From the Worship Committee:    
Its hard to believe that 2008, our Year of Prayer is over.  We have incorporated different forms of prayer both in and outside of our Sunday services.  We have sung prayerful hymns.  We have experienced the Lord’s Prayer in different languages as a reminder that people all around the world are praying in the words Jesus taught us.  We have made banners that show our special meditations on Pentecost and Advent.  Special prayer services were held for Lent and for Advent. Pastor Barb taught classes on the saints and on forms of prayer. 

 As we look forward to a new year, we are also looking forward to a new theme, but that does not mean the Year of Prayer is all done and over, or that we can wrap up our Spiritual Gifts and put them on the shelf.  We can’t do those things any easier than we could put aside the Bible after our Year of the Bible.  Instead, we are seeking to build onto each year’s theme with the next in order to add layers of meaning to our spiritual lives. 

 With all of that in mind, the theme for 2009 will be the Year of Christ in Community.  We are currently working on both elements of Worship Service and activities outside of Sunday service that will enrich our sense of Community within the congregation, within the local community, and within the larger community.  Here are just a few of the things we are planning:

 We are making plans to have ways to get together with each other in small groups to share food, fun and companionship, which are ways to nurture and develop the bonds between us.  Interested?  Check out the “Dine with Nine” and Mah Jong groups.  In order to enrich our connection with the Chelsea area community, we will be making a greater commitment to Faith in Action in the form of a monthly gathering.  Each month we will gather 1 item or 1 type of item for Faith in Action...beginning with condiments (mayo, ketchup, mustard, etc) in January.  Our Mission Trip this year will fit right in to helping us connect with a larger community as we travel all the way to New Orleans on a home building trip.  There may even be an opportunity to volunteer in the nation’s poorest city, which is right here in Detroit.  Hopefully these activities and others can help bring us together as we reach out and in the process allow us to see where it is we fit into a larger Community in Christ.