This Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020
2nd Sunday after Christmas Day
8:30am & 11:00am Worship Services
|
|
A Mark in Time
New Creations
One thing I have always liked about the New Year is the thought of starting out fresh! Before using electronic calendars, I liked starting the year with a brand new desk calendar! There are no appointments written in yet, coffee spills covering important reminders, or meeting conflicts to be concerned about. But alas, it only took a few days into the New Year and my new calendar looked a mess! No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t keep it clean.
Sometimes life can be messy too when we want it to be nice and neat and organized. The way we handle life can be like spilling coffee on important appointments, or overscheduling meetings. In the past some of the ventures I have tried in life have failed miserably and most likely it is because of my sinfulness. And I am certain that no matter how hard I try in my humanness I will sin again in the future. That is my fate and link with the Adamic past. I could be very depressed if I only pondered that fate.
However, in Christ there is a future, a “New Year,” so to speak, each moment.
“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NRSV)
Donald Grey Barnhouse shares a poignant story in his book called
Let Me Illustrate
called “Heinz Nordhoff” which addresses our future in Christ.
Before the war Heinz Nordhoff was the manager of Opel, the German branch of General Motors. When the war ended he was forced to take a job as manual laborer and existed on handouts from friends. The British knew his worth and offered him a job directing Volkswagen, a bombed factory that manufactured very small cars. He didn’t want to leave the production of big cars, but had little alternative; under his leadership, Volkswagen has become one of the strong links in the great economic revival in Germany. Said Nordhoff: “the future begins when you cut every tie with the lost past.”
All of us are born linked with the lost, Adamic past. As long as we try to salvage anything from it, we are in spiritual poverty and desperation. But when we come to Christ, the Holy Spirit begets us anew, and we become a new creation. The future begins when we cut every tie with the lost past. We can’t do it, but Christ can.
Won’t you let Christ into your life and cut the tie with your lost past so that you might become a new creation in Christ. Then you might truly celebrate a “New Year”, for the whole year and forever!
In Christ’s Service
Pastor Jeri-Lynne
|
|
The Mission Study Open Forms THIS SUNDAY
All members are invited to come this Sun., Jan. 5, to one of three
Mission Study Open Forums
for 50 minutes:
- After 8:30 Service: From 9:40 to 10:30am in the Lounge
- After 10:00 Service: From 11:10am to 12pm in the Lounge
- After 11:00 Service: From 12:10 to 1pm in the Fellowship Hall
As you may know, the MISSION STUDY is the first major step in our congregation’s search for a new senior pastor. This study will report where we are as a congregation and where God is calling us to go in this time and place.
Please check out the display in the church hallway where we posted a “December Progress Report” sharing the steps that our Mission Study Team has completed since we formed in September, the steps currently in progress, and the steps that remain.
When the completed MISSION STUDY is approved and presented to the congregation, we will hand this study over to a NEW team, the Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC). The MISSION STUDY will serve as a type of resume for our congregation which will help the PNC find an appropriate pastor.
Many thanks to ALL who participated in the Mission Study Open Forums that we held after services on December 15!
If you were not able to make one of these Open Forums, please plan to attend one after any of the services this Sunday. These sessions are critical to our process!
Thanks for participating in these various forms of feedback, thank you for your prayers, and thank you for your patience and encouragement:
“proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.”
2 Timothy 4:2
|
|
Please Note: Church Closed
Jan. 1-3 (Office always closed Fridays.)
|
|
Fill Your Cup
Sundays 12:15 or Wednesdays 7pm, Lounge
|
|
Wednesday Bible Study:
1 Kings
Resumes Wed. Jan. 8, 1pm, Lounge
Led by
Katie Kinnison. Maybe you’ve never read these stories before or maybe you can’t imagine them connecting with your life. Oh, but these tales resonate with our lives today. King David is old and ill, and his sons are battling for his throne. The nation is divided. Can you imagine what that might be like? Soon we’ll be reading about Solomon and the building of the Temple, and then how this king, gifted with wisdom, makes some foolish choices. How do we know when we have moved off course, outside the way of Love? The fabulous stories of Elijah and Elisha are in this book. How can we survive famine? Who is God willing to save? Join us, as we ask questions about what it means to live faithfully with a God, so far beyond our ken, who continually calls us into relationship.
|
|
Parenting Together:
Our Children, Our Youth & Anxiety
Tues., Jan. 21, 28, Feb. 4, 5:30-7pm, Lounge
|
|
Covenant's Children’s Center Seeks Teacher...
After-School Teacher (K-5th grade)
For details, contact Caroline McGeoch, Director of the Children’s Center
|
|
Our Mission
Covenant Presbyterian Church is an open, accepting community awakening to God's life-giving love together.
Our Vision
Covenant Presbyterian Church glorifies God and builds relationships with Christ and each other through: worship that inspires, nurture that embraces, education that challenges,
fellowship that energizes, ministry that responds.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
