Join Ember Student Ministries tomorrow night as we “trick or treat” for canned goods in the Foskett Ranch neighborhood. We will meet at the Emmaus Ministry Center at 6:30pm this Wednesday October 31st. All of the food that is collected will go to support the Lions Club food drive this holiday season. If you have a truck, we need you! Questions? Call Tim Loomis at 916.295.0668. Hope to see you there!
We’ve got a big weekend in front of us with two huge events!
The first is Make a Difference Day! This year marks the 15th annual event nationwide. We will be serving our community at the place we worship – Foskett Ranch Elementary! There are some curbs that need to be painted, and some weeds that need to be pulled! Come join in the fun at 8am on Saturday!
The second big event is taking place on Sunday after church. We have about 10 children or teenagers from our church community choosing to be baptized! Come and be a part of their baptism and help us celebrate their decision! We will be meeting at The American River Confluence at 1pm. Get your lunch and bring it down to the river! Maps will be provided at our Sunday Gathering, or you can click on the link and print one!
We look forward to serving and celebrating with you this weekend!
When I left Chicago, I was pretty sure my favorite alarm clock was broken. It was my favorite because it had a 4 minute snooze and a non-obnoxious ring. It was pathetically flickering partial numbers and occasionally blanking out all together. It needed new batteries. So in the meantime, (before I rediscovered the miracle of Energizer AA) I’ve been giving my new ihome–a generous graduation gift from my surrogate family in Wheaton–a shot at waking me up in the morning. At 6:20am, I opened my eyes to this:
Welcome to the planet.
Welcome to existence.
Everyone’s here.
Everyone’s here.
Everybody’s watching you now.
Everybody waits for you now.
What happens next?
What happens next?
I dare you to move…
Today is my first day in the office as Emmaus’ new Pastor of Early Faith Development. I completely missed the irony when I set the music last night. I just really like Switchfoot. The Holy Spirit has always enjoyed playing little jokes on me to remind me of His presence, and in my alarm-clock song this morning, I heard His good-natured chuckle.
I was nervous about today. In the midst of the excitement of moving to come join this ministry, I’ve been trepidatious about whether I had bitten off more than I could chew. As much as I love the thought of getting to introduce children to Jesus and watching them fall in love with Him, I have only been a grown-up myself for about 5 months. (In May, they handed me a piece of paper that proclaimed in official looking letters that I was now Grown-Up, so it must be true. Right?) On Sunday, everyone was so excited to see me. They had all been eagerly waiting for me to arrive and expectantly anticipating what I will do in the coming months. What if I’m no good at this? What if nothing I try works? What if I can’t do any of the things they are expecting? The nervous little girl inside my head was working overtime whispering to my heart.
This morning, the Holy Spirit, in His patient, playful way reminded me that I am not my own mess to clean up. This was not a mistake. This was not an accident that I fell into this role. This is My plan for you and for them and I will see you through it. “Everybody’s watching you now…everybody waits for you now.” Ooo look at all those eyes on you! Scared yet? What happens next is up to me, Silly. Now get out of bed and ask Me what I have planned for today.
One of my favorite things I learned in college (and by “one of my favorite,” I mean, “one of the only things I can remember”) was the translation of the greek name “Paracletos” that Jesus calls the Holy Spirit (John 15:26) given by my New Testament professor. Jesus names the Holy Spirit the “one who is called to stand beside you” as a comforter and advocate.
Maybe redemption has stories to tell.
Maybe forgiveness is back where you fell.
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where’re you gonna go?
Where’re you gonna go?
Straight into my Good Shepherd’s arms.
Well friends, we had a really big video for you this week…but it got away. It got away. Get it?
This Sunday Nate continues his series Fundamentals of Following the Good Shepherd with a look at what it means to listen to the voice of the shepherd. Come ready to…listen.
This Sunday is also Kathryn’s first day at Emmaus. Please introduce yourself and help us welcome our new pastor of early faith development.
Coming up in just a couple weeks (Saturday, Oct. 20th, 7 p.m.) is our third annual Volunteer Appreciation Dessert. We hope you’ll make plans to join us for this fun and celebratory event!
