I’ve been relaxing tonight, reading, praying, listening to Podcasts and in general just being thankful for all that God is doing in our midst. So far this week I have gotten 3 very positive and encouraging e-mails from people telling me how much they love United and how much their lives are changing…the sad part (at least for me) is that I’m not really sure who they are.

Tonight through all that I’ve been doing God has made it clear to me though that it’s OK.  When you fish with a rod-and-reel you personally pull in every fish and you’ve got a story to tell with each one.  However, to have the maximum impact you need to fish with a net and pull in a bunch at a time, but this means you don’t get to interact with each one personally.  Yes the joy of knowing everyone is gone but the greater difference for the Kingdom makes it all worth it.

The truth is each of those people are still someone special and although I may not know them, God does.  However, that doesn’t mean they don’t need a relationship with someone from the church.  That’s why I’m so excited that small groups will soon be starting.  Everyone will have the chance to get connected into the deep meaningful relationships that we all so desperately desire and since it doens’t require me knowing everyone, together we’ll make a huge eternal impact on Chambersburg and beyond!

As promised from the last post, here’s the question from yesterday’s Connection Card. Why don’t we celebrate communion more often?

That’s a great question and the answer is two-fold.  First, we try to take it about every 6-8 weeks or so.  Depending on when holidays or other special events fall, it can sometimes be more or less often than that.  Jesus doesn’t give us a prescribed frequency, so it’s really a matter of personal preference.  I choose every 6 or so weeks because it’s not too often that it loses it’s significance but it’s also not so far apart that it gets neglected altogether. 

Second, remember that United is designed for people who are far from God, communion is not.  It is for believers only.  Now obviously a lot of believers enjoy United and are growing in their faith…so the fine line I have to walk is how can we occasionally fit this “very Christian activity” into an Experience for people for whom communion isn’t for. 

I think for the most part we do a pretty good job of incorporating it in, making it meaningful for the Christians while at the same time explaining to the non-Christians what’s going on and helping them not to feel uncomfortable.  However with that said in the future I’d like to every 2-3 months have a special Saturday evening Experience that is designed just for believers.  In it we could do some slower more intimate worship songs for a longer period of time than we normally have on a Sunday morning and we could also incorporate communion in so that it takes away the “dilemma” we face on Sunday mornings.