What to Expect When You Visit on Easter
April 2nd, 2015 | John Chandler
With Easter rolling around, you might be thinking “maybe I should go to church this Sunday…”
Visiting a church can be a daunting task. You don’t know anyone. You’re not sure if you believe anything they talk about. You are afraid of being judged.
Those are reasonable fears. Chances are good that you’ve had awkward or painful experiences related to church.
So, let’s be honest. Here are five realities you can expect when you visit Austin Mustard Seed:
A Church Community of both Hopeful Skeptics and Passionate Believers
Every Sunday we start by admitting that we’re a community of hopeful skeptics and passionate believers. The fact is that faith is fluid. Sometimes you have mountaintop experiences. Sometimes you’re drowning in despair. A lot of the time, you’re just trying to get through the day.
As a church community, we create space for people who are in different places in their story. You are welcome no matter what part of the story you are experiencing on Easter.
Honest Hospitality
One great definition of hospitality it “making space for the other.” It’s the act of consciously welcoming people who are different than you .
It’s hard. Maybe even unnatural.
We want to be a hospitable church community. We believe Jesus made space for us, and it’s our job to make space for those who are different than us.
We are learning hospitality. We won’t be pushy, but we won’t be perfect.
We hope you’ll feel welcome. We hope you’ll make space for us, too.
Pretty Good Coffee
What can we say…we like our coffee. We like it single origin. We like it made by hand. We like it black (at least some of us do.)
Coffee snobs, tea drinkers and teetotalers are all invited. Drinks are a little tool for breaking the ice. It gives us a way to greet each other. It gives us something to sip on as we sit in contemplation.
We hope you’ll like the coffee. It’s on us.
We’ll talk about Jesus
We’re a church. We talk about Jesus a lot.
We talk about Jesus as the Bible presents him. Since this is Easter, we’ll talk about Jesus’s resurrection.
We refer to ourselves as a church that “Practices the Way of Jesus.” Whatever your feelings about church or resurrection are, we hope you’ll recognize the belief that Jesus was a smart man who can teach us a lot.
Lunch
Every Sunday, we end our time together by saying “see you throughout the week.” Then, we all go to lunch together.
This Sunday, we’ll be staying at our gathering space at 7500 Woodrow for a potluck lunch. We’ll have a lazy afternoon, watching the kids chase after Easter Eggs and sharing stories.
We hope you’ll join us, and stick around for lunch!