I’m so happy for the slightly warmer weather we’ve had. The snow is off the ground. One day the temperatures were in the high 60’s but now we’re in the 40’s. Some of the critters came back. Outside my window I saw a couple of rabbits, birds were singing in the trees, happy for sunny days. I also saw quite a few squirrels. On my morning walks, I’ve still been seeing squirrels everywhere, dashing up and down the trunks of trees and running across the streets. They don’t seem to mind temperatures in the 40’s. They must have good insulation.

 

But today I want to talk about some other critters I’ve seen. Of the winged variety. Yesterday, my husband and I were in Ace Hardware, next to what I’m still trying to remember to call Berkots and not Walt’s. I’ll get used to the name someday. When we got back into the car, we drove past the big pond at the end of the Ace parking lot. And there was a large group of geese there. I don’t know how many there were but there was a lot of them. Some were paddling in the pond, dipping their heads in the water, a few of them were dipping the whole front of their body under water, then they’d lift their bodies up by flapping their wings and shake to get dry.

 

Most of the geese were on the shore, waddling around with that waddling walk geese have. And a large number were just there standing still or squatted on the ground pecking underneath their feathers.

 

What do you call a group of geese? I looked it up on google and it said that when geese are flying in formation, they’re called a skein or a wedge or a team. But a group of geese on the ground is called a gaggle because when geese get together they can get quite noisy and rowdy.

 

This word “gaggle” can also be used for a bunch of people milling around in a disorganized way. A gaggle is also a useful word for describing a disorderly or chaotic group of people: for example, “I was surrounded by a gaggle of three-year olds at my child’s birthday party.”

 

Names for groups of people range from formal terms like assembly and congregation. And there are informal ones like bunch, crew and squad. There are a whole lot of other options for groups of people, including coterie, gang, cabal, faction – depending on the groups purpose or shared characteristics.

 

The Bible refers to a group of Christians as the church, a word derived from the Greek word ekklesia meaning “assembly” or the “called out ones.” But we also have a whole lot of other words to identify ourselves: the body of Christ, the household of faith, disciples, Brethren (a term frequently used to refer to believers as brothers and sisters), Saints (often used to describe all believers in general, living and dead), and The Way, an early term used in the book of Acts to refer to Jesus’ followers, Jesus who is the way, truth and life.

 

I don’t suppose it matters so much which term you most identify with because I figure we are all these things. They are all different ways of describing who we are as people together who have been saved by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and to whom we put our trust.

 

And we do it together. We come together to worship God, to grow in our understanding of God’s Word and to live out our lives in Christ as a community in fellowship, in prayer, and by loving one another, warts and all. 

 

On the night before Jesus died, he gave us a new commandment. “Love one another as I have loved you. By this, all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.”

 

 How do we act out this love? The Bible instructs us on how we can love one another. We are called to encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13), “spur” one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24), serve one another (Galatians 5:13), instruct one another (Romans 15:14), honor one another (Romans 12:10), be patient with one another and forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32), bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), and speak the truth to one another (Ephesians 4:25).

 

It’s in being in church together that we put this love into action. That’s what we do here at Crete UMC, the whole gaggle of us.

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                                  Announcements

 

Our Thrift Shop is open on Saturdays, from 9-3p, @ 1321 Main Street, Crete, IL. 

 

PENNY-PANTRY SUNDAY is the fourth Sunday of every month. From October to December, we will be collecting for the Pastor's Helping Hands Ministry. 

 

During Crete Country Christmas- we at Crete UMC will be having our Annual Arts & Craft Fair and our Annual Sing-a-long Christmas Concert, December 6 & 6th.

 

Saturday, December 6th our Annual Arts and Craft Fair, from 9 to 3p, in the narthex,

 

Sunday, December 7th for our Annual Sing-a-long Christmas Concert, in the church Sanctuary, from 3 to 4p.