Tag Archives: games

Game Nite this Saturday, Mar. 22!

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Game night is just around the corner! We’ve had a lot of fun with our game nights at the Twin Falls church—a great time to relax and have fun together, to share some favorite game time snacking traditions (I can’t have a game night anymore without getting a yearning for popcorn!), and inviting guests to join us. Churchy folk are just so scary, don’t you know—but we’re less scary with a game board or deck of cards in front of us.

We’ve been talking a lot about the importance of inviting others to be a part of our Jesus party as an important part of our discipleship, and game nights make that easy! Don’t forget to remind people, too, that you don’t have to enjoy playing board games to enjoy the time together. We often have several folks who just come for the company, who come to laugh at people being silly, or come for food or conversation.

But a game night with “just us,” without inviting guests to have fun with us, is missing the point. Jesus calls us to reach out beyond our little circle of friends, even beyond our “comfort zone,” because there are so many folks around us in our epidemic of loneliness, that need to be reminded that they are loved and valued. Sure, we who are always here together really enjoy getting together—and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that! But we churchy people are not just a club for ourselves—we are called to be disciples of Jesus, sharing His life-transforming, saving grace with others! Game nites make for an easy start!

Now is a great time to invite those neighbors, dog-walkers and more! We’ll have sloppy joes, and whatever other eats and treats that we bring—so plan on bringing a friend and some goodies to share! Saturday afternoon/evening, 4-8—but there’s no “hard start,” so come when you can, and better yet, BRING some of those friends in your car with you! Always works best if you pray about those guests both now, and all along—see you then!

Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings— Warmth on a Cold Night

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Pastoral Ponderings— Warmth on a Cold Night

Still cold. I thought last week’s 9 degrees was bad—this morning was -9! But bitter cold like this isn’t all bad. Closing the doors against the cold can open doors too! To ward off the cold last night, we had our neighbors over for dinner and games. After all, too cold to “go out” doesn’t mean too cold to go next door!

It’s not quite a “regular” thing to have dinner and a game night with the neighbors, but it is a common enough thing that now it’s not unusual, and it started a couple years ago with the simplicity of delivering Christmas cookies to get to know the neighbors. But whether it’s neighbors you don’t know, you barely know, you’d like to know better, or the closest of friends, the same line can warm any heart on a cold night: (addressed to said neighbor) “Hey, it’s pretty cold out. Would you like to warm up over dinner/coffee/cocoa and a game tonight?”

What’s the worst that could happen? They could say “no,” but then that’s no different that your prior plan without inviting them! I suppose it could be worse if you invite them over and some disaster happens— like they might break a tooth biting into something unexpected in the ice cream you offer, but how likely is THAT to happen? (I didn’t actually BREAK a tooth on that nugget of steel in the ice cream—just almost—but that’s another story…)

It’s much more likely that you might finally catch up with the neighbor you’ve barely said hello to for years. Or you might bring some warmth into a cold and lonely life. Or you might find that God has set up this opportunity for some wonderful blessing. Or you might just have a good time and grow a friendship– and wouldn’t any of those much more likely outcomes be a Very Good Thing?

One of the most well-known and whole-heartedly embraced of Jesus’ teachings is to “love your neighbors.” But these days, even we Jesus people who have turned that earth-shattering teaching into a bland platitude, too often, barely even acknowledge the existence of our neighbors. When was the last time you actually did something loving for one of the neighbors next door?

I’m proud of you if you can remember the last time you did something loving for your neighbor last ________ (year, month, week, last snowfall, whatever)! But why not tonight? If loving your spouse, dog, kids, parents, friends or whomever is an ongoing thing, isn’t that just as true for your neighbors?

Love your neighbor. It’s a cool thing (or a WARM thing!). It’s an easy thing. It’s a Jesus thing. — A simple reminder from Pastor Jim