Changes at Grove Park 

The members of Grove Park Christian Church would like to welcome the newly formed Grove Park Unitarian Universalist Congregation, which will share our name and our excellent facility on J. P. Harrison Boulevard. What a great opportunity for us to provide a fine place for this new group of concerned citizens and spiritual seekers to gather and meet.  They plan to meet the 2nd and 4th Sundays at 4 PM and their kick-off Sunday is September 11 at 4.  We wish the UUs well and hope them every success as they offer a compliment to Christian worship and provide an experience for the broad expression of faith, religious and philosophical understanding.  Join them and see what they are all about, and expect to hear more from the GPUUs, and soon witness them in action through social justice and peace initiatives in Kinston and Lenoir County. Don't miss their first Sunday offering!  Go to GPUU.org

And one more big change --Rev. Jack Anglin has moved on to a new ministry in Va Beach at Chalice Christian Church.  Jack served GPCC for more than four years.  We wish him and his wife Antoinette all the best and keep them in our prayers as we are sure we remain in their thoughts and prayers. 

 

2011 General Assembly

Videos from Nashville, Tennessee



christianchurchdoc on livestream.com. 

http://www.disciples.org/GeneralAssembly/tabid/59/Default.aspx

The 2011 General Assembly was recently held in Nashville Tennessee. The worship events along with major addresses were streamed live and are also available now. Clicking on the poster image above or one of the links below will give you access to several videos. You may want to skip ahead and hunt for the main content, as these videos are uncondensed and average between 90 and 120 minutes. iPhone and mobile users can download the Livestream app.

http://www.livestream.com/christianchurchdoc

 
Titian's idea of the Day of Pentecost --from a private collection

The Day of Pentecost was celebrated weeks ago! Perhaps there is no greater confusion in the church over any other event or experience than that concerning the Holy Spirit and this great Day of Pentecost.  We are all over the place when the church tries to talk about the Holy Spirit.  Try flipping those words around to read The Spirit of Holiness and maybe we can begin to come closer to some understanding.  As a child I was taught about THE HOLY GHOST!!!  I'm sure I wasn't the only confused kid who heard that and other religious terms and got the wrong picture in my head.  Another picture I had was that of Jesus Christ, "Scientist" --as was declared on the marquee of the Christian Science Church we passed almost daily --I could just see Jesus with a white lab coat, protective goggles and a handful of test tubes.  And the misheard "bomb in Gilead" was another puzzle for me. What a dope!

 The Pentecost sermon approached the confusion about the Holy Spirit and hoped to light a fire under and upon all who heard that day, so that the good news of Pentecost Day would not be missed, misunderstood or misapprehended. The following week was Trinity Sunday --speaking of misunderstood!  Now we are in the long season that some think of a between time --between Easter/Pentecost and Advent --between the high holy days.  Looks like we've got our clarifying work cut out for us.

  
Rembrandt's interpretation of the light bulb coming on for the myopic Emmaus Disciples

In Between Time is Past

 
The church was in a curious period --chronologically as we were retracing  the post-resurrection stories between Easter, Ascension and then Pentecost, but also in real time as citizen/saints of the early 21st century.  Some people would like to express that as a middle time, as the period before some later appearance of Jesus still to come. I prefer to encourage us to hear what Jesus had to say to the  disciples during that period, concerning the point of being present to the moment and active in his spirit every day. 

Reading the lectionary and the end of the Gospels we discovered there is much more to come. And we saw how those disciples whom Jesus met on the road to Emmaus are very good cartoons of you and me when we are feeling sorry for ourselves, confused, hurt, worried, and fearful --for some that is most of the time!  But in the breaking of bread something happened --and it will happen again this Sunday and every Sunday --in every season of the church. Don't miss it! It means all the difference for you and for the world!