| I’m writing this on Monday and still basking in the bright light of a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl win that was tremendously stressful, but full of great company and memories. The last several years my father and I have watched the Super Bowl together and cheered on the Chiefs together. This year, the travel distance just made it not very practical, but I still felt like we were sharing that experience, nonetheless. After the game, I immediately called him and we shared our highs and lows about how we didn’t think they were going to pull it off, but how wild the celebration was when they did. Being in a new place with new people has made me reflect a lot on finding community and what it means to journey through life together with others. The most obvious way that we build and find community is by spending time and sharing experiences with each other. The shared experience of being with new friends Sunday night and celebrating a big win together creates a powerful bond of memories that will be drawn upon and reminisced on. However, there is one area of shared experience that builds community deeper than a big win that isn’t necessarily mutually exclusive, but often part of the journey to get there. That type of shared experience is when we suffer together. If we think about the people that we are closest to, the people that we have the deepest connections with, they’re inevitably the people who we have walked with during the hardest times. They have cared for us, and we have cared for them. We’ve seen each other at our most broken and vulnerable places, the place where we were/are the most exposed and felt/feel the ugliest, and yet were/are still loved. Friends, this is where the deepest and most binding community happens. This is what I long for our faith community going forward and so many of you have found as fellow sojourners of Friendswood Friends body in the past. As I said a few months ago, the real depth of our community will be in proportion to our ability to be messy with one another. With love and hope, Joshua  You are invited to join us in reading Lent and Easter Wisdom from Henri J.M. Nouwen during the Lenten Season. If interested, books will be available for purchase Sunday in the foyer for $12. Alternatively, click below to purchase the book directly from Amazon.Order Lenten Reader  Join us on March 3rd after the service to enjoy a meal and fellowship together. Click below to sign up online or look for the paper sign-up in the Coffee Cafe. Potluck Sign-Up  Registration is now open on our website. Click here for Dude Camp Registration .  We are excited to have Melissa Smith directing us again for an Easter performance. We hope you feel encouraged to join us in singing. Contact Bobby for more information.  All children, potty-trained 3 year olds-5th graders, are welcome to dive into VBS. Church family registration opens February 25th.  Spring Connection participants are fundraising for their travel costs with a Giving Grid. They have posted their grids to social media, and have asked family and friends for donations. On Sunday, February 25, right after the worship service, the congregation will have a chance to donate towards the travel fees of those attending. Stop by the coffee cafe, meet the Spring Connection team, and claim a square or a few squares on the Giving Grids. Thank you from the Spring Connection team.Sunday Evening Activities     Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12,14 |
