Welcome!
At North Shore SDA Church, we create and nurture communities wherever we are. This is my contribution to this mission.
My name is Jodi Burnett and I am going to introduce you to some of the faces and stories in our church and around it. It’s so important to know people’s stories - knowing where they have been and what they have learned along that journey opens a window into true understanding and acceptance. We at North Shore are so blessed with cultural diversity, as you will see in the coming weeks on this blog, and I want to make sure we truly celebrate that beautiful gift and opportunity.
Paul describes the church as the body of Christ. All unique, but also all one. This is a big enough challenge within ONE culture - dealing with different personalities, tastes and temperaments. But mix in different cultures as well and it gets tricky indeed.
But we accept the challenge!
We ARE Northshore.
We eat rice in at least 9 different ways -
rice and beans,
rice and peas,
jollof,
pulut,
risotto,
fried rice,
biryani,
arroz con gandules,
rice pudding
.... and I can guarantee you someone will come up to me this week at church and remind me of at least 3 more I have forgotten.
We speak dozens of languages,
we walk differently
sing differently,
parent differently
show affection differently -
BUT we have all been called to this place and at this time. We are all different but all on this amazing journey of following Christ together. And through the work of the Holy Spirit,
we will create community so brilliant and beautiful
hundreds and thousands will come and join their own brand of humanity to ours and we will keep moving the Kingdom forward, not ignoring differences, but seeking to embrace them and to allow ourselves to be changed and moulded by this beautiful crazy diversity around us.
Come join us - enjoy the rice.
