Becoming a true community
“Everybody Gets to Play” describes who we are at Liberty Vineyard. It’s part of our Vineyard DNA, where every single person has a valuable contribution to make in the ministry of Jesus. Each week you are invited to jump into what God is doing among us. Take a look and join us in making God’s kingdom visible, as we reimagine how we can together do small things with great love, reaching out to neighbors and nations, for the greater glory of God!
February 11th, 2024
Liberty Vineyard family,
Lent is upon us! A huge THANK YOU to each of the 25 of you who were willing to read Scripture, offer a reflection, or read a prayer – I have been moved to tears while piecing together each and every track, on at least two levels – eternal gratitude for our Messiah Jesus – his life, ministry, death, and resurrection – and deep appreciation that the Lord has brought YOU to us here and now, enriching us all. God has blessed us with grace as we move toward becoming a true community at Liberty Vineyard, a place in which we are each free to be, free to grow, free to try, free to heal, free to be know and be known, free to love and be loved, and so much more. A new Lent track will be available each day, starting this Wednesday and finishing the day before Easter (or go directly to my YouTube channel if you prefer the podcast format). It’s beautiful to know we’ll be on the journey together in this way each day (please share with others, too).
There’s always a lot going on around here (Come, Holy Spirit!) … Here are some highlights from recent weeks:
JR rallied us all today to prepare 110 gifts (including hand-written notes) for each resident of Meadowbrook, to be delivered this coming Saturday @ 2pm as part of our monthly outreach (featuring Scott, who will be regaling us all with sappy beautiful Love Songs!) You won’t want to miss this!
We’ve been encouraging one another, praying together, celebrating one another, grieving together, and just sharing life as we meet together on any day of the week, formally or informally, face-to-face or on Zoom or via WhatsApp or over the phone.
I’ve been connecting with apartment managers, business owners, and others in a one-mile radius of our church building each week – it’s so exciting to see possibilities unfolding in how we can love and serve our neighbors. Please pray for me in this and give me a shout if you’d like to join me on one of these adventures!
We looked at two more of our Vineyard Values:
- Remember the Poor – Pastor Karen (this is weird writing in the 3rd person) invited us to be generous with our attention and our actions toward those who are trouble, poor, or hurting, whether it is someone in our own family, a stranger on the other side of the planet, someone who got that way through poor choices they made, someone stuck in a prison of injustice, someone who is hidden in plain sight, or someone whose situation is too complicated for us to understand. Luke 17:21 (NRSV) – “The Kingdom of God is among us.” Let’s remember the poor!
- A Healing Community – Pastor Nancy preached beautifully this morning as she invited us to heed this invitation and warning from Bonhoeffer: “The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.” She encouraged us to simultaneously aim our prayers with faith and focus while accepting the sovereignty of God, as we remember that sometimes when we pray for healing, it is instantaneous; sometimes it is a process; and sometimes we don’t see the healing on this side of heaven. Nancy left us with this challenge: to be a healing community, it takes courage!
Precious church family, the Lord created and designed us to live in interdependent community, as we together depend on God and become a community of pilgrims who help one another in appropriate ways to be and to become and to do all that God wants us to be and to become and to do. May we open our hearts and minds to be so thoroughly loved and embraced by God so that we can unreservedly reach out to love and embrace God and people. May we live and move and have our being in Jesus, abiding in his shalom, the place of wholeness, flourishing, and delight!
With you on the journey,
Karen Sculley
Pastor, Liberty Vineyard Church
(404) 388-0518
