Highs and Lows in the Same Week

Church family,

What a week.

In the span of five days we buried two people we love and watched two couples say “I do.” We celebrated the lives of Crystal Williams and Jason Whisenhunt. Both losses were tragic in their own way, but both were marked by real testimonies of faith that I’m grateful our church family got to witness. Then on Friday, Skip and Mary Gibbs were married, and last night Tyler and Catie Moore were married.

I sat by the pond at the wedding venue last night and thought about how strange and holy this week has been. Grief and joy don’t take turns. Most of the time they show up in the same week, and sometimes even in the same hour. I was convinced of two things:

1. God is faithful on the mountain top and in the valley
2. Godly community is essential as we mourn and celebrate.

I am grateful for the way our church shows up! Thank you to everyone who cooked meals and carried them to grieving families. You stood in visitation lines and hugged people who could barely talk. You showed up at weddings to cheer on two couples starting something new. This is the body of Christ doing what it was made to do.

This morning we continued our “Scars” series by looking at the story of Naomi and Ruth, a timely message considering the season we are in as a church. Here was the main idea:

You don’t choose every wound, but you can choose who you walk through it with.

That’s why Community Groups matter so much to us. We need regular rhythms of community, not occasional ones. Real community is hard to find, and once you’ve found it, you won’t want to let it go.

Groups officially kicked off today, and I’m genuinely excited. New faces, new tables, new friendships that will still be standing ten years from now. As Jim Rohn put it, you become the average of the people you spend the most time with. So ask yourself the honest question this week: where are my friends leading me?

If you haven’t jumped into a group yet, what are you waiting for? Sign up here: www.churchatthegrove.com/groups

Events & Opportunities

• Golden Grove Monthly Lunch — Thursday, September 17, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM, Walnut Grove campus
• 20th Anniversary Celebration — Sunday, September 20, 4:00 to 7:00 PM, The Grove Park. Both campuses, one park, one evening. Food, worship, and room for the kids to run. Nothing to sign up for and nothing to bring.
• Thrive Women’s Gathering — Tuesday, September 22 at 6:30 PM at the Social Circle Campus

Would you pray with me this week?

• For our Student Pastor search at Social Circle and our Production Director search. We have an interview this week with a potential student pastor.
• For everyone the Scars series is stirring up. This kind of preaching surfaces old pain, and some of you are carrying more than anyone knows. Pray for courage to bring it into the light and into community.
• For Crystal’s and Jason’s families in the quiet weeks that follow a funeral, when the meals stop coming and the grief doesn’t.

Resources to Consider

• As we approach the 20th anniversary of the church, you may not know the early story of Church at the Grove. Watch this interview with Russ and Jill that we recorded before our 15th anniversary: https://youtu.be/-mgifJXESbU

Grateful for you

Nathan