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Dear friend:
Regardless of personality,
experience, or background, most of us share an interest
in spirituality -- yet seldom do we find that interest
encouraged by religious institutions.
Thousands of years ago, Jesus of
Nazareth began calling people to begin a spiritual
journey by following him. Jesus had no connection to
institutions -- social, political, economic or
religious. Yet he offered something much more powerful
and transforming. He offered a way of life -- a way of
living and being, a way of believing and serving, a way
of connecting with ourselves, other people, and with
God. He offered all this, and he offered himself.
Those first followers of Jesus had no
idea where their journey would take them. They could
never have guessed the enormity of this new beginning --
yet they did have a sense that this was that for which
they had hungered all their lives. Completely clueless
about what would lie in the future if they dared follow
Jesus, they dared to follow Jesus anyway -- and invited
their closest friends and family to follow too.
Like those first followers, you too
may have hungered for something all your life.
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You, like us all, can not tell where
such a spiritual journey may ultimately lead -- yet you
may sense that there is a Power greater than ourselves,
a Power that leads to New Beginnings, a Power that calls
us to Life, a Power that transforms the human soul. That
Power is more than an impersonal "force." More than a
Power, it is a Presence, it is Personal. That Power is
God -- who came among us as one of us, in Jesus Christ.
God encounters and transforms us now in the empowering,
personal presence of the Holy Spirit.
If you are curious about what such a
journey might mean for your life, we would like to meet
you! Or, if you have already begun an intentional
spiritual journey, and would like to become part of a
band of others who are trying to help one another in our
common journey, consider becoming one of us. There are
never enough friends on the journey -- there is always
room and need for more! We want you to become part of
our growing spiritual community, to join with us on our
quest to experience the spiritual power of Jesus.
As Jesus said to two new friends, "Come
and see."
The Lord be with you, Rick Laribee+
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