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July 29 Gathering: “Burn Down the Mission”

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“Burn down the mission Lord
If we’re gonna stay alive
It’s our only chance of living
Take all you need to live inside”

-Elton John, “Burn Down the Mission”
Tumbleweed Connection, 1970

Sir Elton John’s performance of songwriter Bernie Taupin’s brilliant lyrics notwithstanding, “mission” has always been at the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

But what exactly is “mission?” Is it something we do, or someone we are? Is it something we do across the world or across the street? Has Christian mission always been a positive influence in the world? Or is there a dark side, one we need to figuratively burn down, in order to recapture our call to the missio dei, God’s mission for God’s world?

This week at New Wineskins we’ll pick up where we left off in our last conversation about worship and how worship and mission can–or must–coexist.

Join us this Sunday, July 29, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company to share your experiences with mission, whether local or international, and explore what a theology of mission looks like as we reimagine church.

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

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Dec. 19 Gathering: Shaped by Gratitude 

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Gratitude Attitude Word Cloud

What are you grateful for?

It may seem like a cliché kind of question as we head into the week of Thanksgiving, but have you thought about how formative a sense of gratitude is to your spirituality ? Could you really have a healthy spiritual life without gratefulness somewhere at its root?

And it’s not just the big things in life where gratitude shapes us…sometimes it’s in the seemingly ordinary that we find our deepest sense of gratefulness. Everyday sights, smells, and sounds that trigger something deep within us that foster a a rich sense of thankfulness in our very core.

This Sunday at New Wineskins we’ll talk about how gratitude forms us to be more Christlike by sharing stories of the ordinary things we’re all grateful for. Come ready to share your story of gratitude!

Join us Nov. 19 in the 167 Side Room of the  Marietta Brewing Company to share your story and hear from others!

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

Nov. 5 Gathering: Living Dislocated

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Bible: Jacob is fighting with the angel

In Genesis 32, we encounter a story where Jacob, returning to his father’s lands in Palestine, engages in a cosmic wrestling match as he prepares to face his brother Esau in what seems surely to be shaping up into an epic battle between the brother of privilege and the brother of promise.

As the story goes, Jacob spends all day preparing to meet Esau, sending gifts out ahead, dividing his company into smaller parts in hopes some would be able to flee should a battle break out, and finally sending his family and household possessions away, leaving him alone in the night.

It’s there that the text tells us he wrestles with “a man” all night (some translations identify the man as an “angel of the Lord”). As daybreak nears, neither combatant is able to gain an advantage. It’s then we read in verse 25 that the man “touched the socket of his (Jacob’s) thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him” (NASB). Jacob, still unwilling to concede, begs his opponent for a blessing…at which point the man tells Jacob, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed” (Gen. 32:28, NASB).

Is there something in our struggle to know and be known by God that dislocates us?

This Sunday at New Wineskins we’ll dig a little deeper into Jacob’s story and explore our own stories of struggling with God and what holy dislocation might look like.

Join us Nov. 5 in the 167 Side Room of the  Marietta Brewing Company to share your story and hear from others!

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

Oct. 22 Gathering: Is God gendered?

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God in Heaven Set

Oh, those masculine pronouns! Imagery of God as a (white) father figure. “The Big Man in the Sky.”

Even if we don’t believe God is technically male, all the language we use appropriates certain cultural contexts of male-ness.

But is God really male or female? Is God beyond gender? Or is God somehow mysteriously both gendered and not gendered? And does it really matter?

This week at New Wineskins we’ll talk about the issue of God and gender, discuss how patriarchy affects our perceptions of God, and consider the history and importance of the Divine Feminine.

Join us this Sunday, Oct. 22, in the 167 Side Room of the  Marietta Brewing Company for what should be a lively and interesting conversation!

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

Aug. 27 Gathering: “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

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074613741-develop-our-mind-ability

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

Paul’s letter to the first Christians in Rome is packed to the gills with rich theology. And as he reaches the climax of his instructions to the Roman church, he drops this little gem about not conforming to the pattern of this world, but being transformed by the renewing of your mind.

So what exactly does the apostle to the gentiles mean by this statement? How does the renewing of our minds lead to transformation? What exactly are the patterns of this world we should avoid conforming to? And what does it look like to be a “living sacrifice?”

This Sunday, we’ll unpack a bit of the context around this statement and see what new insights we might gain from Paul’s exhortation.

Join us in the 167 Side Room of the  Marietta Brewing Company this Sunday, Aug. 27, to join in the conversation!

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

July 16 Gathering: The Gabriel Project

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We all know of families with young children that need different types of assistance. One of the assistance projects in our area that you may not have heard much about is called The Gabriel Project.

The Gabriel Project of West Virginia benefits families without adequate financial resources to meet the tangible needs of a new baby. They provide necessary baby items, such as new cribs, new car seats, diapers, formula, clothing, and hygiene products at no or low cost to clients. Locally, First Presbyterian Church of Williamstown and Waverly Presbyterian Church are host sites for the Gabriel Project.

Please join us this Sunday, July 17, to hear from guest speaker Pastor Elizabeth Campbell-Maleke about the services being provided through the Gabriel Project and how it is impacting families in our area.

As always, we will meet in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company. Come on out and hear more about The Gabriel Project!

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

July 2 Gathering: What brings you here?

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As churches everywhere struggle to attract and retain people, one of the questions we’re eventually forced to ask is what makes people want to come in the first place.

Now a little over 3 years into what started as an experiment to create a “third space” for people who were interested in Jesus but maybe didn’t trust the church, it’s a good time for the New Wineskins community to ask itself that same question. Why are we here? What keeps us coming back? What compels us to invite others? What kind of community are we creating?

Introspection is good for the soul. And for the community. This Sunday we will reflect on where we’ve been, why we come, and where God may be taking us.

Join us Sunday, July 2, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company to talk about why you attend New Wineskins, hear from others, and share ideas for our future!

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm