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OK - it's official - we ARE having our second monthly Gathering next Saturday, April 5th, at 5pm.
Our wonderful friends at Church of the Apostles are allowing us to meet in their facility - 1321 Trent Blvd. here in Lexington. We hope you can come join us - see you there!
And welcome to our own Brian Phillips - finally on the Vine. You'll hear from him from time to time.
| posted by + Alan | 12:48 PM | |
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Here I am.I guess I'm official at last.When I think of something real deep and spirtual to say,I'll be back.
| posted by Brian | 1:18 PM | |
Getting close to our second monthly Gathering - Saturday, April 5th, at 5pm. I'm thinking it will be at the same location - Church of the Apostles - 1321 Trent Blvd. If that changes, I'll let everyone know - post it here and send e-mails. Hope we see some of you there!
| posted by + Alan | 12:59 PM | |
Friday, March 07, 2003
I intended to put this up last week but never got to it. This is the little teaching I did at our first monthly Gathering - taught for about 10 minutes or so and then we openned up for comments - that wendt very well - some good things were brought out.
vbcc monthly gathering ::: teaching for march 1, 2003
We possess the prophetic message as something altogether reliable. Keep your attention closely fixed on it, as you would on a lamp shining in a dark place until the first streaks of dawn appear and the morning star rises in your hearts. First you must understand this: there is no prophecy contained in Scripture which is a personal interpretation. Prophecy has never been put forward by man’s willing it. It is rather that men impelled by the Holy Spirit have spoken under God’s influence. —2 Peter 1:19-21
We are the prophetic message of God to this world. The source of this “prophecy” is God, not us. We must keep our attention closely fixed on that source and live in a way that is constantly aware of His presence and of how that presence interacts with and effects our lives – how it transforms us. It is a matter of this course of life, this prophetic life, closely fixed on the source, that we become shining lamps in a dark place.
As the streaks of dawn appear and the star arises in our own hearts, it then rises in the world around us. We are the dawning of the Kingdom of God on earth, along with Christ – in Him.
We must understand, though, that “I” am not the prophecy. “I,” myself alone, am not the prophetic message to the world. Vine & Branches is not the whole light in the dark place – neither is Church of the Apostles, or Vineyard Central, or Ordinary Community. Being here together tonight we are living that prophetic message. So, it’s not about our personal thing. We are parts of a whole.
And this is all ultimately about God breaking in – into our lives, into our world, influencing us by the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, we should be people filled with and impelled by the Holy Spirit – a prophecy to the world spoken under God’s influence.
| posted by + Alan | 10:12 AM | |
Thursday, March 06, 2003
You knew it was going to happen - digital camera > tons of pictures > here are some from our last night's Ash Wednesday meeting.
> the living room - eucharist set up on the bench in front of the fireplace - after we sang, we individually went to kneel and receive communion, then got up to receive ashes on our heads with the encouragement: "remember, you are not God, and you can do nothing without Him."
> the food - always the food - humous, grapes, carrots, pita bread - woo hoo!
> the matt - his big fat greek birthday! he got this cool icon and the dvd of bfgw.
> saint brian with his ashy head - "remember, he is not God"
> another view of the eucharistic set-up - an icon of Jesus the teacher at top.
That's it for the photos. We chanted the psalm of evening prayer for Ash Wednesday, had a good discussion about balance and sacrifice - and about life's struggles and how they are a part of "life" and our notions of how we handle them when they come. Then we worshiped with a song and went into the eucharist and to ashes. It was a good time.
| posted by + Alan | 9:18 AM | |
Sunday, March 02, 2003
Last evening we had our first official "thing", or larger group gathering. Friends came in from all over, from Nicholasville to Cincinnati. It was great meeting new folks, like Rachel, and good to see other friends again, like Kyle and the Rainses. We had a really good time of hanging out with coffee and cookies and such, then got into some organized focusing on Jesus through the daily office. We sang (or chanted) the Psalm, which was very cool and a little foreign to some (probably most) of the participants. Then Alan spoke a little about the Scripture reading, and we had a time of open discussion of what was said. The participatory thing is very cool. Then we moved into a time of worship through song and communion. Afterward, of course we hung out and "fellowshipped" some more, as we used to say, then a bunch of us went to Bearno's pizza for the obligatory after-"thing" meal. It was just so great hanging out with a large bunch of folks with similar mindsets. I'm looking forward to doing this each month. Oh, yeah, look for lots of photos, probably both here and at Alan's site--he had his new "toy" (digital camera) in use last night.
| posted by #Debi | 2:48 PM | |