Gilligan’s Island
26 February 2025
In between two Sundays of worship services, I hit the road with LuAnne to enjoy a few days away on her winter
break.
On a snorkel trip (which always turns out to be a worship experience, with God’s awe-inspiring under-water majesty of reef-life), our boat passed by Sandy Cay, the little, palm-tree peppered island featured in the title sequence for the first season of the TV show Gilligan’s Island.
Do you remember the show? I watched an episode most days after grade school while eating a bowl of cereal before homework. The Gilligan’s Island theme song is still fun to sing around a campfire. While the island looked beautiful from our Bahamian boat, I think I would quickly tire of the living arrangement.
For Gilligan only got to enjoy six other friends as castaways together on the island. (Can you remember all their names? Keep reading, but check the bottom of this letter for the answer). Six is certainly better than none!
Many studies indicate that both men and women, on average, enjoy fewer friends than they used to a few decades ago.
But friendship and connection are essentail to health and life enjoyment. While they probably griped with one another at times like brothers, Jesus surrounded himself with 12 regular friends, right?
At the end of each COS service, we invite worshipers to seize the week, “connecting with Jesus’ pathway of joy and life.”
In the acronmyn of c+o+n+n+e+c+t, one of the N’s stands for “nurturing with a small group.” Why? Because that’s the kind of life Jesus modeled for us.
This Sunday is our Ministry Fair.
Swing by the table to see all the small groups that you can join. In each one, you’ll find brothers and sisters in Christ with whom study or service, fellowship and faith are much more fruitful than on one’s own!
Secondly, after our Ash Wednesday service, our Colorful Characters Lenten Series begins Sunday, March 9.
Four different preachers will feature five different colorful characters from Scripture. Each one offers insight for our lives. Then each Wednesday, in both a morning email and our evening Lenten service at 6:30pm in the sanctuary (after an optional meal at 5:30), we’ll hear a testimony from a COS disciple about how their life connects to that Colorful Character.
But here’s the deal: you can maximize your Lenten journey by creating a small group to enjoy a 30 minute discussion each week.
You might want to call it your “Color Crew” or some other fun name. You can join my Wednesday evening discussion after worship at 7pm. But consider pulling some new or old COS folks together for your own discussion group. It’s easy. You’ll be equipped with a discussion guide that we’ll send you each Wednesday. Go just 30 minutes . . . or longer if you’re having fun. Up to you. But you’ll be glad your Lenten journey included some other folks. They’ll bring joy, insight, uplift, and grace to you. And you will do the same for them.
So take advantage of your situation!
You’re not stuck on an island. God has blessed you with all kinds of incredible people—colorful characters—who surround you. So reach out, pull a group together, and do Lent with one another. See what God will offer in the process!
Thinking with you about who I can invite to join me,
Pastor Fritz
Let us pray:
Dear God, small islands with palm trees are gorgeous. But I wouldn’t want to live on one. I’d get too lonely. By myself for too long, my thoughts can get weird. Thanks for sending me friends in my life. Thanks for the richness and encouragement they bring to me, according to your design. Keep giving me energy to not isolate and just watch more TV or whatever is easier, but to reach out and make connections. As I hear about colorful characters in the five Sundays of Lent, help me pull together a band of my own colorful characters for some discussion, laughs, and a deeper Lenten journey. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
+++++
Trivia answer:
The seven castaways on Gilligan’s Island included Gilligan, the Skipper, Mr. and Mrs. Howell, the professor, the movie star Ginger, and Mary Ann.
Can you see the tiny island above my thumb? 😀
