A2J Fellowship News

Greetings friends,
below you will find a short reflection from me and upcoming events.  

​Thanks for reading.  In this season I encourage us to slow down and create space for unhurried and unscheduled times with one another.  

Love, 
Ryan

And with these hells and heavens so few inches apart...

I get tired of being so fragile but I am!  I can swing from the ecstasy enjoying God’s nearness in my life and then hardship hits and I can crumble under the pressure and find myself sometimes slowly distancing my heart from His loving and exposing Presence. I recently came out of a rough patch of struggling with fatigue, sin, and discouragement. God gave the grace for me to get away into the Santa Rita foothills and there he undid me with his mercy.  Rich Mullins in his song ‘We are not as strong as we think we are’ sings, "We are frail, we are fearfully and wonderfully made +Forged in the fires of human passion + Choking on the fumes of selfish rage + And with these our hells and our heavens, so few inches apart + We are not as strong as we think we are

(Santa Rita Foothills, Sonoita, Arizona)

I was alone and I cried out to God, I took long walks and God gently yet firmly dealt with me.  He gave me what I needed, the gift of repentance (to turn away from self and turn wholly to Jesus) in those quiet days of solitude I experienced his healing and restoration.  On the last morning I joined the Sisters for Morning Prayer, at the end they celebrated the Eucharist.  Sitting alone on the hard wooden benches off to the side one of the sisters motioned me to come up and stand with them in a circle to receive Christ together. These precious sisters became physical touch points of the love of God to me.

(Sisters of Santa Rita Abbey)

Friends we need not despair over our weakness and smallness for God’s grace is sufficient.   He takes each one of us by the hand and longs to walk with us.  If you are hurting tonight let us know so we can reach out and be with you.  If you are in a place of strength then help those who are not. For we both alike have been called, forgiven, and are being restored even now as we work with God in His redemptive purposes for all humanity and all creation.  So let us go forth in joy to love and serve Him who loves us and has given us such dignity and value

​Upcoming Events

3rd Annual Christmas Caroling- Dec 17th 6:30-8:30pm

Meet at the Community Garden at 6:30pm and we will go out and sing Christmas Carols.  We will end up back at the garden around 7:30pm for tamales, smores, hot cocoa and maybe even some figgey pudding.  Feel free to bring a friend.  RSVP here if you will join us

Christmas Even Pancake breakfast Dec 24th at the Thurmans house 8:30am-10:30am

We will provide the pancakes, bring a side to share and bring a white elephant gift to exchange.  
Feel free to invite others just rsvp here so we can keep be prepared.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Jan 18-25

Put this in your calendars we want to create some space with other friends in our city to focus on Jesus’ prayer, "that we would all be one."  
If you are interested in helping with this let us know by reaching out and saying so!