Friday Contemplation: Happy New Year! What are your 2022 goals? What do you need to shed to give space to accomplish them?

I write my goals out for the upcoming year in late December, put them in a daily planner. This year I wrote them on a white board that I look at each day (there are 7). If you want to know what they are, ask me when I next see you!

One thing I am hoping to be a part of accomplishing is to grow The Portico Community.

The growth is twofold:
(1) Numerical in people, and more importantly…
(2) Deeper love for God, the under-served, and the city. While #2 is hard to measure, I think love of God is expressed through action and intentional spiritual practices.

To grow numerically, we need you. Invite others who you know that don’t have a faith community and might participate with you. As we do that, The Portico Community will grow. This Sunday’s Gathering and Community Meal are easy ways to invite.

Or maybe you are called to begin in a small group. So who can you connect with and invite?

To grow more deeply in love consider these spiritual practices and gatherings:
Sunday Gathering this Sunday at 10:30: Come every 2nd Sunday to build relationships, have conversations about life and scripture, practice silence, and serve together!

Community Meal this Sunday at Noon: Participate Sunday where we get our “knees under tables” with friends and neighbors who are unsheltered or hungry and occurs immediately after the Sunday Gathering.

Join a Small GroupExplore.
Joe Group 8 (starts Jan 18 on Tues, 6:30 a.m.)
Joe Group 9 (starts Jan 18 on Tues, 7:30 a.m.)
12 Step Bible Study (Tues 5:30 p.m.)Meditation Group (starts Jan 12 on Wed, 7:15 p.m.)

Homeless Memorial: January, 24 at 6 p.m. Join us at this outdoor gathering in memory of those who lost their lives in 2021 while living unsheltered. This memorial service honors the dignity and worth of people without shelter–all of whom we’ve lost last year.

Habitat Build: build Mindi’s house! The second Friday of every month for the next 6 months, we’ll come together to build and create a great future. Sign up here.

The Portico Cafe Get a coffee subscription or coffee bags to kick off the new year. All proceeds make an impact!
Get a Coffee Subscription or gift one to a loved one
Get a Bag!
Help us to get to our January 100 bag goal–12 so far!

You are Loved; and called to grow!

How are you going to do it?

Justin

The Rev. Justin LaRosa, LCSW
Director & Minister, The Portico
Justin@ThePortico.org
O: 813.222.2299 | M: 813.444.2941
1001 N. Florida Ave.,Tampa, FL 33602
Conversation. Connection. Community Change.
Websites for The Portico and The Portico Cafe.


The Portico Campus includes a neighborhood cafe, a historic chapel, spaces to meet and work, and an event space for the public that enhances the social, artistic, and spiritual fabric of Tampa through Conversation, Connection and Community Change!
The Portico Community is a non-conventional church whose mission is to make God’s Love Real through spiritual practices and to serve the city and world in ways that address equality, housing insecurity, and economic challenge. We are a community of Hyde Park United Methodist.
The Portico Cafe is a social enterprise that offers people transitioning from homelessness, addiction, and incarceration–job training, employment ladders, and connections to safe, affordable housing.