Southpoint News March 9, 2017

Unfamiliar Territory

Someone said to me after church on Sunday, “There can’t be too many churches in Canada using the enneagram for a sermon series.” Gulp. I confess I’ve led us down into strange territory this lent. We’re doing an eclectic mash up of the beatitudes, enneagram types, and scriptural passages, all to help us stop, look, and ask for the ancient paths that bring rest to our souls.  It’s not just a journey into possibly unfamiliar material, it also might be a journey into unfamiliar territory within.

It is not easy to look oneself square in the eyes and say, “I see you!”, but that is what we’re up to this lent.  We’re taking the risk of traveling inward, sifting through our desires, our fears, our patterns of emotion, thought, and behavior…looking for repeating patterns, letting the Holy Spirit reveal the bits of us that are yearning, hurt, disordered and discarded.  And to make matters worse, or perhaps better, we are doing this not alone, but in community:)

Why are we doing this?  We are inviting the Holy Spirit to lead us into cries of deliverance and prayers of repentance. Listen to these words, they capture so much of my desire for each of us this season: “Repentance is not about getting things right for God, but allowing God to come and rescue me…when we become people who have been restored to who we truly are, when we are rescued and loved and held and know our worth to the One, we become people who rescue and restore and love. That’s what Lent is all about…” – Tara Owens

Calendar

March 10th   Youth Group, 6 pm, Hubbard Home

March 12th   Sunday Service @ 11:15 “The Desire for Knowledge and the Way of Greed” Speaker: Anne Smith with Jason Goode

March 19th   Sunday Service @ 11:15. “The Desire for Security and the Way of Fear” Speaker:  Anne Smith with Craig Smith

March 24th   Youth Group: 6 pm, Hubbard Home

March 26th   ALL OUT GATHERING GROUPS: Group Exploration: “The Desire for Pleasure and the Way of Gluttony”

April 2nd      Sunday Service @ 11:15 “The Desire for Power and the Way of Lust” Speaker: Anne Smith with ?

April 9th       Palm Sunday Service @ 11:15 “The Desire for Peace and the Way of Sloth” Speaker: Anne Smith with ?

April 16th      Easter Service @ 11:15

Community News

• A Chance to Learn More about the Enneagram; If you have found the desires and disorders of the enneagram a helpful guide and would like to know more, I’ll offer a session on Monday, April 10th @ 7-9  in the Shiloh Shelter, Kingfisher Farm as a way of drawing the pieces together and entering more intentionally into the Passion of Jesus during Holy Week. He died to release us from the disorder of death and draw us into life.  Come Lord Jesus come! Please RSVP if you plan on attending.
• A Reminder to bring your survey back…Please bring your feedback survey that was  circulated this week, both in church and via email. It would be most helpful if we could have it this Sunday.
• Baptisms and Dedication: I will begin a baptism class after Easter for young folk in our church who have expressed a desire to be baptized.  The baptism will take place on the last Sunday of June. If you or your child are interested, please contact me. Alternatively, if you would like your child to be dedicated at any point, please do let me know.
• An Invitation from Brent and Jesse to Men  Lenten Spirits and Sabbath Practice: 7 Saturdays of Lent at Kingfisher Farm, Shiloh Shelter, 8:30-9:30. Spirits and Sabbath are best enjoyed in community. Come to one or all of these evenings of whiskey sipping, sabbath exploring conversations.  If you want to be involved let us know what brand of spirit you are planning on bringing so that we do not bring the same brand. It would also be great if you could bring some kind of reading ( prose) that would fit with the sabbath theme or the spirits theme. Reading material that you have found inspirational and helpful on these topics.  The last Saturday (Holy Saturday) we will be having a sauna as well, so plan to stay a bit later. Bring your own favourite glass for drinking spirits.
• An Invitation from Anne to Women: Friday evening, March 31st, Anne’s place on Kingfisher Farm at 8:00 PM. What are your desires for us as women of Southpoint?  Are we content connecting informally, or is there a desire for more intentional ways of showing up in one another’s lives? The men are modeling some pretty cool connection – what would we like?  Let’s talk about it! Brings something to nibble or drink that you’d like to share, plus any ideas/opinions you might have:)
• ??An Easter Experience – RSVP! How about we get a group together to go see “Testament” at the Pacific Theatre, Saturday April the 15th for the 2 p.m. matinee? Brent, who serves on the board of PT, is willing to arrange tickets for us. If more that 10 go together, the PT will give us the group rate of only $20 per person. They have also given us the possibility of reserving seats ahead of time and only paying for half of them up front and then paying the rest when we go take in the experience.  Interested?  Let Brent know ASAP. Check it out: http://pacifictheatre.org/season/2016-2017-season/secondstage/testament
• Love little ones and desire to see them grow in God? ?We are in need of another teacher for our Sprouts (3-6 year olds) class! Please talk to Jen Hubbard if you think this might be a good fit for you.