As we round out the end of our “True Presence” annual focus, we can start to look at what is coming with the new annual focus year.
Our annual focus for the 2023-24 Church year that will start on December 3rd is going to be “A Jesus Centered Community”. That phrase hopefully sounds familiar. It is the “identity statement” that we have been using for 15 years here at University Lutheran. In fact, “A Jesus Centered Community” is the first of four annual foci that will unpack that identity statement. After this year we will look at what it means for us to be a “Community of Scripture” and “Community of Grace” and a “Community of Faith”. But this year, we are examining particularly what it means for us to be “A Jesus Centered Community”.
As we begin this focus year in December, we will start it off with three initiatives:
Walking with Jesus – How better to live out being “Jesus Centered” than to walk His steps throughout the year? This initiative will be what I’m calling an “All Congregation Bible Study”. The idea is to walk through the 89 chapters of the four Gospel accounts in one year. We will do this by reading 2 chapters of the Gospels each week during the year. Resources will be available for individuals and small groups to study and understand these readings.
Red Letter Living – In addition to reading Jesus’ words in “Walking with Jesus,” we are going to engage with weekly activity challenges that have been sketched out by LCMS pastor Rev. Zach Zehnder in his book “the Red Letter Challenge”. Each week we will engage with a “red letter” phrase (the words of Jesus, as depicted in some Bibles with red letter fonts) and an activity that we can consider doing during the week to live out the words of our Lord.
Where 2 or 3 are Gathered – In addition to these activities that can be done by individuals in our congregation, we will also be studying two aspects of our community and how we as a church can engage with them. We will be asking questions about how we gather in two ways: a. As a full congregation in fellowship at things like worship and other all-congregation gatherings, b.) As sub-congregational units like small groups, LWML, men’s groups, online fellowship, etc. Our goal will be to learn how we gather together well as “A Jesus Centered Community”.
We hope that you are excited for these possibilities and that you take an opportunity to pray about being a part of them when our “A Jesus Centered Community” year begins on December 3rd.