagant Generosity), and experiencing the gifts of conversation, insight, empathy and determination to improve the quality of our life and ministry here. And at our annual Church Conference October 29 we shared many signs of fruitfulness in our congregational life. The stories of our rootedness and fruitfulness in the Hartford area are easy for me to tell as I speak with others.
November begins with our All Saints' Day celebration with open communion (11/4) and includes our annual Thanksgiving meal after worship on 11/18. In each of these celebrations we give thanks for the people in our lives who have followed the simple directive, Take Root...Bear Fruit.
I invite you to continue your growing journey with God, and consider the wisdom of God's creation expressed in Advice from a Tree by Ilan Shamir (The Power of a Positive No, 233):
"Stand Tall and Proud
Sink your roots deeply into the Earth
Reflect the light of a greater source
Think long term
Go out on a limb...
Be flexible
remember your roots
Enjoy the view!"
Thanks for your faithfulness in planting, tending and harvesting fruit in this Body of Christ.
