Our Journey with God : April 2015

April 30, 2015

A2J Fellowship News

I don't know about you but I can easily become disillusioned—not just with the shallowness of our culture but with life in general. I am tempted to get lost pondering the question “is this all there is to life?” Or ruminating over the frustrations of my own limitations, failures and disappointments. I am learning not to hide these struggles but to own them and be led by the true north, of God’s story of commitment to his creation that he purposes to redeem, and this entails in a mysterious way making us more glorious than if we would of never ‘fallen’.

Our Father is longsuffering with us in this journey of restoring us into image of Jesus. The foundation of this journey is our intimate friendship with Jesus and our friendship with our brothers and sisters, who make up the body of Jesus here and now. We need each other, and cannot do this alone, so with a renewed commitment, let us with this hope draw near to Jesus and to one another. God our Father lift our heads so we will be undone by your momentary grace and have eyes to see how you are at work in, around, and through us! And most of all made whole by your steadfast love that last Forever and ever and ever and ever

Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light! So watch your step. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! (Eph 5:14 MSG)

Upcoming Events

May 1^st and every Friday join Woodland friends in our Community Garden for morning prayer 7:30am-8:00am

May 9^th—Woodland Garden Work Day May 8:30-10:30am

May 13^th—Music and Fellowship at Third Space 7:00-9:00pm

May 16^th—A2J Future Direction Meeting 9:30-12:30pm at Thurman’s House

May 23^rd—John 17 Reconciliation Gathering at Phoenix Convention Center 9-5pm

**(to read a reflection I wrote about the March 20th John 17 Gathering click here )

** important update, we are postponing our May 9^th A2J 6 year Celebration until the Fall in order to have enough time to discern future direction and allow each person time to discern their ongoing involvement

with love,

Ryan

+ learning to do things that are simple and local desiring to grow in love for God and others

Thurman Prayer Requests

Dear friends who pray, this update is a little longer, we appreciate your love and prayers!

Last week we had a great trip to Disney Land (our first and only:), their was a lot of roller coaster riding, a few meltdowns, lots of laughs and photo opportunities with Disney characters.

Thanks also for your prayers for the luncheon with the Catholic Bishops. This was our second lunch in the past few months and believe God is forming friendship and growing partnership in the purposes of unity and reconciliation.

Family

Ethan--- We have been working hard to find ways to support him with some of his learning and social challenges. We have been working with a psychologist and doing a lot of testing over the past few months. He has recently been given a diagnosis that has led to fruitful meetings with his teachers, we thank God that he is at a school that is very supportive. Pray for us as we continue to navigate this with Ethan, he has such a tender heart. Please continue to pray for Ethan and for us as we shepherd his heart.

Marriage--As I mentioned last time Noleen and I are beginning to meet for some counseling, we have an important meeting tomorrow night, we appreciate your prayers around this

1322 W. Monroe House--Nothing new to report…still waiting and trusting

Antioch Network (AN)

Things are going really well, would appreciate prayers around my work in helping to create a new AN website that articulates well our history and our future. Also prayer for wisdom to help create best ways to weave the various AN ministries together

Apprenticeship to Jesus (A2J)

Please pray for an important vision casting meeting May 16^th. Also one of the things that we feel God is leading us to do more is to create resources that will bless others, we are in the midst of helping publish a book that comes out of the ministry to the homeless.

John 17

Please pray for our upcoming May 23^rd event and consider joining us. We are expecting thousands to attend this meeting. Pope Francis will be giving a special message for this Gathering (video message). I will be serving as the Master of Ceremony with another younger leader. I have never done this in such a large gathering and will be working with a translator which I don’t have a lot of experience with, would appreciate your prayers

with love and gratitude,

Ryan and Noleen

The Call to Christian Unity

When it comes to the call to Christian unity we live in tension. Through our redemption in Christ we were given the gift of being brought into the *unity of the Trinity*, which provides the model and source of our unity with our brothers and sisters. Although unity is a gift, we are to be active participants. We are called to, make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Eph 4:3).

Our Gathering on March 20^th was a beautiful expression of this. We came together in our diversity male and female, young and old, clergy and lay, up-front servant, and behind-the-scene servant, light skin and dark skin. We worshipped in English and in Spanish. We gave thanks and celebrated the unity we our now experiencing together as well as the expectancy that God is moving us deeper and farther in the days ahead.

God also brought us to face the painful reality that, “Our divisions are a monstrous act of disobedience.” And that His heart is broken around our divisions and He invites us enter into this grieving with Him. To feel this pain deeply, to sit with it and allow it draw us in humility, to own our sinful attitudes and actions that deepen existing divisions and even create new ones. God met with us and gave us great grace to confess and turn from our sins and we experienced His forgiveness, cleansing, refreshment and renewed energy to, “Make the unity of the Body of Christ our passionate concern.”

**The importance of the unity and the Trinity

“Jesus came to reveal to humanity that God is not a solitary, eternal being, contemplating his own glory; he is not just an extraordinary Creator of a beautiful yet painful universe. God is a family of three; three persons in communion one with another, giving themselves totally one to another, each one relative to the other. And God created man and woman as a sign of the Trinity, he created them to be in communion, one with the other, in this way reflecting his Love. God yearns for community to be a sign of this communion between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:

‘That they may be one, as the Father and I are one’ John 17:11

-Jean Vanier

“Divisions among Christians are antithetical to trinitarian reality. Father, Son and Holy Spirit form one communion into which God has incorporated redeemed followers of Jesus. As this one fellowship, composed of both God and man, grows in visibility, it will also grow in influence. It will foster the healing of human divisions. And mankind will know that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world”. John 14:20-23; 17:20-23

-George Miley

consider joining us May 23rd click link here to learn more & to register

April 15, 2015

Prayer Update

Greetings friends,

Thank you for your loving friendship and prayer! We are grateful

Since last time

+Thanks for your prayers for our grant presentation, it went great and was received very well. We should hear soon if and what amount we are awarded.

+The evening together with our Armenian brothers and sisters went very well we hope to continue to build friendship in the days ahead

Family

+Marriage--Noleen and I are working through some deep issues in our marriage in this season and would appreciate your prayers around this, especially for the wisdom as we seek others to walk alongside us in our journey towards healing and greater intimacy with Jesus and one another

+Disney Land--We have been saving our silver change for over two years and thanks to a special gift from our friends, Danny and Evelynn Malakowsky we have enough. We leave on Monday, please Pray for a fun time of playing and bonding as a family and we would have many God-moments throughout.

+Future Home--We continue to ask for prayers, the owners have not yet signed the contract even though they said they would six weeks ago.

Ministry of Reconciliation/John 17

+The March 20th Gathering went really well, one highlight for me was being able to facilitate us praying through the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation

+May 23rd we will be having a large gathering in the heart of downtown Phoenix, where we hope thousands of Christians from different traditions will gather around God's heart for Reconciliation and Unity. Please pray for God's protection and perfect will to be accomplished

A Growing Burden

+I find my heart burdened increasingly for the persecuted Christians around the world, especially those in the Middle East and I do not know what to do? Please pray that I will have a greater sense of what a God-honoring response can be. I desire that Western Christians would care and act, and I know it starts with me.

Father Douglas a Catholic Priest in Iraqi Kurdistan believes it may already be too late for Christianity to survive here.

Love,

Ryan and Noleen

April 7, 2015

A2J Fellowship Weekly Note

Greetings friends,

God speaks to us in a variety of ways including our own stories, Fredrick Buechner writes, “look back over your lives, for certain themes and patterns and signals that are so easy to miss when you’re caught up in the process of living them. Pause to listen to what has happened to you—for the sound, above all else, of his voice.”

I hear God saying to me lately that He loves me and that my life matters! I also hear him sharing with me how much his heart breaks for the great suffering and pain of humanity. I hear him telling me that I do not need to be afraid and hide or throw up my arms in despair from the powerlessness that I so often feel but instead can join him in His work of healing, comforting and bringing the Life of Jesus in small ways to the person in front of me. What are you hearing???

Upcoming Events

April 18th will be the 4th annual Hope Fest, A2J has participated in this the past three years by providing prayer stations to offer prayer and encouragement to the guests who are having their physical needs met through all the social services being offered to them. This is a wonderful opportunity. Please REPLY if you would like to be part of a prayer team for a few hours

Of Friday April 17th there is also a need for volunteers to unload donations all day at Chase Field, REPLY if you can help with this as well

Saturday April 18th Spring Movie Night....Woodland Community Garden will be hosting our third Movie night this year.

Wine, Cheese and Friendship 6-7pm. Movie starts at 7pm. Bring something to share, a comfy chair, and a friend. RSVP and more details here.

Saturday May 23rd City-Wide Unity and Reconciliation Gathering.... More information here

Your Friend,

Ryan

+ learning to do things that are simple and local growing in love for God and others

April 6, 2015

Suffering all around us

At least 147 people, mostly students, have been killed in an assault by al-Shabab militants on a university in north-eastern Kenya. Heavily armed attackers stormed Garissa University early on Thursday, killing two security guards then firing indiscriminately on students. It is the deadliest attack yet by al-Shabab. The militants singled out Christians and shot them, witnesses said.

I really struggle to know what to do with the pain and helplessness I feel around the current tragedies that swirl all around us. I also struggle with frustration and borderline shame around my own emotional detachment.

I read about one student, Hellen Titus, who told the Kenyan media how she was able to escape from the tragedy as the shooters hovered over her and her fellow students. She covered herself with someone else’s blood and was thereby mistaken for dead. Hellen's story reminds us that it is the precious blood of Jesus that gives us life.
We do well to remember that the story of any one of us is in some measure the story of us all and that the Author of this story has promised that we can overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony...and in the meantime we must remember that we cannot fix it all, but we can reach out in simple acts of love and healing to the person in need that is right in front of us.

April 1, 2015

St. Apkar Armenian Church

Last week a group of us went to St. Apkar Armenian Church, we were taking a small step towards learning what it means to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters who suffered so much. So we went to their church and watched a movie with them and listen to them tell us stories about their grandparents were the few who survived the Genocide so that they now have life. They shared the wonderful contributions that the Armenian people have made to culture and society throughout the generations. It was a beautiful night, we made new friends and we were strengthened by their testimonies and genuine hospitality.

Me and Father Zacharia Saribekyan

More than one million Armenians perished as the result of execution, starvation, disease, the harsh environment, and physical abuse. A people who lived in eastern Turkey for nearly 3,000 years [more than double the amount of time the invading Islamic Turks had occupied Anatolia, now known as “Turkey”] lost its homeland and was profoundly decimated in the first large-scale genocide of the twentieth century. At the beginning of 1915 there were some two million Armenians within Turkey; today there are fewer than 60,000…. Despite the vast amount of evidence that points to the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide, eyewitness accounts, official archives, photographic evidence, the reports of diplomats, and the testimony of survivors, denial of the Armenian Genocide by successive regimes in Turkey has gone on from 1915 to the present.