Creating Space

So it seems folks at NFC like to be together...After each occasion where there is a chance to gather together, be it the November Bauman service, the coffee time on the front lawn to kick start the fall semester, Kaleidoscope meals or the Labor day/ Memorial day picnics, people comment on how much they enjoy being together to eat, socialize, connect and BE. In fact, after these all church occasions, it has been striking the number of brainstorming conversations regarding how we could pull off similar events on a more regular basis. Can we serve coffee on the front lawn every week and when it starts to rain and get chilly, erect a tent and bring in some heaters? Can we go to Bauman more than once a year so we can be together as a body in one worship gathering as well as be together for fellowship in the lobby? We can figure out a way to enlarge the coffee fellowship area so the entrance from the sanctuary into the library feels less like a "cattle chute" (not a term I coined but one that seems descriptively accurate) and more like a space that could host more of the congregation?
These brainstorms on how to create more opportunities for fellowship highlight the value we place on being the community of Christ to one another. It is not just that we enjoy socializing with one another or we crave coffee in a newly improved eco-friendly biodegradable styrofoam cup. But we are actually spiritually wired to connect with one another; to share our lives with one another. Our relationships with friends and neighbors actually feed our relationship with our Savior as we give and receive from one another. This value for community and fellowship was expressed in the surveys that were gathered a year ago and it is a value of our congregation that has shaped the discussions among the next steps task force members.

After Gregg's sermon several weeks ago on communion, I was even more convicted on our need for space, both literally and relationally, that can provide opportunities to participate in communion in the manner of Friends. We offer the life of Christ to one another as we connect with one another, share vulnerably and encourage one another. Folks at NFC are good at this. How can we create space and increase the opportunities to allow more and more of this to happen?