Gardening and Gathering
Welcome back from winter break!
Kle2 reunited last Friday at Klesis House, enjoying an evening of catching up with each other and readying ourselves for winter retreat! Although break was a spiritually difficult time for some of us, we were thankful for the chance to rest and be with family.
As Gracepoint Winter Gathering approached, we learned some lessons on gardening from Mark 4--though not gardening plants, but our hearts! We prayed our hearts would not like be a path upon which the Word deflects, or rocky soil in which the Word fails to take root, or thorny soil in which worldliness chokes out the Word altogether. Rather, our hearts should be like good soil, open to God's Word and bearing fruit from it.
Winter Gathering spiritually nourished and challenged many of us. Pastor Ed's message on Luke 11, about a house divided against itself, was especially poignant: though vices are evidently shameful and sinful, idolatry of wealth, competence, and romance tends to take deeper root in our hearts. We were urged to figure out exactly what we live for, and decide whether we'll make the daily tradeoffs to live for Jesus instead.
Best of luck with the new semester! May we remember all that God has taught and given to us.
-Lillian