Portraits have a unique way of freezing moments in time. No matter how much we may hate having our portrait made, pretty much everyone I’ve ever met enjoys grabbing a box of old photographs and thumbing through them, remembering old friends, laughing at clothing and hairstyles, and reminiscing about the way things used to be.
Portraits also have a way of pointing us forward. When we take time to make family portraits, we do so aware that this moment will never happen again. Time keeps ticking away. Kids grow up and move away. People pass away and life continues to change.
River City Snapshots
For the month of May, we’re going to make our first Family Portrait as a new church! We’re going to take the next four Sundays to capture this moment in the life of River City Church, looking specifically at why we exist, who we are, and what we’re hoping to accomplish. The next couple weeks will look like this:
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May 5: We are Characters in the Story of God ( Communion )
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May 12: We are Ambassadors ( Looking at our mission/vision )
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May 19: We are Family ( This will be a Church Family Outing in Riverside )
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May 26: We are One in Christ ( Looking at our strategy/values )
I’m really excited about this series! We’ve spent the past couple of months in a somewhat dark and depressing study of life under the sun and the emptiness that we feel when we pursue God’s gifts instead of Him! Thankfully, God has not left us out of HIS story! He has invited us into it, to know him, to be his people, and have him be our God. He’s called the global Church to a unique work that He is accomplishing through us, and River City has a special place in that work. In week 2 and 4, we’ll explore what we believe that work to be, and how we go about it.
On week 3, we’re planning to take a Sunday off of setting up and tearing down all the equipment, and simply have a family outing together, enjoying God’s good gifts of food and fellowship. Weather permitting, we’ll meet in Riverside for lunch, a short message, and actually, literally, make some family portraits! If it’s raining, we’ll be at Highland Elementary.
Finally, on week 4, we will celebrate the fact that, in Christ, God uses ordinary people, doing ordinary things, to accomplish his purposes on earth. Whether you’re a business person, a medical professional, a mother, a farmer, a husband, a son or daughter, or simply breathing (hopefully you are), everyone has a role, no matter how big or small it might seem!
At the end of the four weeks, I hope we have a clear picture of who we are, and what we’re hoping to accomplish. Then, we’ll launch into a new sermon series for the whole summer, called The Kingdom Parables.
Grace and peace,Rodney