Welcome to Cafe Liberty & Worship on Mother’s Day as we celebrate moms and honor all the ladies whose gifts from God enrich our lives!

A key verse in my mind about the developing life of congregations is so simple, it’s often overlooked.

 It’s Romans 15:7: “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

In any generation, and indeed in every congregation, that verse is a guiding principle that can break barriers, open hearts and enrich relationships.

This past week has brought several examples of how that works.

It started when many of you helped us launch our first of several “First Sunday receptions”. Fellowship in the love of Christ enriches us all. We love to find simple ways to make meaningful connections. Thanks so much to Maurene and Jeff Sutton for planning the 1st Sunday reception and to Jeff’s mom, Cathy and to Joyce and Chuck Blevins for all your help.

Over the following days, I’ve been blessed by meetings, both planned and un-scheduled, when guests have told me how they found the church and what the kindness they felt has meant to them. That’s always such a joy to hear.

In a culture where there is so much division and potential for hurt, our task in keeping the focus of all we do on serving Jesus has never been more urgent. Plus, we can count on the fact that all around us every day are people needing to know the best “welcome” of all – that Christ the Lord is welcoming us to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:7a)

Our men’s Bible study group has been such a rewarding enjoyable time, with brothers in Christ sharing from the heart as we explore accessible tools for Bible reading and new steps of faith.

Thanks to all the guys who have participated. Our concluding session (Week #5 on May 16^th @ 6:30 PM) is still open to any newcomer as well as those who have been with us in the group. For our meal count, please again reply to this email or text me by Monday evening @ 410.596.4096

Throughout this busy and beautiful spring, we have been blessed by the care and volunteer labor of Sara Wallick and Ruth Ready and their children who started the clean-up of flowerbeds a few weeks ago. Thanks so much to each of them and to Ruth and Justin and the kids for planting vinca and finishing that phase of the project last Sunday.

We’ve so appreciated excellent work by Casey Davis and Dustin Funt in the large shrub removals we needed and for all that Joe and David Gorman have done on the re-design of the entry sign planter structure this week. In each of these projects, excellence and great teamwork has been superb! Many thanks to you all!

Welcome to all who can join us at a distance via Live-stream or via podcast. Here are those links to find us in real time or later: