Biblical Book Club

We haven’t done much since December, but we’re getting back into the swing of things with a new adventure. Next Sunday, April 15 we will be having our first Biblical Book Club meeting.

We decided we wanted to try to read through the Bible and discuss it together while reading “What Is The Bible” by Rob Bell. In his book, “What Is The Bible”, Rob Bell takes certain verses, passages, or stories and dives into the deeper mean. Whether he takes a single line and spends a whole chapter dissecting it and giving historical or cultural context or making puns about reading the Bible literally as the stories they are and reminding us that it is a series of books written by humans with human understanding, it has been an overall great read and has led to many great discussions. We were inspired by this book to try and read the Bible in a new light, with deeper understanding and discuss these things together.

We specifically planned these events in our homes so that it would feel like a more relaxed setting to discuss and express our opinions even if they differ from church doctrine or beliefs of those around us. Because these events are not being held in the church there is an opportunity for alcohol to be at these events, but we are aware that not everyone drinks alcohol so there will always be other beverages provided. There will also be food options each month (we have gluten allergies and dairy allergies and an avocado allergy) but if you have any other specific food allergies or want a specific food please contact the host or bring it yourself. This month’s host is Chris and you can reach him at (678) 557-5470 for food requests and the address to join us next Sunday.

To kick off this adventure we decided to start on the New Testament (so as to avoid getting stuck in all the “begots” and history that the Old Testament starts with) and at our first meeting we will be discussing Matthew 1-7. Since the reading is only being announced about a week in advance we will only be tackling 7 chapters, but in the future we plan to try to finish a whole book in a month. Each month there will be a summary provided to refresh us on the reading (or catch us up if we run out of time to read) and activities and topics to open the discussions.

We hope to see you there!

Christmas Bags: Year 3

This was our 3rd year of passing out bags with goodies for people who were working on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We managed to give out 250 bags to members of the congregation to help us distribute them.

Many members of the congregation shared their excitement with us about getting to participate in this tradition, especially since Christmas Eve was on a Sunday and they were going out to lunch after the morning church service. We received a photo from one of them handing out one of our bags, which is a side of this tradition we don’t often get to see.

We’d like to extend our thanks to the members of CUMC for helping us give back to the community, especially those who were at work instead of getting to spend time with family over the holidays!

Escape Room: December 2, 2017

We debated on which Escape Room to try last week and the vote ended up deciding on Cuthulu’s Library.

We managed to put the clues together to get through the first room and the second room. It took us to almost the very last minute to get the third room open. And unfortunately we didn’t manage to Escape in time.

We all had a great time even though we didn’t manage to escape!

Corn Maze: October 27, 2017

Holy Grounds went to the Crazy Corn Maze to kick off our Halloween celebrations

 

We had a fun time exploring, getting lost and answering trivia questions together!

Kick Off Hike: Sunday, September 3, 2017

To celebrate the start of the year some of us took a hike up to Donut Falls on Sunday morning. Here are some pictures from our adventure!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for this adventure! Starting next Sunday, September 10, 2017 Holy Grounds will be back to the Fall Schedule and will be meeting at 10:30 in the Youth Room. We hope to see you soon! And don’t forget to check the calendar for upcoming events!

Outreach Officer

Rachael is our outreach officer. She comes to us from the not so far away land of Longmont, Colorado. She is a senior at the University of Utah studying biomedical engineering. Rachael is currently doing an internship in Boulder, Colorado doing magical biomedical engineering things. She is also in Alpha Chi Omega at the U. She is a triplet and loves the mountains. Also Desi and I dyed one of her brother’s hair pink while we were in high school.

Our Beautiful Surroundings!

By Alicia Simons

We recently went on a hike up one of the canyons close to the church. We all had a great time exploring the wonderful world God has created. It was a relief from what we do in our day to day lives and was a breath of fresh air (really it was great to get above the pollution!).

Gratitude

By Alicia Simons

I’m currently on the Wesley Bell Ringers summer tour. Tonight we are staying in Charleston, South Carolina. On our way we stopped at a boiled peanut stand owned by The Peanut Dude aka Chris Bible. He told us all about boiled peanuts and how we are spreading joy on our journey. However, he didn’t just give us boiled peanuts. He also taught us a little something  about gratitude. He wrote a book called “How the Peanut Dude Found Gratitude.” It is about not just feeling gratitude, but also expressing gratitude, which is just as important. You can check him out at www.PeanutDude.com.

Here is the book description on the back of the book:

Gratitude is an “Action Word”. Gratitude must be focused on and Gratitude must be discussed for both children and adults to fully experience its benefits. The feeling of Gratitude brings Great Joy to all who understand it and live by it. Contained in this book is the message of Gratitude and the importance of Gratitude as it relates to maintaining a happy life.

After the story is a fun little gratitude workbook that contains definitions of gratitude and the gratitude game.

Gratitude as defined by Merriam-Webster: a feeling of appreciation or thanks

Gratitude as described by others:

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” -Cicero

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” -Epictetus

“What you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it. Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life.” -Oprah Winfrey

“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb to agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” -Martin Luther King Jr.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” -Ghandi

“Gratitude: Actively being aware and actively acknowledging the heart’s ever-present inner joy.” -Chris Bible

“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” -Willie Nelson

“Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.” -John Wooden

“Gratitude is the hearts memory.” -French Proverb

The Gratitude Game

Object of the Game:

To enjoy and expand the feeling of gratitude as you go through the alphabet from the letters A to Z. Saying out loud what it is you are grateful for, starting with each corresponding letter of alphabet.

For example:

Player one would say out loud “I am grateful for Air.” Player two would say out loud “I am grateful for baseball.” and so on. You play until ending on the letter Z.

I challenge all of you to play the Gratitude Game and define gratitude in your own words with what it means to you.

Welcome to the Holy Grounds Blog

The goal behind this blog is to keep everyone who is interested in Holy Grounds updated on all of the cool things we get into and hopefully inspire some of the high schoolers to come join us in the upcoming years.