Invite, Welcome, Connect

​Our summer months begin with the festival of Pentecost (6/5) which celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the church as the Spirit gathers together believers into one body; and with Holy Trinity Sunday (6/12) which celebrates the Three-in-One as a God of relationship within God’s self and as a God who invites us into relationship with the divine. Here at CLC, building relationships and community has been identified by our Pathfinder team as an area for us to concentrate on and so that will be the focus of our summer months. One of the blessings of moving to one 9:30 service during the summer is that we can all be together for both worship and fellowship. We have the opportunity to be united in song and prayer during worship, and in fellowship, we get to catch up with folks we haven’t seen for a while and meet new people who have been attending “the other service.” In fact, here is a challenge for the summer: every Sunday, plan to stay after worship for fellowship and make a point of talking to someone you haven’t spoken for a long time or of introducing yourself to someone you haven’t met yet or of stopping by the zoom table in the rear of the sanctuary and chatting with our online community. Also plan to participate in some of the activities the Pathfinders are planning to build community. For example, reservations are now being taken for tickets to the Giants baseball game outing planned for Sept 3. (see details in this newsletter.)
This summer our council and Pathfinder team will also be intentionally looking at building relationship and community here at CLC by working through a book entitled Invite, Welcome, Connect: Stories and Tools to Transform Your Church by Mary Foster Palmer. The premise of the book is that all three: invitation, welcome and connection, like the legs of a stool are necessary to create and sustain the relationships that form the basis of a vibrant congregation. The entire congregation is of course needed to build these relationships and everyone is invited to join the leadership teams in reading this book. I have ordered several extra copies; just let me know if you’d like to borrow one. In any case, stayed tuned to hear more about what we learn and to get involved so that CLC becomes known as a place of invitation, welcome and connection. 
Blessings,
Pastor Sue