church in the park

Our Picnic in the Park Season is coming to a close for 2012.  One more picnic on October 21.  Picnic in the Park is a meal and worship service in the park hosted by Harvest Vineyard and Orchard Hill Church.  For me, one of the most defining phrases I can think of when I consider Picnic in the Park is that it is all about building a community of welcome.

Picnic in the Park works to break down walls of individualism and superiority.  It reminds us that ministry is both communal and mutual.  I've been re-reading In the Name of Jesus by Henri M. Nouwen.  In the chapter From Popularity to Ministry, Nouwen shares the following:

"We are called to proclaim the Gospel together, in community....Indeed, whenever we minister together, it is easier for people to recognize that we do not come in our own name, but in the name of the Lord Jesus who sent us."

"We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the givers of life.  We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we care for.  The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God."