If you missed our church picnic last Sunday…well, you missed out! Here are some photos of all the fun and deliciousness we enjoyed, with thanks to photographers Michael Parsons, Brian Diaz, and Fleur Meng.
And thanks especially to our Men’s Ministry, who organized the event and provided the delicious food!
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Greetings, All Saints Church-
Church of the Apostles in Raleigh is excited to extend a special invitation to you! You may have heard of or read a book by Jen Hatmaker entitled 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. Jen is coming to Apostles next week to discuss how we can simplify areas in our lives in an effort to hear from the Lord with more clarity. She encourages men and women to choose to live the Gospel as a life of freedom, not one of condemnation. The book details how she and her husband took seven months and intentionally simplified seven areas of their lives so that they could live without being caught up in greed and overindulgence. Our hope is that by hearing this message, COTA and ASC might be moved by the Holy Spirit to carefully consider how Jesus might want us to rethink how we spend money, give, and use our time. We have been in prayer about how we can be thoughtful in reshaping how well we take care of the working poor and marginalized population in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. Jen is creative and funny, so the event will be both moving and entertaining. Music for the event will be provided by Christa Wells of Wake Forest. Join us, won’t you?
Friday, May 3 (7:30pm-9:00pm) and Saturday, May 4 (9:00am-12:00pm) at Church of the Apostles in Raleigh
Tickets: $25 per person (includes both sessions)
Please purchase prior to the event at www.apostles-raleigh.org/events/
Information about Jen and Christa:
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I’m a mom. Ranking near the top of my list of priorities for my children is keeping them safe. I know there are myriad hard and hurtful things they will experience in life that I can do nothing to prevent, but it is my precious job to do everything I can to protect them from the things that I can.
As a children’s minister, it’s my job to make sure our church is protecting and loving its children just as fiercely. And as the body of Christ, the people who vow at every baptism of every person in our congregation–infant, child, youth, or adult–to “do all in our power to support this person in his/her life in Christ,” it is all of our responsibility to own that promise. Supporting infants and children in their life in Christ has to mean, among many things, doing all we can to assure them and their families that our church is a safe, trustworthy place.
To that end, I would like to extend an invitation to our ENTIRE congregation to step up and into that promise in a concrete, tangible way.
Take two hours of your time this Sunday, April 14 OR Sunday, April 28 to join in the important conversation about how we keep our children safe. This is a conversation for parents and for grandparents, for college students and for college professors, for volunteers and for visitors, for leaders and for inquirers. Do you work with children or youth at All Saints? Come learn why this is a critical piece of your ministry. Do you have children? Come find out what we’re doing to protect them while they’re in our care. Do you wonder what this is all about? Come join us for lunch and conversation. Whatever your reason for coming, I can promise this will be time well spent.
Will you join us in the Annex from 12-2 this Sunday, April 14 OR Sunday, April 28? Lunch will be provided, so if you have time for a quick email RSVP, that’s great; but you’re absolutely welcome even if you don’t. Please don’t hesitate to contact Daniele Berman (daniele@allsaints-chd.org) if you have any questions.
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Have you ever considered giving someone an empty box as a birthday gift? Your nine-year-old son, maybe? Despite the widely-accepted truth that a baby or even a toddler will often prefer the empty box or the wrapping paper to the shiny new toy inside, generally speaking, empty surprises are not the best kind to any of us, much less elementary school children.
On Easter Sunday, our preschool and elementary children had a day full of empty surprises. And, surprisingly, those empty ones turned out to be the most exciting after all.
Ever heard of a “resurrection roll”? Take one marshmallow and imagine it is Jesus’ body. Anoint it in oils and spices (aka melted butter and cinnamon sugar) and wrap it in grave cloths (aka crescent roll dough). Then put it in the “tomb” (that is, the oven) for three days (or just 11 minutes).
The result is a shockingly empty (and delicious) representation of what the women saw that first Easter.
Or, have you ever colored an Easter egg? What about if you colored a raw one…and then dropped it on a table? Threw it at the wall? A mess, that’s what you’d get. No surprise there. (Fun, yes. But surprising? No.)
But if Mr. Thomas decided to break the same raw colored egg on his son’s head? Well, that’s a mess that elementary school students can get excited about, unsurprisingly. But…
If that egg had been blown first–surprise!–you would not get the mess you expected, not at all. Another empty surprise! (And, as an elementary school student, you might be just a little disappointed not to see your buddy slathered in egg. If you were a boy, maybe. Just a little.)
I’m grateful today, as a grown up who has heard the empty tomb story ever-so-many times, for the fresh reminder in our children’s Easter surprise: emptiness! and joy!
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Last week was Holy Week. In it, we walked together through the fundamental story of our faith: from the raucous triumphal entry to the humble washing of feet, from the institution of the precious gift of Holy Communion to the overwhelming darkness of the cross, we rehearsed our most important beliefs–all leading up to the most important truth of them all: Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
Here are a few glimpses of the pieces of that precious journey, with thanks to John Partridge, Brian Diaz, and David Taylor for the photographs:
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