| Jesus Has Room...Do You? |
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Room in the Inn was established as a response to God's call to care for the homeless. This ministry began after Father Charles Strobel of Nashville, Tennessee, invited those he witnessed sleeping in their cars outside his rectory window on a cold December night.
He opened the doors of the Holy Name Catholic Church cafeteria that night and the ministry grew from that one act of kindness.
There are now more then 250 interfaith congregations participating in Nashville and hundreds more have been established in other cities across the county.
During the past year, fifty-eight UCC members have completed the mandatory training necessary to volunteer their time at one of the Room in the Inn locations in Fort Worth.
"...I was a stranger and you welcomed me...." Matthew 25:35
For more info, please click here. |
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Hospitality Team Greeter: Assures all worshipers are warmly welcomed.
Sacred Space: Develops & implements the installation of worship decor for prayer stations & communion table.
Media Assistant: Assists in the visual worship elements.
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Taking the Teachings of Jesus Seriously... |
 Recently one of the summer interns here at UCC (Jessi) alerted me to an incredible retelling of the scriptures. The book is called "The Word on the Street", crafted by Rob Lacey. Iʼve been pouring through it while getting ready for a series of keynotes at a conference in California, where the theme is WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS IS?
Today I was a little taken aback by some of the commentary by Rob in this book when discussing what the debaters were thinking of this upstart guy from Nazareth.
"Opinions range from ʻdangerous impostorʼ to a ʻcourierʼ, to ʻthe Liberator himselfʼ. The religious suits mostly sign up to the first and second guards to arrest [Jesus]. But they come back virtually converted! Mission aborted." (p.292).
One of the values that we crave and live by at The Search is to take the teachings of Jesus seriously.
But how seriously?
Enough to ostracize ourselves as we struggle with
implementing them into our lives? Enough to be so converted by The Way that we sign ourselves up for more and more? Enough that we are so overwhelmed and liberated that we cannot wait to share the changes in our lives?
At The Search, it is my hope that we struggle together, asking really hard questions about the message of Jesus and holding one another up as we stumble, as we pray, as we learn to live more and more out of the revolutionary, liberating, phenomenal love of Christ in our midst.
Thanks for partnering with me as we seek the Sacred in our midst and dream the new dream of creation and kingdom here and now!
- Suzanne Castle-Rolen, Minister
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What Did Jesus Have to Say? |
 How often do we actually take a look at what Jesus had to say, I mean pull it out, immerse ourselves in it and try to understand every teaching (even the ones we don't particularly like)?
I was recently part of a bible study that looked at four of the "Tough sayings of Jesus," some of those that we really just want to overlook or ignore. This study helped remind me of something...we do not get to pick and choose what teachings we should follow, but that we should be taking Jesus' teachings seriously, all of them. They're all from the same source, there is no reason to follow one and discard another.
It is easy to brush aside something that isn't quite convenient such as the story of the rich, young ruler who is told to sell everything and follow Jesus, as this is something difficult for most of us.
However, as the body of Christ, we should not be taking something Christ says with a grain of salt.
So I challenge all of us to take a look at everything that Jesus taught, not just the things that we want to apply to our lives, but not only to look at them but really take them seriously as sayings of Jesus.
Alec Ylitalo, Campus Ministry Intern
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| Upcoming Highlights |
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* New Series: The Power of Worship
During the month of August we will be exploring a new series: "The Power of Worship"
We will gather together to explore the power of Peace, the power of Hope, the power of Community, the power of the Gospel, and the power of the Table.
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 12:29PM 
