Join us for our livestream worship service at 9:01, 10:00, or 11:00am by visiting cccckc.org.
|
|
Last week, I listened to an episode of a podcast from author & speaker Rob Bell. The episode was called “A Bit About Time” and was a candid conversation from April between Rob and his wife, Kristen, about how COVID had adjusted their sense of time. At one point, they started talking about two ways in which humans have thought about time. When agriculture was more of a dominant factor in society, time was understood in terms of seasons. It was cyclical; each season related to the others and time circled through spring, summer, fall, and winter. As the world became industrialized and we entered the modern era, humanity adapted to a concept of linear time in which time sits on a line, moving forward, progressing into the future.
Rob talks about how linear time has been helpful— it’s helped us think about where we’re headed as humanity and has given us a framework for the massive progress we’ve made, from technological progress to philosophical and social progress. However, when we reduce time to equal units on a calendar, we miss the dynamism of cyclical time. Furthermore, when life becomes disrupted— as all of our lives very much have in 2020— we struggle to reconcile what’s happening with the linear progress into which we assume time is carrying.
Rob and Kristen talk about the value of reclaiming cyclical time. When time is understood in terms of seasons, it’s understood in terms of challenge and opportunity— not simply progress. Each season offers its own challenges and opportunities in the agricultural world. Springtime offers the challenge of planting and the opportunity to see new things sprout and take root, while autumn presents the challenging work required to reap one’s crop and the opportunity to feast in fresh abundance.
As we look at the season in which we find ourselves now, we realize its unique challenges. We’re anxiously figuring out resuming school amidst a pandemic, we’re nervous about what the winter will hold, and we’re still wrestling with the contours of our social and personal lives with COVID-19. How can we reframe our understanding of this time of uncertainty to see not only its challenge but also its opportunity?
Ecclesiastes 3 says that “God has made everything suitable for its time… it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.” God, whom our Scriptures call “the beginning and the end,” reaches into time and holds us, and invites us to be radically and dynamically present. Paul Tillich, in his book The Eternal Now, says that God, “Who was and is and is to come… gives us courage for what is to come [and] gives us rest in [God’s] eternal Presence.”
|
|
August 21 Cross-Lines Senior Food Box Prep, 10:00 - Noon
Youth families are needed to help with food sorting at Cross Lines Community Outreach (a service partner of our church). We will work in a small warehouse to sort donated food into boxes that will be shared with seniors is KCK neighborhoods. Space is limited to 5 volunteers. Please RSVP to April.
August 27 Something to Eat Food Packing, 1:00-5:00. Sign up for a one hour shift here
August 29 Something to Eat Food Packing, 10:00-12:30. Sign up for a one hour shift here
|
|
AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER EVENTS |
|
We’re excited for the next few weeks & what we have planned to safely connect & kick off our new school year! Find out more about our pizza party & bbq party, connection session, and more below. RSVP for anything now!
-
Middle School Pizza Party Sunday, August 16 • 6 to 7:30pm | Youth grades 6-8 are invited to join in a backyard pizza party at the church on Sunday, August 16. We’ll order pizza from 3 of our favorite KC pizzerias! $7/youth. RSVP now!
-
Youth & Family Connection Session Sunday, August 23 • 6:15-7:00pm | Youth, parents, and other family are invited to join for a get-together and connection session from 6:15 to 7:00pm after the Backpack Blessing (5:45) and 3rd Grade Bible presentation (6:00). Join us for both of those events or meet at 6:15 to grab some Kona Ice, catch up (with social distancing!) with others, before a brief huddle to look forward to the upcoming months in the life of our youth ministry.
-
High School BBQ Party Sunday, August 30 • 6pm to 7:30pm | Youth grades 9-12 are invited to join in a backyard BBQ party at the church on Sunday, August 30. We’ll order BBQ from some of KC’s best BBQ places to kick off the new year. $15/youth.
-
Sunday Night Youth Groups Kickoff Sunday, September 13 • Middle School 5:00pm & High School 6:30pm | We will kick off our regular Sunday night youth group programming after Labor Day on Sunday, September 13! We will meet in the church backyard, social distancing and wearing masks each week, middle schoolers from 5:00 to 6:00pm and high school from 6:30 to 7:30pm. On the last Sunday of each month, youth group programming will be a service-learning project of some sort.
|
|
UPDATES AND MORE INFORMATION |
|
TEXTING UPDATES. Stay tuned with all of our activities via text reminders! Sign up HERE.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
