From Wikipedia…

Koinonia is the anglicisation of a Greek word (κοινωνία) that means communion by intimate participation. The word is used frequently in the New Testament of the Bible to describe the relationship within the early Christian church as well as the act of breaking bread in the manner which Christ prescribed during the Passover meal [John 6:48-69, Matthew 26:26-28, 1 Corinthians 10:16, 1 Corinthians 11:24]. As a result the word is used within the Christian Church to participate, as Paul says, in the Communion of – in this manner it identifies the idealised state of fellowship and community that should exist – Communion.

I compose FANTASTIC posts in my mind while I’m swimming… but by the time I finish my workout, shower and clean up, they’re gone…

When I swim, I pray.  Sometimes it is a way to pass the time- let’s face it, doing laps in a pool can be very boring!  Sometimes, there is a burden on my heart, and swimming is a great time to pray over those things.  But there can be a downside…

See, swimming and praying just go REALLY well together.  When I’m praying, I can get so deeply engrossed that I lose track of time and swim longer distances than I am accustomed to.  When I swim longer distances (lengths that I haven’t trained for), it feels okay at the time but it causes a LOT of strain on my muscles, so afterward, I am inevitably TIRED in every sense of the word.

So I’ll go from not being in a great mood, because I’ve got something heavy on my heart, to being TIRED and not in a great mood, because I’ve still got something heavy on my heart.

It’s a terrible cycle.  Why do I do this to myself?

(On the upside, I do enjoy being stronger and more fit!)

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

-NLT

I’ve been thinking a LOT lately about my church.  We had six youth there last Sunday, and I can’t help but wonder if we need to have some kind of youth program set up for them.  It wouldn’t be anything big- we don’t have the resources for a huge song-and-dance- but I just think youth need a person.  Someone they can talk to about anything, someone outside of their parents who would be there for them, no matter what.  And to have a Bible study alongside it seems brilliant.

But I’ve been questioning a lot of things in my church lately.  It’s not that I don’t love the church- I do.  But I sense a lot of disunity among the people- and it’s starting from the top, our pastor.  Not that I don’t love him- it’s just that these issues are leaving me with an unsettled feeling.  Something just feels off about the whole thing.

I’m already the de facto technology director for the church.  I make the slides for Sunday mornings, I run the slides on Sunday morning, I design the website, I maintain the website- basically if it involves technology I do it.  We already have several people in our church who don’t understand the technology- they try to tell me how to do my job, even though they have no idea how it should be done.

But all these issues, all these signs of disunity, all these signals that make me question what we are doing- I want to be there for the youth.  But I am questioning if I should be working with them at all.

When Pastors’ Silent Suffering Turns Tragic