Communion at 11:00

In the United Methodist Church, there are two sacraments:  baptism and communion.  A sacrament is a way in which we believe God communicates an inward and spiritual grace through outward and visible signs.  God imparts to his children grace through participation in the Lord's Supper (another term for communion...yet another term is "Eucharist," which simply means "Thanksgiving.")  

In the Roman Catholic tradition, communion is always a part of the worship gathering.  For many Roman-Catholics-turned-Protestants find it odd that Methodists don't have communion each week.  On the flip side, many long-time-Methodists find it odd to have communion more than once per month.  It is as if they believe that Jesus communicated to his disciples that they should "do this in remembrance of me [on the first Sunday of every month only]."  On the contrary, John Wesley (the founder of Methodism) urged the frequent practice of communion so that the grace of Jesus Christ could have every chance to impact God's children.

It is our desire to allow every opportunity for God to move in our worship gatherings - every way for God to communicate the grace that we so desperately need.  Thus we have begun offering weekly communion in our 11:00 worship gathering.  

What do you think?

Finally, a NEW POST!

Wow...it has been forever since our last post.  Here's a new one.

Building Project Pictures!

If you haven't noticed, we're going through a capital campaign this month! A major part of the new facility is being devoted to a worship space for Contemporary Worship (that's us!!). The architect has been working closely with our worshiping community to design an amazing space for us. We are excited about this opportunity, but the success of the campaign largely depends on your excitement! We need the financial commitment of members and "regular-attenders" alike.

Please take a moment to check out these pictures:

Christian Life Center - Phase One

Master Plan Floor Plan

Christian Life Center - 1st Floor, Floor Plan

Christian Life Center - 2nd Floor, Floor Plan

Christian Life Center - 3rd Floor, Floor Plan

Christian Life Center - Detailed Contemporary Worship, Floor Plan

If you'd like to see more, visit the website http://www.clearlakemethodist.org/ and click on the "Planning and Building Committee" button. After seeing the new space, there's no doubt that you'll want to get behind the project.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them here on this blog or email Andrew (andrew@clearlakemethodist.org) or John (john@clearlakemethodist.org).

Screen-less Bibles

Let your voice be heard:

What do you think of bringing your own Bible to worship instead of reading it off the screen?

Is it more or less worshipful?

Is it helpful to your study and knowledge of the Bible?

Is it difficult to read the words?

Let us know...

The Great Gad-Speech

Have you ever identified with Gad (or any of Joseph's other brothers)? They felt a huge burden of guilt from selling their brother into slavery. Then they were fearful that God was punishing them by causing a strange set of difficult circumstances to happen to them, when in fact, God was about to show them Grace.

When was a time that you experienced guilt and fear of God's "revenge"?

Did you experience Grace?

"Grace" Anatomy?

Last Sunday was our first week of a 5-week series called "Grace Anatomy." Yes, the name is cheesy and there really is no real tie-in to the TV show...sorry :)

Now the burning question in all of your minds might be...what does "Grace" have to do with the arrows on the backgrounds of all the media slides?

Good question...

Any guesses or comments?

Matt's Last Sunday

Matt's last Sunday was yesterday. He has been a great pastor, preacher, leader, and friend.

Do you have a message that you'd like to send him? Feel free to post it here.

If you've got a chance to surf the web, check out Matt's new church at www.thewatershedchurch.com