Living Our Faith to sprout a new garden

How’s your spiritual garden sprouting?  Is your soil fertile and always ready for planting?

What’s already growing in your garden?  Are you growing plants from seeds you planted?  Or are your growing spiritual transplants?    Are you observant enough to notice and pull worrisome spiritual weeds?  Are you in spiritual drought … waiting and hoping for rain? 

Is your garden open to new possibilities – new plant varieties, techniques or relationships?

Do you need help developing a more productive spiritual green thumb?

           The fourth edition of Living Our Faith, which opens Sunday, August 18, will turn each of us inward to our spiritual gardens and ask all those questions.  And more. 

           During Living Our Faith’s five weeks, we will examine this year’s theme, SPROUT!,by planting three “thought” seeds: 1) how to sprout our personal faith, 2) how to sprout our church on the inside, and 3) how to sprout our church on the outside in the community.  Then, we will watch our gardens, watered with conversation, meditation, study, and prayer, to see what the seeds produce. 

           This three-week personal study will come to you complete with daily insightful questions and thoughtful readings.  And for three Sprouting Sundays – one for each seed – we will gather at 9:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall before worship at 11:00 a.m. in the sanctuary to consider what grew in our spiritual gardens during the week. 

           In the end, when the crops are grown and harvested, we will have clearer understandings about how each of us can sprout spiritually and how our church can sprout both inside and out.  How well our gardens grow will depend entirely on us – what kind of spiritual farmers we are – how willing we are to water and weed for the entire five-week sprouting season. 

           On Harvest Sunday, September 15, when we gather to present our annual giving commitments for 2025, the congregation will share a lunch meal of items prepared from produce grown in the FCC plot in the Farmville Community Garden.

           Get ready to plant.  Get ready to sprout. 

Living Our Faith 2024

SPROUT!

Kickoff Sunday, August 18

It’s time to break ground for Living Our Faith.  This Sunday, put the plow to the soil as you till and consecrate your own spiritual garden.  Come and meet the Secretary of Agriculture, who will enlighten us on the growing process.  We will gather at 9:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. 

First Planting Monday, August 19 

Watch your email in-box or your USPS mailbox for The First Seed*:  Sprout Your Own Faith.  Plant it in your garden, water it with six days of meditation, study and prayer, and watch what sprouts by sundown on Saturday. 

First Sprouting Sunday, August 25 

Join in a churchwide discussion of The First Seed at 9:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall.  Our Minister and “Secretary of Agriculture will lead us in investigating questions like:  What sprouted in your garden last week?  Worship at 11:00 a.m. in the sanctuary. 

Second Planting Monday, August 26 

Watch your email in-box or your USPS mailbox for The Planter’s Second Seed*:  Sprout Your Church.  Plant it in your garden, water it with six days of meditation, study, and prayer, and watch what sprouts by sundown on Saturday. 

Second Sprouting Sunday, September 1 

Join in a churchwide discussion of The Second Seed at 9:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall.  What sprouted in your garden last week?  Worship at 11:00 a.m. in the sanctuary.  Enjoy a moment with the Secretary of Agriculture. 

Third Planting Monday, September 2   

Watch your email in-box or your USPS mailbox for The Planter’s Third Seed*:  Sprout In Your Community.  Plant it in your garden, water it with six days of meditation, study, and prayer, and watch what sprouts by sundown on Saturday. 

Third Sprouting Sunday, September 8 

Join in a churchwide discussion of The Third Seed at 9:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall.  What sprouted in your garden last week?  Worship at 11:00 a.m. in the sanctuary.  Enjoy a moment with the Secretary of Agriculture. 

Period of Peace, September 9-14 

Take a thoughtful week to consider how the three seeds have sprouted in your spiritual garden, prepare yourself for Harvest Sunday, and consider your annual giving in 2025 to support God’s eternal garden at First Christian Church. 

Harvest Sunday, September 15 

Worship at 11:00 a.m. featuring dedication of annual giving commitments.  Lunch at Noon with dishes prepared from produce grown in the Farmville Community Garden plots. 

*Each seed comes with planting instructions, including daily insightful questions and thoughtful readings.