Christmas Party Dec. 21st

This coming Sunday we're celebrating Christmas with friends. Come at 6 o'clock, and bring a side dish to share. We'll also be doing a white elephant gift exchange--kids too!! It will be a great opportunity to meet some new friends or spend time with old friends. Either way, it should be a fun time. We'll meet at 2874 Kenwood Blvd. in the Old Orchard neighborhood.

We'll see you then.

3rd Week of Advent--December 14th

We're looking forward to celebrating the 3rd week of Advent when we gather for worship this week. Last week we also explored the first chapter of Luke's gospel account of the birth of Jesus. This week we'll be digging into Luke chapter 2. If you've ever wanted to know more about Christmas, this is a great way to find out. We'd enjoy your input.

We'll be meeting at 2874 Kenwood Blvd at 6:00 p.m. Good food and childcare are provided. Hope to see you there.

Advent Week 2: PEACE

We will gather at 2874 Kenwood Blvd. this coming Sunday evening at 6pm for our weekly bible study. Feel free to join us. Coffee and dessert as well as childcare will be provided.

We will be looking at the story from Luke's Gospel about the birth of Jesus. We will also be celebrating the second week of Advent.

May the peace of Christ be with you.

Happy Thanksgiving

In honor of the day, here is a thought from Henri Nouwen quoted by Brennan Manning in "Ruthless Trust" (I highly recommend the book, btw):

"To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives--the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections--that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only grateful people when we can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for. Let's not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God."

We will meet this coming Sunday evening at 6 p.m. as usual at 2874 Kenwood Blvd. Food and chlidcare are provided, but if you want to bring leftover Thanksgiving pie, we won't turn it down.

Peace,
Andy

Sunday, November 23rd @ 6 p.m.

Thanksgiving will soon be here, and we have much to be thankful for at Emmaus Road Church. God has been faithful to us by providing opportunities for us to serve and connect with our community. It's been a great year so far.

We hope you'll join us this coming Sunday evening as we connect with God through scripture, prayer, singing, and sharing life together. As always, food and childcare are provided. Bring a snack if you'd like, or just bring yourself. Either way is great.

Look forward to seeing you.

Sunday, November 16th @ 6 p.m.

We look forward to getting together to see what God will share with us this week through His word, through music, and through our conversation together.

Please remember that food and childcare are provided. If you'd like, you're welcome to bring a snack or side to share with the rest of us.

Hope to see you then.

This Sunday @ 6:00 p.m.

Some new people have said they're going to stop by this week. Our hope is that as we all gather together that Christ will be revealed among us, through His word, His Spirit, and through His body--the Church. We're looking forward to a great worship gathering.

As we always say, food and childcare are provided. You're more than welcome to bring one of your favorite snacks or side dishes to share.

Hope to see you then.

2874 Kenwood Blvd. 3 blocks north of UT.

Tent City and Worship Gathering This Weekend!

Tent City is this weekend. We're planning on going downtown to be there, but not yet sure what time(s). We might even go to the worship service scheduled for Sunday morning. If you would like more information about going with Emmaus Road Church to Tent City, please call the church at 419-389-7477.

We will be having our weekly worship gathering at 2874 Kenwood Blvd. Time is 6 p.m. and food and childcare are provided. As usual, if you'd like to bring a favorite recipe or dessert to share, we won't say no. ;-)

See you then.

Tent City Collection and Sunday's Gathering

Our Tent City 2008 was a great success with people from Old Orchard and the community donating items this year. The kids also got some coloring in. I'll copy a few pictures below.

Also, we will be gathering this week on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. to connect with God and each other. As always, there's food and child care provided. Bring a food item to share if you'd like. See you then.

Tent City Collection this Saturday

You're welcome to drop off the following items this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at Emmaus Road Church at 2614 Central Avenue (next to Durdel's Music):

Backpacks, men’s and women’s winter coats, hats, gloves, jeans, sweatshirts or long underwear, as well as personal hygiene items including soap, disposable razors, deodorant, shaving cream, feminine hygiene items, dental floss, toothbrushes, tooth paste, alcohol-free mouthwash, shampoo, tissues, and combs/Brushes.

These items will be donated to Tent City 2008 and will be distributed at the Tent City event to Toledo's homeless and less fortunate on October 31st through November 2nd.

Also, we will gather together this coming Sunday at 6 p.m. as usual at 2874 Kenwood Blvd. for Bible study, some food, and sharing together. Bring a snack if you'd like. Childcare is provided.

Hope to see you then.

Emmaus Road Church Building Photos

Just wanted to give a quick look at the building we're going to be leasing for Emmaus Road Church. It's a ways from being finished (inside) but we're excited about how God is going to use it to reach our neighborhood and community. Thought you'd like a look.

October 12th Worship Gathering and Tent City Info

Hey, we're getting together again this Sunday at 6 p.m. to connect with God and each other. Bring some food or just enjoy ours--there's always plenty. Childcare is provided. 2874 Kenwood Blvd. 3 blocks north of UT.

We'll be talking about our involvement with Tent City 2008. It's coming up quick, and we've got some plans on how to be involved.

Hope to see you then.

October 5th Worship Gathering and Meal @ 5:30 p.m.

This Sunday we hope you'll come on over for a meal and a time of connecting--with each other and with God. As always, we welcome anyone who is on the journey to discover what life is all about. At Emmaus Road Church, you're welcome to belong before you believe (even if you never believe, you're certainly welcome to share life with us).

This week, we're starting with a meal at 5:30. Bring any dish or dessert that you like sharing with others. We're all doing the same thing. And, as usual, childcare is provided.

Hope to see you then.

Worship Gathering September 28th @ 6:00 p.m.

We hope you'll join us this coming Sunday evening at 6 p.m. for a time of food, friendship, and Bible study. If you have a favorite food item you'd like to share, you're welcome to bring it along. Also, childcare is provided.

We currently meet at 2874 Kenwood Blvd, just three blocks north of UT. Hope to see you then.

Join us September 21st @ 6 p.m.

Who is the Holy Spirit? That question can sound strange for some people--even people who've been around the Church for a long time. This coming Sunday we're going to talk about who the Holy Spirit is and how He brings the reality of Christ into our lives.

We'd love to have you meet with us as we meet with God. As always, food and childcare are provided. If you're so inclined, bring one of your favorite food items to share--we've never turned anyone away yet bearing a plate of chocolate chip cookies. (Okay, we've never turned anyone away--even without cookies) We're at 2874 Kenwood Blvd. On the corner of Kenwood and Goddard just north of UT.

September 14th

Join us tonight at 6:00 as we discuss how the mystery of God's guidance in our spiritual journey in this life. As always, food and childcare are provided, but you can bring a snack to share if you'd like.

Labor Day International Picnic

We're having a picnic Monday at noon featuring food from around the world. Our neighbors and friends from China, Mexico, Cuba, d'Bronx, and maybe elsewhere will be there. It should be a great time just being with one another. Bring a dish from your country or just something you love to share.

Please join us if you can. 12 p.m. at 2874 Kenwood Blvd. On the corner of Kenwood and Goddard in Old Orchard.

Sunday August 24th

We're meeting this coming Sunday evening at 6:00. As always, there's food and childcare so come if your hungry for food or just hungry for some time to think without the kids. We'll be discussing the subject of prayer.

As a heads up, we're also looking to put together an international dinner sometime in the coming months. We've met so many people from different parts of our beautiful world and we thought it would be a great way to celebrate community and culture in a way that pleases God. Watch for details to come.

August 17th Worship Gathering

We're gathering together again this week on Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. We will be exploring the topic of prayer: How and Why Do We Pray? We hope you'll join us as we seek to grow in our journey in Jesus Christ.

Worship with Us August 10th

We're meeting this Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. Food and childcare provided. The format will probably be slightly different, but it should be a good evening. Hope to see you then.

Worship Gathering August 3rd

We hope you'll join us this coming Sunday evening at 6p.m. as we talk about Jesus Christ and our faith in an open discussion. We'll have childcare provided and food for everyone. If you'd like to bring something, go ahead. We love sharing whatever gifts we have to offer one another. If you have any questions, drop us a line. See you then.

No Meeting This Sunday Night

We will not be meeting as usual this Sunday night. We will resume meetings on Sunday, August 3rd and discussion the question "Why did Jesus have to die?"

Hope to see you then.

Big Questions

For the next few months we're going to be tackling some of the big questions in life. If you've ever had some of the following questions, then this might be for you:

Christianity: Boring, Untrue, Irrelevant
Who is Jesus?
Why Did Jesus Die?
How Can I Be Sure of My Faith?
Why and How Do I Pray?
Why and How Should I Read the Bible?
How Does God Guide Us?
Who Is the Holy Spirit?
What Does the Holy Spirit Do?
How Can I Be Filled with the Spirit?
How Can I Resist Evil?
Why and How Should We Tell Others?
Does God Heal Today?
What About the Church?

If you'd like to explore some of these issues, or you're simply looking to make some new friends and meet people who care, then stop by. We meet at 2874 Kenwood Blvd.

Food and childcare is provided.

Old Orchard Garage Sales

Tomorrow is the annual Old Orchard garage sale. It will be our first one since we've only lived here 3 months. I guess it's going to be somewhat chaotic from what I hear.

We're hoping to meet a lot of people at the sale. We're planning on music, flyers, and just hanging out talking to people. We really like getting to know new people and mixing it up with our neighbors, so it should be a lot of fun. We're also hoping that God's going to do some cool things through this event.

If you happen to stop by this website as a result of the garage sale, we hope you might come and join us for one of the Sunday evening gatherings here at our home where we share good conversation and good food. We meet Sundays @ 6 p.m. at 2874 Kenwood Blvd.

Hope to see you then. Enjoy the garage sales!

Hungering and Thirsting

Last night we listened and reflected on the blessing, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled." One comment in my study of the passage stood out. The writer noted that hunger is a sign of health. Lack of hunger a sign of sickness. In a certain sense the writer is saying we can gauge our health by how hungry we are for God's righteousness.
In reading and listening to these blessings, I've begun to notice how much they have to do with our dispositions. Poor in spirit, mourning, meekness--each of these is bourne out of a heart disposition which recognizes our finiteness. If that is so, then to hunger and thirst is a natural result; when we are empty of ourselves, only then can we truly begin to experience a hunger and thirst to fill.
What do you think?

Blessed are the Meek

Tonight we listened to Jesus' words "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth." Our hunch is that, just like the rest of the beatitudes, meekness must be understood as arising from the heart and will. The beatitudes are less prescriptive and more descriptive--this is how things are in the kingdom. These are the kinds of people, the state of the heart, of those who belong to God's kingdom. Meekness, then, describes more a state of being than of doing.

Next week we'll attempt to explore what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Maybe we'll see you there. Peace.

A Prayer for Today

O Lord our God, give us grace to desire you with a whole heart,
that so desiring you we may seek you and find you;
and so finding you, may love you;

and loving you, may hate those sins from which you have redeemed us,

for Jesus Christ’s sake.
Amen.

--St. Anselm 1033-1109

The Blessings

Last Sunday night, 8 of us met to begin discussing what it means to live in the Kingdom of God as found in the Beatitudes or the Blessings. So we began with the first 11 verses of chapter 5 in Matthew's Gospel. We looked closely at what Jesus meant by the "poor in spirit" and will explore the rest of the beatitudes in the following weeks. This next week we'll be talking about "blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted", and we're to bring an example or two that we think might relate to the topic. E.g. a story of someone mourning at a funeral or of someone mourning over a social ill.

If you'd like to join us, we meet at 6:00 on Sunday evenings for some snacks, sharing life, and discussing the Bible and faith. Our address is 2874 Kenwood Blvd. We're on the northeast corner of Kenwood and Goddard in the brick house. All are welcome.

Hope to see you there.

We're All On A Journey

Welcome to Emmaus Road:
Whether you are here seeking God or just friendship . . .
Whether you confess Jesus as Lord or are only curious about Him . . .
Whether you’re a part of this faith community or another one . . .
Whether you agree with everything we teach or simply agree to disagree (respectfully) . . .
We welcome you as Jesus openly welcomes all who seek life and value life in others.

What you’ll discover here is a gathering of people seeking to live life to its fullest—life embodying everything our Creator designed and desires for us to be. We hope you’ll also discover here a place of acceptance and belonging among us. But even more than that, we hope you’ll find your place of belonging and acceptance with God through Jesus Christ.

Bob Dylan once reflected on his life, “I was born a long way from home, and I’m just trying to get back.”

We all were.

We hope you’ll join us on the journey.