Praise & Thanksgiving

• Singing praise and celebration for the weekend

Celebrating the Gift of Community

• Celebration of God’s presence, care, and mending during this retreat

• Celebration of this time of community

Offering

• Response: Commit to weaving more closely into community with someone, seek reconciliation in a relationship that needs mending, release something from your schedule, commit to a practice of self-care, etc.

Closing Thoughts: “Nets Are For Casting”

• The Rope - Jesus spent much of his earthly ministry choosing the men He would weave and knot together into the community of disciples who would be left behind to continue the ministry after His death.

• Routine Care - This inner circle experienced life as Jesus lived it. And while Jesus was certainly other-focused, He also modeled consistent self-care. He routinely withdrew from the crowds and even His closest friends in order to spend time with His Father. Silence and solitude, prayer and meditation were important parts of Jesus’s life. While Jesus performed many mighty miracles, hidden behind them were hours of prayer and years of preparation.

• Mending - The net of the their community was badly damaged by the experience of fear, betrayal, and rejection that surrounded Jesus’s crucifixion. In John 21, we see Jesus sitting down beside a breakfast over the fire to begin the mending process, spending special time with Peter. Scripture tells us that Jesus spends 40 days with the disciples before ascending into heaven. Certainly, this was a time of mending the nets.

• Casting - And with His last words, Jesus casts that mended net over all of humanity

  • “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”Jesus earthly ministry involved the choosing and weaving together of the disciple community that He would leave behind to continue on after His death.” - Matthew 28:16-20

• Nets are made for casting

  • Jesus draws us back into relationship with God

  • Sends us out to make disciples (disciple-makers)

  • Teach people to obey God’s commands, which basically boil down to love of God and love of neighbor

• Rely on Jesus as the Great Fisherman

  • Draws all people back to Himself (Catches all kinds of fish)

  • Arranges encounters between the right people at the right time (Uses different kinds of nets)

  • Ministry comes as a response to His love and healing

  • Desires relationship above service (Knows the time to cast and the time to mend