January 2015 – Pastor Eric’s Letter

Dear Circle of Faith fellowship,

One of the things I really love about my life right now is that our children all live fairly close to us. We gather together for birthday parties and holidays and sometimes, just for fun when one comes over another one or two will come over as well. We catch up on news, we give each other advice, we eat, we play games, we laugh, we make fun of each other but we also support one another and learn from one another and help one another out. This is called fellowship and is sometimes devalued by our world, but it is very important for life. In fact, most of what people are doing on their phones and tablets is some type of fellowship.

Each phase of life has it’s unique experiences of fellowship; when you are a child, later in school, later again when you are a young adult and still later as you get older and older. They are all very important, much is accomplished through them.

Psalm 133 describes in visual images the beauty and blessing of good fellowship: “How good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord ordained his blessing, life forevermore.”

It is not surprising then that when the first followers of Jesus started the Church, they devoted themselves to fellowship. In fellowship they worshiped and planned and encouraged one another and helped one another.

If you ever wondered why church has so many meetings, now you know, it’s doing fellowship. Very im-portant! In fact, God is fellowship, the Son abiding in the Father and the Father in the Son and the Spirit in us and with us, which is the Spirit of the Son. So we have fellowship with God and with one another. We are not alone in this world.

So, at Circle of Faith we are going to spend a little time emphasizing this important aspect of our

Eric Midthun

Associate Pastor, Circle of Faith Parish