Lent and lenten preparations

Greetings everyone! We are rapidly approaching the beginning of Lent, traditionally marked by the celebration of Ash Wednesday. Lent is the forty days before Easter, excluding Sundays. It is a time of preparation for Easter. We take this time to prepare ourselves through prayer, fasting, study, and grace-filled works to be reminded of the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

What does this mean for our church? We're going to spend the next forty days preparing ourselves by being reminded of Jesus' Hebrew heritage and how we can learn from and expereince Judaism in order to get a better understanding of Christianity.

Here is a list of the Wednesday evening adult education classes through Lent, with a special Passover Seder dinner shared with the Bellaire Community United Methodist Church on Maunday Thursday to help celebrate Holy Week.

I hope many of you are able to attend. Remember, ask lots of questions and always seek to grow in your faith through the Holy Spirit. Take care! - Pastor Andrew

The Wednesday Evening Adult Education Classes for Lent – A Study of Judaism:

Wednesday Feb 13 – Festivals and Holidays of Judaism – From Rosh Shoshanna to Yom Kippur and everything in between. Learn about the major holidays in the Jewish faith and how Christians can incorporate them into our worship, fellowship, and discipleship

Feb 20 – The Hebrew Language – An introduction into the language, translations, and the Hebrew scriptures

Feb 27 – Israel: Place, Idea, and Theology

March 5 – Passover Meal Planning team – Pastor Andrew away

March 12 – Contemporary Judaism (modern interpretation of the faith, reformed Judaism, and the place of Judaism in our society

Thursday March 20 – Passover Seder Meal, shared with The Bellaire Community United Methodist Church – 6:00 pm - sign up soon, only 80 spots available for both churches!

Newsletter as a benchmark

Something hit me today as I was proofreading the monthly newsletter: this is an EXTREMELY full newsletter.

I say this is striking because when I arrived in July, the newsletter was often a late published, scrambled together affair that didn't really reflect everything that happens here at Church in the Hills.

Now, we have a document bursting at the seams with mission opportunities, classes, studies, and thoughts form the members and staff of our congregation. While this still doesn't encompass all that is church in the hills, it certainly does give a nice snapshot of it for any given month.

Keep up the good work, friends. Continue your disciplines, read your confessions, stay rooted in prayer, and always look for where you can help the ministry of Christ in your world.

Peace and grace to you,

Pastor Andrew

What is a church?

I heard an interesting comment yesterday about multiple congregations within one church. Specifically, the reference was to churches like Church in the Hills who have a distinctly different congregation in the summer as compared to the winter.

Don't misinterpret my words - many of the people from winter are here in the summer. However, the snowbirds who go south for the winter and return in the summer are added to the congregation every spring/summer. As I observed this past year, the congregation nearly doubles in size with summer friends, visitors, and people who only live in the area during the warmer months.

This creates, as my friend articulated, multiple congregations. There is a year-round congregation, a summer contingent, and the ever present visitors who flock to all Northern Michigan has to offer (people who are here skiing for a week, boating, fishing, whatever for the summer, etc.)

The concern about this revolves around our connections with one another in the church. How can we maximize our ministry potential in light of a dynamic, changing congregation? What activities, conversations, and ideas help us feel connected in spite of "seasonal difficulties?"

Rubber Ducks

I recently attended a meeting of the Bellaire Chamber of Commerce to discuss this year's Rubber Ducky Days (yes, DAYS). The hope this year is that we can expand the normal one day festival into a week's worth of ducky activities to put Bellaire on the map.

So, as Church in the Hills, an active member of our Bellaire community, what can we do to make this vision a reality? What could you read in the paper in Gaylord, TC, Detroit, etc., and think, "Yeah, I'd drive out to Bellaire to do/see/be part of that!"

I'm curious to hear any and all ideas. My first idea was a road race/walk from Church in the Hills, through the hills, ending in downtown.

Any thoughts?

Happy New Year and Happy Annual Meeting!

Christmas has come and gone. Now it's time for another "first" for me as a pastor: the annual congregational meeting. That's right, it's that time of year again. Time to decorate the church with polity and season the congregation with reports on the past year's business.

This really is an amazing time and I'm *gasp* actually looking forward to the meeting. With the new year, it's a chance for us to reflect on the Holy Spirit's work in our midst, a chance to give thanks for the blessings we receive daily, and an opportunity for our congregation to resolve anew to be more loving, compassionate, and grace-filled ministers of Christ's Church.

I hope everyone had a blessed New Year's and is looking forward to a wonderful year together.

Peace and grace,

Pastor Andrew Pomerville