Family Support Partners from NAMI-Northern Virginia are now available to meet with parents at Abiding Presence! Family Support Partners are available at Abiding Presence on a walk-in basis at the following times: Tuesdays, 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. and Thursdays, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Family Support Partner services are confidential and open to all in the community. Contact Pastor Heidi with any questions or for more information!
Read MoreAs I shared in July, Abiding Presence was awarded a $10,000 grant by the ELCA for a 6 month mental health ministry partnership with NAMI-Northern Virginia. As we implement our proposal, here’s a few quick updates on our goals and how we are using the grant to change lives and bring hope to our community!
Read MoreSign Up for a Small Group
Small Groups will meet for five weeks during the season of Lent to explore what Jesus’ seven last words on the cross mean for us. Small groups are hosted by members of Abiding Presence at their homes or at the church. They start the week of March 10th and run through the week of April 7th. A short book will guide our discussions but there is also a DVD we’ll be watching in the small groups so even if you don’t have time to do the reading, you will still be able to participate!
Read MoreMany of us have heard Jesus' last words from the cross every year on Good Friday but what do they mean? What do they tell us about Jesus and God? What do they mean for us?
Come explore these questions and more in one of our Lent small groups! Meet with other Abiding Presence members in hosts' homes, at a restaurant, or at the church for a fun time of connection and community.
All groups start the week of March 10 and continue for five weeks. Come try it out!
Sign up here and contact Pastor Heidi with any questions!
This fall we are kicking off another congregation-wide small group experience! We welcome any adult to participate who would like to spend five weeks learning and growing in a small group environment.
The theme for our fall small groups will be “Gathered Around the Table: Fed & Forgiven.” We will be looking at Holy Communion and growing in our understanding of what happens each week when we gather around the Lord’s Table.
There’s no preparation needed for our small groups. You just need to show up! Small groups will meet at leaders’ homes or at the church for five weeks, starting the week of September 23rd and running through the week of October 21st. There are several opportunities to join a small group and we hope you will take a look and pick one to join by signing up here.
Read MoreWhat an amazing weekend of worship we had last weekend as we kicked off another year of ministry together! We had 120 kids in Sunday School, nearly 100 adults at the Abiding Table and 376 people in worship. We continue to love watching the Spirit work in and through all of you.
At the end of the month we will be kicking off another congregation-wide small group experience. For those of you who have been around a bit, you will remember that we lifted up launching a congregation-wide small group ministry as an important part of the job description for our Pastor of Discipleship when we called Pastor Eickstadt last year. One of our 2018 goals as a congregation was to launch two sets of congregation-wide small groups. Last spring our first small group experience launched during Lent with great success with 45 people in 6 groups. Small groups help us live out our mission of Connecting People to Christ through Community by creating spaces for forming and deepening relationships with each other and which Christ.
The theme for our fall small groups will be “Gathered Around the Table: Fed & Forgiven.” We will be looking at Holy Communion and growing in our understanding of what happens each week when we gather around the Lord’s Table. In addition to our adult small groups that we will be studying this theme, we will be preaching on it in worship from September 29/30 through October 20/21. During that time our preschool, elementary and senior high Sunday School classes will be following a curriculum learning about Holy Communion, too. This really will be a congregation-wide time of learning and growing in our relationship with Christ and each other.
Unlike our Lent study, our fall small groups will not require you to read a book or prepare in any way. You just need to show up! Small groups will meet at leaders’ homes or at the church for five weeks, starting the week of September 23rd and running through the week of October 21st. There are several opportunities to join a small group and we hope you will take a look and pick one to join by signing up here. If you don’t see a group at a time that works for you, please contact Pastor Eickstadt to talk about hosting one.
Sign up to join a small group, try it out and experience how God shows up when we gather around the table, at church and in the world! We cannot wait for our congregation to learn and grow together in our understanding of the sacrament of Holy Communion.
Blessings,
Pastor Keseley and Pastor Eickstadt
P.S. – If you have a child who would be interested in receiving their first Holy Communion this fall, please contact our Children and Family Minister, Sara Dyson. We welcome children to begin receiving Holy Communion at any age and at any time. For those families who would like the more formal “Rite of First Holy Communion” for their child, that will be available this fall as part of our “Gathered Around the Table: Fed & Forgiven” series.
Read MoreEvery week, we come forward and receive a bit of bread and a sip of wine or grape juice. We call it Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist…but what do all these names mean? Why does it matter that we have it? Is it just because it’s tradition, the way we’ve always done it? And why do we have it every week?
Maybe you’ve wondered about these same questions. Maybe you grew up in a tradition that celebrated Communion differently and you wonder why we at Abiding Presence do it this way. Maybe you grew up Lutheran but don’t quite recall those long-ago confirmation days and what Luther said about Communion in the Small Catechism. Maybe you don’t even really know all that much about Luther and have never heard of a Small Catechism! Don’t feel too bad if that’s the case because prior to joining the Lutheran church, I would have said yes to both of the previous questions! (Even after attending Luther College!)
These are some of the questions many of us have had and which we’ll be exploring together in small groups this fall. The small groups will meet at various times at leaders’ homes or at the church for five weeks to listen, share and reflect. We’ll explore the what, why and how but also the bigger question: What difference does Holy Communion make for our everyday lives?
Specific small group times and places will be announced in September and sign-up sheets will be available in the narthex and on our website. This will be our 2nd small group experience at Abiding Presence; our 1st was during Lent this past year and we had over 50 people participate in 6 small groups! Unlike Lent, this experience will not require reading a book…all you will need to do is show up!
So sign up and try it out for 5 weeks and experience how God shows up when we gather around the table!
Peace,
Pastor Heidi
Read MoreAccording to Fairfax County Schools, approximately 28 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price meals. That’s more than 1 in 4 students in our area whose families struggle to buy enough nutritious food to feed everyone. Members of food insecure families worry about running out of food in their cupboards before their next paycheck and some even resort to eating less so that everyone in the family can be fed.
How are we called to respond?
Read MoreWorship. What images does that word bring to mind for you? What words, what associations?
Some of us may think about our favorite part of worship: the music, receiving communion, the prayers, or maybe, just maybe, even the sermon sometimes!
How do you see yourself, your purpose, your role in worship? Is worship something we attend, like a concert or a play? Or is it something more?
Liturgy, the fancy word for worship, is a Greek word that means “the work of the people,” or “public service.” Worship is not a passive activity but a gathering in which we all participate, we all have a role, whether it’s as a greeter, an usher, singing in the pews or up front, playing an instrument, lighting the candles, washing the communion ware or reading scripture.
This fall, we will have a new opportunity for you to participate in worship at Abiding Presence. I invite you to consider becoming one of our Assisting Ministers. Each Sunday service, one assisting minister will lead a few prayers, the Apostle’s Creed and will assist with communion. Our goal is to have enough assisting ministers that they would serve about 5 Sundays a year.
As Lutherans, we often speak of the priesthood of all believers, that we are all called to be part of God’s ministry: the hands and feet of God in the world. Having assisting ministers will be a chance for us to visibly model in our service how we are all called, not just the pastors, to pray, proclaim our faith and serve God and others in our daily lives.
Please prayerfully consider trying it out and contact Pastor Heidi if you’re interested or have any questions!
Peace,
Pastor Heidi
Read MoreMental Health First Aid is designed to teach how to help someone who is experiencing a mental health or addictions challenge or is in crisis. Class size is limited so register as soon as possible at: abidingpresence.net/mhfirstaid
Read More