It’s going to be beautiful on Saturday and you have the opportunity to spend some of the day helping at the Godman Guild! This is one of Continuum’s longest-running and most fun outreach projects. Godman Guild is an agency that has been working tirelessly for decades to provide opportunities for the neighbors in Weinland Park. We support their efforts by coming alongside them to do all those projects they can’t get to: painting, cleaning, weeding, planting, trimming bushes … Whether you are most comfortable with a power tool, a garden trowel, a paintbrush or a broom we can use your help!

The Details:

Where: Godman Guild is located at 303 E 6th Ave. There is plenty of free parking at the building and on the surrounding streets.

When: We have two shifts for the day 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; and 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. You can come for either shift, or stay for the whole day!

Who: Everyone is welcome at this community event! Invite a friend who doesn’t already attend Continuum Church and let them see what our congregation values. Also, KIDS ARE WELCOME, but parents should plan to keep an eye on young children. We will make every effort to find projects families can do together.

Clothes: Please dress in clothes you can get dirty (including paint!), and wear closed-toe shoes for safety. You might also consider wearing a couple of layers to keep you comfortable throughout your shift. You can also bring gardening gloves or work gloves.

Food and Drink: We’ll have some light snacks and coffee in the morning, and lunch will be provided for all volunteers in both shifts (I hear there will be a vegetarian choice). I encourage you to eat a good breakfast and to bring a refillable water bottle with you.

Don’t forget to join us on Sunday as we continue our discussions on the book of Revelation. This week: God’s message to the church in Smyrna, and to us. Coming to you live on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at the Gateway Film Center. Afterwards, lunch together at Pizza Rustica!

So are you ready to go?! If you haven’t already signed up for Saturday’s event, just send me an email at bethkstaten@gmail.com and let me know if you’ll come for the morning shift or the afternoon shift.

Looking forward to seeing you all this weekend!

The concept of being a prophetic voice can be heavy. A prophet boldly points out wrongs that desperately need righting. And since power structures don’t like to be disturbed, a prophet’s life is often difficult – a voice crying out in the wilderness.

BUT, imagine a whole tribe of prophets! Not one lone voice-of-doom prophet, but a hopeful joyful party of prophets.

The revelation of God’s Kingdom is good news. Prophets can consistently remind the world around us that all are created in God’s image, that grace abounds, and that in the end love wins. Love speaks louder. In fact, love speaks the loudest. Hate will eventually scream itself hoarse. Cynicism will sarcastically mutter into sullen silence. And the wails of despair dissolve into whimpers. But prophets who speak in love will never be silenced.

As we continue to connect spirituality and social justice, we will do it through the power and strength of God’s unending lovingkindness. We will reveal the Kingdom by following the way of Jesus. And we will do it together.

Join us this Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at the Gateway Film Center as we continue to discuss the prophetic book of Revelation. This controversial book is often assumed to prophesy the end of the world. But we are discovering together that much of its prophesy critiques the power structures at the time of its writing.

See you Sunday!

Beth

Much of our fascination with the end of the world has been fueled—directly or indirectly—by imagery from the Bible’s closing text, the Book of Revelation. Scholars consider this writing to be the last added to the New Testament. It’s history has been so fraught with conflict and debate and that it was almost left out of the Bible altogether.

Written during a period of intense persecution against Jews and Christians by the Roman empire, the writer of the Book of Revelation adopted a fascinating strategy of resistance. Rather than risking direct reprisal by openly critiquing the Roman empire, the author opted for symbolism and imagery. This book teams with angels and demons, dragons and beasts, judgments and catastrophes.

Of course, this canvas of metaphor and imagery invites us to project our own concerns onto the book, leading to endless debates over conflicting interpretations. And perhaps, this is the real value of the book. While we are interpreting it’s strange passages, we are simultaneously interpreting our own outlook on faith. As we argue for particular interpretations, we are at the same time arguing for our way of seeing the world.

At Continuum Church, we have decided to wade into the debate. Not to produce an ironclad defense of our favored outlook. But to engage in the time honored process of interpretation. To work with each other to discover what is lurking in the recesses of our faith. To unearth our fears in the face of oppression and injustice.

And in the process, we might just discover that an entirely new world is possible. It might even be closer than we think.

Join us this Sunday at 10:30 a.m. in the Gateway Film Center as we launch our discussion series titled “The Beginning Is Near: A Short Primer on the Book of Revelation.” Following our gathering, everyone is invited to Pizza Rustica for lunch and conversation. Later in the week, we’ll be holding our monthly prayer meeting on Wednesday, April 18 from 7-8 p.m. And we’ll cap off the festivities at Blendon Woods with the Continuum Cookout on Saturday, April 21 at 11 a.m. If you’ve ever wanted to get involved and meet new friends, now’s the time!

Adam Long
Lead Pastor
Continuum Church

Except when it’s not.

Except when the money isn’t there to pay the bills. Except when cancer takes the life of your loved one. Except when the depression doesn’t respond to any amount of positive self-talk.

What then?

Try harder? Believe better? Pray more?

This week we are invited to celebrate the holiday known as Good Friday. On this day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus. Just to be clear… we actually have a holiday commemorating the 2000-year-old state execution of a Jewish peasant. Imagine what it would have been like to pin all of your hopes on an upstart teacher who ends up being brutally tortured and publicly killed.

Good Friday begs the question… what is “good” about failure? What is “good” about things not working out? What is “good” about being overcome by your enemies?

It is true that we will be celebrating resurrection on Sunday. And we invite you to join us at 10:30 a.m. at the Gateway Film Center as we join Jesus’s earliest followers in discovering resurrection through conversation.

But it’s all too common for us to skip over Good Friday and move quickly to Easter. Perhaps a better approach would be to slow down this week and contemplate what it means to call this Friday “good.”

Part of what makes suffering so unbearable is the lurking suspicion that no one understand. That no one really gets it. That no one really knows how difficult things are for you in this moment.

But what if Good Friday reminds us that when we suffer, God himself is suffering with us? What if we can discover solidarity with God not just in the celebration of success, but in the very depths of despair?

If we try to numb ourselves with unhealthy substances, behaviors, and beliefs, we might just miss a chance to find God right in the midst of our pain. If Jesus himself cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” then maybe God himself knows what it is like to experience God-forsakenness.

Yes, Sunday is on it’s way. But in your moments of despair, may you know that you are not alone. No easy answers. No glib formulas. Simply the knowledge that right in the midst of your pain, you are in good company.

Adam Long
Lead Pastor
Continuum Church

The thing about secrets is that they can take on a life of their own. They have an energy that often redirects our thoughts and actions in unhealthy ways. Keeping our doubts in the closet is a sure way to erode what little faith we have left.

As Easter Sunday approaches, Christians around the world will be preparing to celebrate new life. For some people Easter forms an opportunity to express rock-solid convictions about Jesus and his bodily resurrection. For others it is a day to hide, to pretend, and to dodge questions about particulars.

In the scriptures we read that the very first followers of Jesus had plenty of questions in the wake of Jesus’s crucifixion. And they weren’t afraid to ask. They weren’t afraid to voice their doubts and concerns. And amazingly, it was in the voicing of these doubts and concerns that they encountered the risen Christ.

This Easter Sunday, we at Continuum Church plan to celebrate Easter by following in the footsteps of the very first followers of Jesus. We will be having a Q and A session, opening our regular discussion format to include questions from our community.

To help out with this event, you are invited to submit questions for consideration. Queries that arrive via email or connection card by this Sunday (04/01/12) will be considered for our Easter discussion. This is your opportunity to speak up and ask.

We will make every attempt to address as many questions as possible. Thanks in advance for your participation in this Easter event. And don’t forget to invite friends who might be interested in this discussion to join us at 10:30 a.m. in the Gateway Film Center.

See you then,

Adam Long
Lead Pastor
Continuum Church

Turning two separate people into a couple requires “defining the relationship.” For some, this is a tortuous process of one step forward, two steps back. For others, this conversation is short and sweet. Two people who are on the same page simply own up to it and move forward.

When it comes to church life, “defining the relationship” includes a process called membership. A church must have members to be a legal nonprofit organization. The good news is that we get to define membership in our own way. For us, membership is about identifying as an investor in our congregation. Members are people who want to invest their time, talents, and tokens to grow our community.

Last weekend at our Second Sunday lunch, we discussed the process of membership and invited people to apply for it. Because some who were interested were not able to make it to that meeting, we will be offering a short recap following our Sunday gathering this weekend.

During our Sunday gathering at 10:30 a.m. in the Gateway Film Center, we will continue the journey through our belief statement by discussing how Christians have thought about the “end times.” Then we’ll have a short membership meeting for those who were not able to attend last weekend. If you are interested in “defining the relationship” by making Continuum Church your spiritual home, please make plans to take part!

Peace,

Adam Long
Lead Pastor
Continuum Church

February 2nd also marks the commemoration of Jesus’s presentation at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem when he was just an infant. One of a dozen feasts in the Christian year, today marks the day Jesus’s parents dedicated him to God. (You can read the story here.)

Eventually Jesus grew up, learned a trade, and began a public mission. This mission brought direct confrontation with the rulers of the temple. According to Jesus this center of religious life had become corrupt. The very place that was supposed to represent God’s connection with his people had become an institution propagating economic injustice.

Some of us have had a similar experience with religious institutions. Perhaps we were dedicated as small children, growing up in a community that represented the best of a sacred tradition. But over time we may have become disillusioned, unable to see beyond the injustice perpetrated in the name of religion… in the name of our religion.

Today’s celebration of Jesus’s presentation at the Temple is much more than a simple feast day. It is our chance to pause and think about reclaiming the very innocence of our religious institutions. What if following Jesus’s example means that being firmly rooted in a tradition is a great position from which to rail against its injustices?

While today might not appear to be any holier than the day before, what gives this day sacred potential is our opportunity to reform our beloved institutions from the inside out. How long will this Winter last? Perhaps it depends on our willingness to see our own shadow.

Adam Long
Lead Pastor
Continuum Church

It’s no wonder that the “prayer meeting” languishes among the ignored functions of a congregation. Who has the time? Who has the energy? I would suggest that none of us have either the time or the energy. And that might be exactly why we need this interruption.

Why are we inviting people to a monthly gathering focused on prayer? Many reasons present themselves. It’s good to help people learn what to do in their personal interaction with God. It’s helpful to connect people who miss gathering in homes for community. It’s a way to invite God’s very Spirit to enliven and grow our congregation. After all… most revivals start in prayer meetings…

All well and good. But maybe we hold a view of prayer that is much too instrumental. Perhaps we are “using” prayer to “get” something. It might be that we all need to reset our expectations of what prayer is and what it is for. Maybe we need a prayer meeting precisely because we need to stop demanding an instrumental reason for everything we do. Perhaps we are creating space to interact with God purely for the… dare I say it… hell of it.

Tonight at 7:00 p.m. we will be gathering at 72 Euclid Ave. for a prayer meeting. Instead of giving it a snazzy title or a jazzy byline, we’re simply sticking with “prayer meeting.” The point is to reclaim this term. And maybe to reclaim prayer itself. You are invited… but only if you don’t have the time.

Adam Long
Lead Pastor
Continuum Church

Last week we started a conversation series called “Finding the Center” in which we’re talking about our church’s beliefs statement. We want everyone to know what our congregation is centered around. This week we are talking about what’s at the very core of what we believe, the foundation that everything else is built on. It’s a commonly used word with uncommon implications for how we live. Interested? Join us at 10:30 a.m. at the Gateway Film Center. Everyone’s welcome.

And now for something that has nothing to do with chocolate: a survey! Each year we gauge our growth and report some stats to our parent organization. While we have never judged our success by numbers, it does help us keep track of where we’ve been. Could you help us out by filling out a quick survey? Let me be very clear: this information is private. We use to help us count, and to make reports, and we treat it with the same security that we’d want for ourselves. Your response helps us! (If you’ve filled this out in the past, no need to do it again.)

See you Sunday!

Beth

beth staten
outreach director
continuum church

A trend among some newer churches is to ditch the statement of beliefs. So many have grown weary of incessant theological bickering that doing without a list of core teachings seems like a good idea. Others argue that such lists only serve to reinforce artificial boundaries between people. It would be a safe bet that many of them have lived through the fallout that often accompanies God-talk.

And yet… while many people have no patience for theological nitpicking, a sizable number would like to know the basic beliefs of the church they are considering. It is helpful to know what you’re getting yourself into when it comes to a community of faith.

At Continuum Church we have decided to create a belief statement… not as a boundary to keep people out… and not as ammo for theological debates. Rather, we are interested in helping our community grow in the faith. And to do this, we feel it important to be able to explain the core ideas around which we are forming.

This Sunday at 10:30 a.m. in the Gateway Film Center, we will begin our new series entitled “Finding the Center.” This ongoing conversation is designed to explore the core ideas around which our community is forming. After our gathering, we’ll be getting together for our Second Sunday lunch, providing an opportunity to meet new people and get more involved.

Maybe, just maybe, we can see “this little light of mine” become “this beautiful light of ours.”

Adam Long
Lead Pastor
Continuum Church