"The Cove" & Plan B
“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”
-Luke 2:7
PLAN B: Noun. A strategy or plan to be implemented if the original one proves impracticable or unsuccessful.
Once they knew they had to leave Bethlehem to register for the Census, surely Plan A for Mary and Joseph must have been a nice, comfy first century AirBnB. No one thought Mary giving birth to her first child in a stable was a good idea...let alone putting the Son of God in a trough where animals ate and drank. But sometimes Plan B happens. The pandemic definitely offered the church, along with the rest of the world, an opportunity to explore what Plan B might look like given that we were unable to meet in person for a year-and-a-half. In that time, we got pretty (slowly and clumsily) tech savvy and we had to reinvent ourselves which came from asking some big questions. What is the purpose of church? What is church supposed to look like? Who is it supposed to serve?
The Cove (ages 18-39) was conceived out of some of those deep thoughts. It's not just a rebrand of the various young adult groups that were running at RCC previously - it's an attempt at doing church differently. A cove is a small, sheltered recess from the stormy sea. It's what kept coming to mind as I spoke to many young adults over the last two years. Why? Because so many were feeling disconnected, a bit tossed about by rough water, and a little lost. I'm thankful to Hana for being the fount of creativity that she is for helping to conceive, shape and/or support The Cove in many ways.
On the first night we all met, it became clear that what we really needed was a safe place to reconnect again. For now, The Cove Coffee House meets on the third Saturday of every month and features live music from a young adult in our community, good food and warm drinks. All other Saturdays are dedicated to The Cove Small Group where we are watching and discussing The Chosen and enjoying tasty apps courtesy of our air fryers.
To all of you - Cove participants or not - I wish you a very blessed Christmas. May you each know how deeply and completely you are loved by God no matter which iteration of The Plan you're living right now.