I mean to announce this on Sunday, but I forgot! Hopefully this format is helpful for those interested.

Like we've done the last few years, we've left space at the beginning of the year to address some topics the elders believe are important for our specific little community.

This Sunday, as we reflect on our "chief end," we're going to talk about the connection between our regular Sunday worship and the rest of the week. How are these two things related?

The following Sunday will take some of what we discuss this week and build upon it. In which direction? I don't yet know. I wanted to hold things a little open handed, since the elders will be spending some extended time together next week.

Pray that God gives all of us wisdom to discern where our little community can best see and enjoy his glory.

Believe it or not, we're on track to FINISH the book of Isaiah this year! I'll be honest, I didn't have a lot of hope when we started, that we would finish, but here we are. I regularly thank God for this time he's given us.

The plan is to wrap up Isaiah up after the summer.

What does that have to do with Mark? As it stands, we're planning on walking through Mark starting on the 28th of January.

By walking, I mean walking. We're going to cover two chapters between now and Easter. Just two. Since we typically take entire chapters or large chunks of Scripture, we thought it would be a learning experience for us to really just walk, to slow pace it, through a familiar Gospel narrative.

That means we will not finish Mark this year. I thought it would be ok to break up this Gospel, since we're about to finish Isaiah. I didn't feel like it was helpful to have multiple "to be continued" series.

Mark Journals will be provided!

After these next two weeks, we've got Mark 1 & 2, Easter, Psalms (summer), Finish Isaiah, and then Advent.

I've left some space for topicals here and there. Reach out if you feel like there are some specific things the elders should be considering.

We're also throwing around the idea of Jude, 2 John, or another smaller book after Easter and before the summer. I'd love your thoughts on that if you want to share.

For those interested, I hope this was helpful.

I'm thankful for you all.

Aaron Sanford

Teaching Pastor

Emmaus Church