Good Friday morning High Places,
This Sunday we continue our trek through "emotions" and follow-up on last week's dive into "Regret" with a look at the emotion of "lament." We're going to look at what we know about grief from a biblical perspective, and see how we're encouraged to grieve the right things, at the right times, in God's way. I hope you'll join us.
Because the themes of "regret" and "lament" are a little heavy, we are lightening things up with some help from Guru Gavin, which is simply meant to have a little fun. When we laugh together, or if the humor isn't hitting you, simply relax together it can ease anxiety for some on these kinds of topics, and open us up to receive a Word without tension. Our skits aren't meant to distract or be irreverent, quite the opposite actually. We want folks to feel at ease and to worship from places that easy... and fun. If the skits get a bit too much for you, our prayer is that you'll pray for others around that might find the fun opening them up and connecting with the message, and with God, in a unique way. And always, thank you all for the freedom to bump around with God and with each other, and in the freedom of the Spirit.
News and Notes...
We are working with a family who's apartment burned in a house fire. This family of five will most likely be staying with us at the Grove for a couple of days while the school system, TORCH, and the Red Cross figure out their next steps. If you feel led to bring a dinner down in a crockpot this weekend, please do! If you'd like to give to help support our efforts here, drop something in the box and designate it for "Extra Helps Ministry" and we will know how to use it.
On the topic of giving, two quick updates -- one is that our community's post-pandemic needs have been significant and we've been getting quite a few calls for assistance. We're already beyond what we spent last year on benevolence and still have about three months to go, with the holidays usually being the time of biggest need. Two, we did fall behind in the month of August some compared to June and July. Giving to High Places is as simple as dropping something in the box near the entrance of the lobby, or by visiting:
https://highplaceschurch.breezechms.com/give/online
ARK-Tober is coming for our children's ministry and quickly taking shape. On October 22, our mountain movers will travel by bus to the Ark Adventure. This one-day trip is sure to be a memory-maker, and we ask for all High Places folk to be in prayer for this interesting and unique experience. How might God use a trip like this to speak, grow, and build our children's ministries. If you would like more information this trip, please let Kady Marcotte know.
Saturday, October 29 our "Monster Fest" returns to the Grove from 2:00 to 4:00. This year in addition to meeting the monsters, we will host magician Danny Whitson for a magic show to kick things off at 2:00 PM. While the event is free, we're also hoping to help our High Places Cub Scout pack by letting them handle concessions to raise a little money. We're very excited for this event and hope you invite all the kids you know, and maybe come down to volunteer as well!
I hope everyone has a great weekend. Keep me in prayer please as I will be officiating the wedding between our good High Places friends, Brett Beeler and Dora McPeak. After thirteen years of being together (they started dating at age 14!!) Brett and Dora will tie the knot tomorrow. Pray for the marriage, and pray that the ceremony captures both their love and the love of Christ.
Blessing to everyone,
David