Hello, Church Family!
We have some important things coming up in our community. I hope you can join us for them!

This Sunday we have a congregational meeting from 6-7 p.m. at our church facility. This past summer, Elders listened to over 60 people from our church community to help us get a sense of our self-perception as a community. On Sunday we will explore and process the stories we gathered. Child care is available for 2nd grade and under but we need you to RSVP today by emailing Karis at Karis@ecclesiaclearlake.org. Older kids are welcome to participate in the meeting or they can do something quietly in the sanctuary while we meet.

This is an important conversation for a number of reasons. Processing the story together will help us deepen our relationships with one another. It will also help us better understand how we see ourselves. I hope you can make it. If you cannot make it but want to be involved in the conversation, email me (Coby@ecclesiaclearlake.org) so we can make other arrangements.

Advent Focus

This year we are exploring prayer as a community during Advent. We will do this in two ways.

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This past summer, over 60 people from our church community were invited to participate in intentional listening exercises with the elders in order to get a sense of our self-perception as a community. We have taken the notes from the conversations and used them to write a narrative of our current shared reality. On November 17, we will have a congregation-wide meeting to explore and process the narrative as a community. The meeting will be held at our church facility (218 Clear Creek Ave.) from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

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Early in my faith, I had the dangerous belief that Christians were only supposed to be happy. And thus, when I experienced sadness, loneliness, fear, and depression, I was afraid to be honest about the pain. I identified with Brennan Manning in Ruthless Trust, “Sensing that if I bare my soul, I will be abandoned by my friends and ridiculed by my enemies, I remain in hiding, borrowing the cosmetic kit to put on my pretty face.” I ended up suffering in isolation.

Thankfully the more I study scripture and do inner healing work, the more I realize that God desires us to bring our full selves as we seek the Triune God. We are to bring our laments and our joys; our ugliness and our beauty. Furthermore, God gives us one another. We are called to weep with each other, rejoice with each other, and to build each other up. This is one of the most important parts of being the church.

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One of the most gracious hosts I've ever met is an older gentleman I met around 14 months ago. He and his wife recently moved to Houston and now live with their adult children. Every time I visit him, he greets me with a fresh cup of coffee and some sort of dessert. This one time I visited him in the hospital, and he had the attendant bring an extra lemon-lime Shasta so that he could be a good host...while in the hospital! This man clearly exudes hospitality.

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