[amc] a note from the pastor
- From: Garland Robertson <pastor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Austin Mennonite Church <amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:55:33 -0500
Members and Friends of Austin Mennonite Church
I pray you are finding nourishment and adventure as you submit to the
promise of God's recreative engagement in our world.
Laura and I have returned safely, from a refreshing visit in Italy and
from the CPT work in Iraq and Turkey. We are continually grateful for
the experience of community with you as we together seek to honor the
intention of God for human relationship. Thank you for your ministry to
the church in our absence and the service you continually give to each
other according to the capacities with which you have each been blessed.
This month (September) we will have an opportunity to recommit ourselves
to be church together. Each Sunday during the offering time in worship
service a confession can be signed indicating individual commitment to
be a part of Austin Mennonite Church. I am copying this covenant
relationship below for your awareness.
We will also be sharing communion together. This ritual will continue
to be a part of our worship experience on each first Sunday of the
month. However since we have not recently participated in this
expression of our abiding relationship both with Jesus our leader and
with each other, we will also receive communion this next sunday.
And the second Sunday ritual for persons to receive oil and a prayer for
blessing and wholeness will be offered. Jesus healed many during his
ministry as a sign of the kingdom of God having come among the people.
Healing encompasses all dimensions of our human experience and in faith
we believe God will bring this wholeness to us according to the divine
initiative. All persons who are suffering may come and receive a sign
of healing and wholeness in the name of the one who has promised to lead
us into abundant life.
May it go well with you. Sincerely,
Garland Robertson
*Austin** **Mennonite** **Church** Covenant*
September 2009
We believe that there is one God, from whom are all things and for whom
we exist, and one Christ, Jesus, who is the salvation of God sent to
call us to repentance and faithfulness in God's new covenant.
As believers, we are the temple of God's Holy Spirit who guides us as we
search the scriptures and live our lives. Our faith is shown by our
doing God's will in our relationships with God and with our neighbors.
As members of the Austin Mennonite Church we commit ourselves:
--to meet together regularly for worship, study, prayer, and fellowship.
--to support each other as brothers and sisters in Christ: spiritually,
emotionally, materially, and by giving and receiving counsel.
Supporting each other involves the nurture of the families among us:
children, married couples and single adults.
--to share and use the gifts, both spiritual and material, that God has
given us. This includes sharing in the leadership of the congregation.
--to live, by God's grace, as those whom Christ called to be
peacemakers: renouncing violence in the resolution of conflict; bringing
justice and reconciliation in our world; and demonstrating the love of
God among us and in the broken world around us.
--to live responsibly as caretakers of the environment, God's world,
and to live with the awareness of the needs of others around the world.
--to share the good news with all persons in the world around us and to
welcome into our community all people who desire to follow the way of Jesus.
--to share the Anabaptist vision with our neighbors and friends so that
this community is a growing congregation and witness to God's love.
--to reevaluate and renew our covenant, our commitment to God and to
each other, on an annual basis.
We confess that in attempting to meet these goals we sometimes miss the
mark. However, with God's guidance and the nurture of this
congregation, we will continue striving in our fellowship and community
to further the Kingdom of God. May all that we do be for the honor and
glory of God.
-------
Austin Mennonite Church, (512) 926-3121 www.mennochurch.org
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