Weekly Update 10.21.19

On Saturday afternoon, my whole extended family gathered and we did something we haven’t done in over three and a half years—we took a picture.  Now, we’ve taken hundreds, if not thousands of pictures over the past years…but not one like this.  This was a full family photograph.  One with my grandmother, my parents, my siblings, their spouses, and all the kids.  Needless to say, with so many of us, it was quite a production.

Over three years ago, when we last had a family photo taken, we looked a lot different.  Yes, we’ve all aged a bit and a few more gray hairs can be spotted.  Yes, there may be a few more pounds noticeable on some of us (or a few less for a select few).  But the biggest difference of all was the number of people in the picture.  Three years ago, there were three kids.  This weekend there were eight kids!  Our family has grown and we wanted to capture that growth!  It should be interesting to see the final picture.  What is the likelihood that the photographer captured all eight kids looking at the camera and smiling at the same time?

Yesterday during our worship service, we did not take family photos.  However, we did officially welcome four individuals into church membership.  Like the five additional members of my family, these four individuals have been at HBIC for some time…anywhere from a few months to several years.  But it was so exciting to “capture the growth” for a few moments and officially welcome them to the family!

Hope Born in Christ Church is truly a family together.  We all have different backgrounds and experiences but we have the great joy of coming together as a church family week after week.  We celebrate together, we worship together, we walk through struggles together.

I hope that you feel the same way.  I hope that HBIC is not just the place you happen to sit in a pew on a Sunday morning.  If you’re not feeling connect to the family, it might be time to get involved and meet some of your family members!  When we lived out of state, we struggled to connect with our family in PA because we weren’t here.  We couldn’t get involved in what they were doing.  Maybe you feel the same way?  So come join us for one of the numerous things happening in the life of our church each week!

Let’s be the family of God.  Scripture is filled with encouragements about what it looks like to be the Body of Christ, a family of believers.  Let’s “capture the moment” every chance we get and every time we’re together!

 

In Christ Alone,  Pastor Jan

PS—as you also take your own family photos, don’t forget to email a copy to the church office for our HBIC family photos…AKA the church directory that comes out this January!