He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” Mark 9:35-37
Dear St John-San Juan Family, With the arrival of October, we welcome a change in season here in Austin, with cooler temperatures, shorter days and, hopefully, some rain. Autumn is a welcome relief after a particularly hot summer. We use the word welcome in so many ways: to describe something agreeable, acknowledge a thank you, to invite, or to greet or acknowledge another person. In the passage from Mark 9, Jesus uses welcome four times in the same sentence, emphasizing the importance of welcoming even those who are not important. We are a welcoming group of people here at St. John-San Juan – the sharing of peace each Sunday affirms that statement. I have heard from many of you that you would like to welcome more people into our community and that you are sad that we don’t have new families coming to share God’s love each Sunday. Great News! We are going to be having our first outreach event, a Halloween Carnival, on Saturday, October 27, 12-5 pm. We will be welcoming our neighborhood families into a safe, fun, and child-friendly place where we can share candy, laughter, and God’s love. The Child Care Center and Stewardship Team are hosting and invite you to be a part of a new fall tradition. You can participate in the Trunk-or-Treat, where you park your car in the parking lot, decorate the opened trunk as creatively as you want and then stand there to give out candy like you would at your door. Or you can play bingo, try to win a gift basket, give a baked item for the cake walk or help with the kid’s games and pumpkin patch. As we begin a new season, I pray that together we can continue to welcome others into God’s loving family.