we call them VISION Cookies...

Life lived to the full begins with a gift - the gift of God's Son to us and for us.  Likewise, we're launching The Year of Living Dangerously in the same way, with a gift.  If you were with us in worship on Sunday you should have taken home a gift box.  Yes, it was a Chinese take out box, and yes there were cookies inside, but there were no fortunes or lottery numbers found inside of these cookies.  We call them Vision Cookies.  They have 9 different phrases from 6 authors on thoughts that speak to the life lived dangerously, faithfully and fully.  If you missed us on Sunday, there are still boxes left (and there is more in them than just Vision Cookies), and you can pick one up next week.

Now that most of you have hopefully opened up the gift boxes and have taken part in the cookies inside, what quotes spoke to you or challenged you?  How is God speaking to you so far in these very early stages of TYLD?

...and we're off!

Welcome to The Year of Living Dangerously (TYLD).  When we talk about 2012 as The Year of Living Dangerously at ECC, let's be clear about what we do and do not mean.  We do not mean, as Pastor Bo shared in his sermon on January 1, that this will be a year of living stupidly.  As he said, that is one way to live dangerously.  That is not what we mean or what we are after.  It is certainly not what Jesus is after!

What we mean is that when it comes to knowing God, following Jesus and pursuing God's purposes in the world, caution will not rule the day.  Obedience will rule the day.  Faith will rule the day.  Joy, life, love, service, righteousness and justice will rule the day.  These are not areas in which we should be cautious.  These are areas in which we should boldly go forth, trusting God and willingly going "off-road" when he calls us.

So much of life in our society is about playing it safe, calculating risks and covering all of our bases.  We do not like risk.  I certainly do not like risk - not enough to make it a way of life, at least!  However, I do believe that risk is an important aspect of faith.  The logo for this year incorporates a caution sign, of sorts, but it is a caution sign with a twist.  The sign shows a fork in the road.  It "warns us" of the landscape ahead.  There is a safe road and one that breaks through our overly-cautious approach to following Jesus.  Our hope for us all in this TYLD is that we "break through" to greater levels of faith, prayer, community, mission and discipleship.  We believe that doing so will prepare us for what God has in mind to do in and through us in the years to come.

How do you respond when you hear us talk about risk and living dangerously?  Does it challenge you?  Concern you?  Thrill you?  Tell us why by joining this site (on the right) and posting a comment.  Peace!

launching next Sunday!

In less than a week we will launch The Year of Living Dangerously!  Over the past few months pastors and council have been praying and sensing God's leading.  In our times of prayer four words have come to us: Discipleship, Prayer, Community and Mission.  In addition to these four words we have sensed God calling us to embrace 2012 as a year of preparation, purity and equipping.  If we are to be faithful and embrace the Missio Dei (the Sending of God) into the world, we need to be prepared.  This is all about becoming healthy disciples in terms of our relationships with God (prayer), with one another (community) and with our world (mission).  Our goal in all of this is that we all become better equipped to live out our faith and bear witness to the present and coming Kingdom of God in the 97% of our waking hours spent outside of ECC - passionately and effectively pursuing the purposes of God in the world!


Please join us in praying for ECC, The Year of Living Dangerously and all that God wants us to become in 2012.  We launch this Sunday, January 8!  I pray you'll not only be physically present, but truly present - in heart, mind and spirit, as well.  Sign up on the right to join this blog site and participate in the conversation!