What’s New

As the saying goes, kids say the darnedest things. Well, in the case of our four-year-old granddaughter, Audrey, I’d have to say kids just plain tell it like it is.

My good friend, Mary, sent me the above picture on my birthday last week. It was her wedding day in May of 1985. That was the “before” picture. Below it in my card was the “after” picture, a current shot of the two of us from our trip to Canada last year. That picture will stay in the card. (The aging process is amazing, to put it gently.)

I showed the wedding photo to our granddaughter Audrey and without skipping a beat she said “Num Num, you look so new” and continued on her merry way to play with her cousins. Leaving me laughing…and crying.

Newness seems to be the theme lately. In last week’s blog, nature at its finest, in the emergence of a stunningly beautiful adult cicada on our tree, signaled newness. New routines are starting to take shape as children of all ages are heading to school in one form or another. In general, our lives have taken on a forced newness with the Covid restrictions.

Firstfruits is beginning a new season and it’s looking like the best one yet.

All of our offerings will be on Zoom for a while which is new and unexpected but at the same time exciting. We can offer more flexibility in time slots. For many of our offerings there will be a daytime or evening option. Many offerings will start close to the lunch hour so if you are working from home you can join us with your sandwich in hand. Or if you are home schooling, you can schedule in a nice long lunch/free time break for your students and join us in the quiet of your bedroom or bathroom!

We will be offering for the first time our new bible study, Truth Be Told. Thanks to the magic of Zoom we will be able to “meet” together then break off into small groups for lively discussion then return together where I get to share a few words to get you pondering the beauty of God’s word and how real and relevant it is in our every day lives.

In keeping with this theme of newness we will be offering a ten-week video and discussion series called Metanoia by Fr. Dave Pivonka TOR and his Ministry of the Wild Goose. Metanoia means spiritual transformation or conversion which leads to newness.

Our popular morning Well Time series will also be offered in the evening which is new along with our book club, Spiritual Scholars, which new this year, we are going to focus on books relating to racism.

If its newness in your spiritual life that you are longing for but don’t know where to start, we can help. Starting this fall Firstfruits will have Spiritual Sponsors available to meet one on one to help you discern where to start to bring that newness into your life.

So much newness. So much excitement! Be sure to read my blogs for the next few weeks where I will highlight more in depth what Firstfruits will be offering starting in early October.

I saved the best new part of Firstfruits for last.

Our annual FUNraiser that took place in the fall for the last two years will not be happening this year because of Covid restrictions. Instead, we have decided to do something new that combines our passion to help those in need with our passion to celebrate with you, God’s faithfulness to Firstfruits. We hope you can join us for our Food Drive/CARnival on Sunday, September 13 from 11am – 2pm in the parking lot of the Village Court in Elm Grove.

See the evite below or click here for details. Please help us spread the word by forwarding the evite to co-workers, friends and family.

See you in the FUN lane! Hopefully you will recognize the not-so-new me!

Joan