Dear friends,
I have returned safely from my time in Seattle at the Inhabit Conference, and am feeling on fire with inspiration from the Holy Spirit and my colleagues in ministry from across the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The Inhabit Conference is based on the understanding that our imagination for what it means to be the Church is changing…dramatically, and that by gathering together practitioners, pastors, social entrepreneurs, church planters, community leaders, environmentalists, denominational executives, publishers, professors, urban planners, and artists from all over the globe for connection, collaboration, and celebration, we might share a common vision for seeing the transformation of the church through participation in our local neighbourhoods. In essence planners and participants believe God is re-creating our world, and we want to join in. We don’t know the future, but we do believe that God is at work, and we believe we need each other.
For a more detailed account and reflection of my time and learnings in Seattle, please visit MY BLOG.
As Rev. Ryan mentioned last week, one of the beautiful things about the Christian tradition, is the idea that Easter is an ever-present reality: we are a resurrection people living into the hope of God's promise, through Christ, of the reconciliation of all things in love.
This week I will be carrying on with a sermon series for these weeks in the Easter season of the church: “Surprise! Finding God in the Most Unexpected People & Places," a journey through the book of Acts. Acts tells the story of the early church that formed following Jesus’ resurrection. Here the resurrection sets off a host of unexpected events and changes in Jesus’ followers, pushing them in new and radically different directions. If we believe that God is not just the Creator of the world long ago who occasionally intervenes, but a present power that is constantly at work creating, redeeming and sustaining at every moment, it means that reality as we know it isn’t closed or fixed. The risen Christ works through all sorts of surprising people and in surprising ways that bear witness to God’s life and newness for all. Even us.
I hope you'll join us this Sunday and the rest of this Easter season as we learn the spiritual habit of welcoming an unpredictable God and coming to expect the unexpected.
Grace & peace,
The Rev. Ingrid Brown
