A Month of Gratitude, Day 1
November 18, 2008
Yesterday I sat down and did some math (total number of work days until the end of the year, minus holidays, minus vacation days) and figured out my last day at North Point will be December 17th. One month left. Gulp. Until now, the end of my seven-plus years here has been in my mind as a nebulous point out in the future somewhere, but now the end has a date. As this reality sank in last night there were multiple emotions, but there was one that rose to the surface and dominated all others – gratitude.
I am so incredibly grateful for the nearly eleven years I’ve attended this church, and I’m especially grateful for the seven years I’ve worked here. As I thought about all the things I was grateful for it occurred to me that I should share them. So over the next month I’m going to capture the things about this community for which I am most grateful. So here goes…
Day 1
The first and greatest thing that I’m grateful for is that North Point is a place where everyone, regardless of where they are spiritually, can come to understand what it means to have a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. North Point is a place where people far from God can come as they are and experience what Tim Keel refers to as the “basic impulse of hospitality – a generous space for others in our midst, created for their benefit at our expense.” I am grateful for this, because when I came here eleven years ago that’s where I was.
Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt
I grew up going to church in a tradition that focused almost exclusively on the goal of getting people to accept Christ’s death as the sacrifice for my sins, which I did when I was twelve. However, I wasn’t told much about what was supposed to happen after that decision. As a result, I walked away from church in high school due to what I perceived as the complete irrelevance of the church and Christianity to my daily life. So when I first came to North Point in February of 1998 I hadn’t regularly attended church in nearly ten years, and I was very skeptical. But in the months that followed that first service, God used the environments at North Point to renew my faith and to transform my life (more on that later).
One of my favorite pieces of art is Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal Son. It is the artist’s attempt to capture one of Jesus’ most poignant parables about God’s heart for his children that have rebelled and run from him. I have a print of this picture hanging in my office as a regular reminder that this is who I was and in many ways still am and of how important it is that the Church is always a safe place for all of God’s children, regardless how far they have run, to come and receive the love of God.
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Hey Short-Timer,
Excited about this upcoming series of posts since I’ve shared much of the same journey with you.
Great first post. I love the way your life portrays the mission of our church. AND…what a eloquent quote from Keel.
Love the theme, Stephen! Gratitude is something we can easily have, but often misplace. I am excited to read the other posts!