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Monthly Archives

November 2022

2022-12-04 Hybrid Worship

By Intersections, Newsletters, Sermons

You’re in the right place!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Our welcoming, energizing community worship premiers at 10:30 AM every Sunday in the beautiful and historic Red Brick Church. We are fully accessible, and street and lot parking is available. Get news and event information in your inbox every week by subscribing to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Just send your email address by text message:

Text COLDSPRINGNJ to 22828 to get started.

Get your Advent Worship Guide (click here)

Download your Worship Guide (red link above), which includes a message and music preview, Scripture readings, prayers, community news, and more! A limited number of printed Worship Guides are available in the Narthex.

Join worship now on YouTube (click here)

You can worship with us anytime on our YouTube Live channel. Enjoy all our previous week’s messages and music, too. Share the link above and the blessings with a friend!


Message and Music preview!

Experience the Story from the original Christmas Storyteller

Message Preview

The Second Sunday of Advent invites us to prepare for something fantastic. News that’s worthy of being shouted from the mountaintops, or posted to your Instagram account, or texted to a friend. Yes. It’s that fantastic because there is nothing ordinary about the preparatory days that lead us to celebrating Christmas. We will flesh out God’s story as we hear the prophet Isaiah tell of a messenger to come. Five hundred years later, John the Baptizer fulfilled the prophecy and prepared the way for Jesus.

Christianity is a religion, but so much more. We don’t follow a religion. We follow Jesus, the Peace of God that forever connects divinity with humanity. God becoming human is in the Church’s (and our) spiritual DNA as we become transformed by the transcendent into the imminent. The Word and Spirit became flesh and blood. Christmas is the story of this peace connection of the divine and human.

This week we will connect with John the Baptizer who expressed empathy. Empathy is rooted deep within the DNA of our church, but it can be developed, and improved, through learning. Understanding and clarifying our own values, but also understanding others’ values, is essential to authentic living. Expressing empathy is essential for effective storytelling—storytelling that can transform lives. We too often tell a Christmas story about us. But its so much more. When the story is all about the storyteller, little empathy is expressed and impact on others is marginal. And stories rooted in ourselves alone are rarely interesting or effective. But when the storyteller internalizes the Story and pays attention to others, captures the experiences, emotions, and context of the listeners, empathy rises, which empowers life-changing behaviors.

Don’t talk to their minds, talk to their hearts. —Nelson Mandela

John the Baptist does just that in our Gospel reading and message this week, and we can too.

Music Preview

We begin with our Advent countdown that sets the theme for our worship experience. Jayne McDonough will accompany Beverly Mate singing. Our first hymn is Hark the Herald Angels Sing. The tune for this carol was composed by Mendelssohn, who himself was a Messianic Jew. It is from the second chorus of a cantata he wrote in 1840. The cantata commemorates Johann Gutenberg and the invention of the printing press. Mendelssohn strictly warned that his composition had a purely secular purpose. However, in 1856, long after both Wesley and Mendelssohn were dead, Dr. William Cummings ignored both of their wishes and joined the lyrics by Wesley with the music by Mendelssohn for the first time. As a result, the modern version of this beautiful, gospel-centered carol was born, and generations ever since have made this hymn a Christmas favorite.

We close with Go, Tell It On The Mountain. The refrain theme comes from Old Testament passages in which praise to God for his acts of deliverance. Acclamations are shouted, both literally and metaphorically, from the mountaintops (Isa. 42:11). While the three stanzas tell the essence of the Christmas story, the refrain underscores the missionary impetus of the Christian church: “As you go, make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). The “Go, tell,” which initially applied to the singers caroling on the university campus, signals us to leave the comfortable confines of Christian worship and “Go, tell” the message of Christ’s redemption to the whole world.

Whatever your religious affiliation, or none at all, we all hear Jesus say, “Come to me all who are overburdened, and find rest for your soul!” Everyone is welcome at Cold Spring Church. Yes, everyone!

Enjoy sitting with others from greater Cape May as we worship together. We simplified our service and made participation even easier with our Worship Guide and lyric videos displayed on a large screen.

Worship with us on YouTube (click here)

Physical distancing is recommended but not required!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Energize your life and discover the amazing love of Jesus! This week is the perfect time to join us in person for worship. Enjoy live music, solo, lyric videos, and a message of hope from God’s word.

We are excited to welcome you to worship in our historic Red Brick Church that premiers on Sundays at 10:30 AM.

2022-11-27 Hybrid Worship

By Intersections, Newsletters, Sermons

You’re in the right place!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Our welcoming, energizing community worship premiers at 10:30 AM every Sunday in the beautiful and historic Red Brick Church. We are fully accessible, and street and lot parking is available. Get news and event information in your inbox every week by subscribing to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Just send your email address by text message:

Text COLDSPRINGNJ to 22828 to get started.

Get your Advent Worship Guide (click here)

Download your Worship Guide (red link above), which includes a message and music preview, Scripture readings, prayers, community news, and more! A limited number of printed Worship Guides are available in the Narthex.

Join worship now on YouTube (click here)

You can worship with us anytime on our YouTube Live channel. Enjoy all our previous week’s messages and music, too. Share the link above and the blessings with a friend!


Message and Music preview!

Reboot your spiritual life with Christmas DNA!

Message Preview

Welcome to the first week of Advent as the lectionary and liturgical cycle reboots. Why a reboot? Many might surmise that since Jesus has already come, that’s old news. But the Good News is not just about a one-time, distantly past event. Jesus’ birth is an event from the past, but we retell and relive the Greatest Story Ever Told each year because that one event changed everything! The Christmas story is the DNA of our spiritual community as followers of Jesus. Our ADVENTure anticipates what is to come—watching and waiting for the promised Messiah— Jesus.

You will want to worship with us on the First Sunday of Advent when we hear the prophet proclaim, “The Lord is our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:16). Advent is the time to realize that God is still doing marvelous things and continues to enter and transform our lives. When Jesus “moved into our neighborhood” (John 1:14), he moved in for good! Jesus is not historically bound to the past. We can enjoy a dynamic relationship with Christ right now and into the future!

During the four weeks of Advent that culminates on Christmas Eve, we watch and wait for Jesus’ spiritual reboot of our lives, transforming our world, communities, and lives. How will we experience hope? By watching and waiting, actively engaging, and being open to the Spirit of Christ today, this Advent season.

In our Gospel reading from Matthew 25:36-44, we hint at the radical nature of Christ’s entering our world. We watch in hope—(What are you watching for during these unprecedented times?) and wait in hope. If you were waiting for a sign, this is our Christmas reboot.

Music Preview

We begin with our Advent countdown that sets the theme for our worship experience. Jayne McDonough will accompany Barbara Cain singing There’s A Song In the Air. Following the message we will sing and enjoy the lyric video Come Thou Long Expected Jesus. With it’s opening invitation “Come,” this hymn sounds the note of hope and anticipation that characterizes the Advent season (from the Latin adventus “coming”). Its blending of memory and hope helps us to give voice to our present faith as we stand between the past and the future. Before the benediction we will sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, a solemn and delicate carol originally written in Latin with a title of ‘Veni, Veni, Emmanuel’ about 1710. The English translation of this Advent carol came about in 1851 when the priest and scholar John Mason Neale’s version was featured in the pages of The Hymnal Noted – a key text in the history of hymns. Let’s join in watching and waiting for the promised Messiah, Emmanuel (God is here).

Whatever your religious affiliation, or none at all, we all hear Jesus say, “Come to me all who are overburdened, and find rest for your soul!” Everyone is welcome at Cold Spring Church. Yes, everyone!

Enjoy sitting with others from greater Cape May as we worship together. We simplified our service and made participation even easier with our Worship Guide and lyric videos displayed on a large screen.

Worship with us on YouTube (click here)

Physical distancing is recommended but not required!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Energize your life and discover the amazing love of Jesus! This week is the perfect time to join us in person for worship. Enjoy live music, solo, lyric videos, and a message of hope from God’s word.

We are excited to welcome you to worship in our historic Red Brick Church that premiers on Sundays at 10:30 AM.

2022-11-20 Hybrid Worship

By Intersections, Newsletters, Sermons

You’re in the right place!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Our welcoming, energizing community worship premiers at 10:30 AM every Sunday in the beautiful and historic Red Brick Church. We are fully accessible, and street and lot parking is available. Get news and event information in your inbox every week by subscribing to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Just send your email address by text message:

Text COLDSPRINGNJ to 22828 to get started.

Get your Worship Guide (click here)

Download your Worship Guide (red link above), which includes a message and music preview, Scripture readings, prayers, community news, and more! A limited number of printed Worship Guides are available in the Narthex.

Join worship now on YouTube (click here)

You can worship with us anytime on our YouTube Live channel. Enjoy all our previous week’s messages and music, too. Share the link above and the blessings with a friend!


Message and Music preview!

Let’s get grateful on Christ the King Sunday!

Message Preview

Where do you call home? Some are heading home this Thanksgiving. According to The Vacationer, which just released its annual 2022 Thanksgiving Travel Survey, over 43% of American adults (ages 18 and up) plan to travel for Thanksgiving this year, a slight increase from the 42% reported in last year’s survey. That’s more than 112 million travelers, based on the most recent U.S. Census data. “Unfortunately, Americans are seeing rising gas prices and expensive flights and understand they will have to pay more this year to travel for Thanksgiving,” according to The Vacationer.

We are a transient society. Transplants are the norm. Few of us stay in place. Perhaps you are preparing for friends and family to gather at your home or travel to another’s. Everyone starts somewhere. And even more importantly, everyone ends up someplace else.

Your place may be cozy, safe, and warm. We are mindful that more than 500,000 Americans are without a permanent place this week. While we experience gratitude, others seek shelter. Their experience of home is quite different, and they deserve a warm smile, a healthy meal, and a safe place to live. Thank you for sharing out of your abundance in any way to help make your place a welcoming home for others, too.

On Christ the King Sunday, we will consider the Gospel from Luke 23. How did Christ the King end up on the cross? And what about the other two, also condemned to die? From Skull Hill to a welcoming eternal home, God has placed us in the physical and spiritual locations where we are. Throughout the story of Scripture, the place is a very important concept. The Promised Land was a place of peace and prosperity. , and the prophets spoke of God’s involvement in our daily places. Jesus met people in the places they called home, and he continues today. God’s eternal home is open to us. Place matters.

Wherever you’ve been, and no matter where you may be going this Thanksgiving, experience gratitude and spiritual abundance at Cold Spring Church, where everyone can discover a safe place to experience God’s love in Christ the King. Welcome home, where you belong.

Music Preview

We begin with our Fall countdown, setting the theme for our worship experience today. Jayne McDonough will accompany Larry Moyer, singing Here I Am to Worship, by Tim Hughes. After reading Philippians chapter 2, Hughes reflected on the attitude of servanthood Christ displayed and wrote the verses to the song. How do we respond to our God when we approach him? This song offers us a posture of bowing down in humility. If Christ was humble, should our worship not reflect that? Following the message, we will enjoy a music lyric video, Give Thanks. In 1978, a young seminary graduate named Henry Smith struggled to find work and came to terms with a degenerative eye condition that would eventually leave him legally blind. Despite those hardships, Henry found hope in 2 Corinthians 8:9 and penned Give Thanks, one of the most beloved songs of our time. And now let the weak say, I am strong; Let the poor say, I am rich because of what the Lord has done. Years later, a young worship leader named Don Moen would record Henry’s song, helping to carry it around the world. Today, you can hum Give Thanks at almost any church in the world, no matter the country or the language, and someone will recognize this simple song of thanksgiving and trust.

Just before the Benediction, we sing Now Thank We All Our God. Although this hymn is often used on festive occasions, its first two stanzas had much humbler beginnings: they originated as a family table prayer during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). These words have been associated with this tune and, later, Thanksgiving in the United States.

Whatever your religious affiliation, or none at all, we all hear Jesus say, “Come to me all who are overburdened, and find rest for your soul!” Everyone is welcome at Cold Spring Church. Yes, everyone!

Enjoy sitting with others from greater Cape May as we worship together. We simplified our service and made participation even easier with our Worship Guide and lyric videos displayed on a large screen.

Worship with us on YouTube (click here)

Physical distancing is recommended but not required!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Energize your life and discover the amazing love of Jesus! This week is the perfect time to join us in person for worship. Enjoy live music, solo, lyric videos, and a message of hope from God’s word.

We are excited to welcome you to worship in our historic Red Brick Church that premiers on Sundays at 10:30 AM.

2022-11-13 Hybrid Worship

By Intersections, Newsletters, Sermons

You’re in the right place!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Our welcoming, energizing, community worship premiers at 10:30 AM every Sunday in the beautiful and historic Red Brick Church. We are fully accessible and street and lot parking is available. Get news and event information in your inbox every week by subscribing to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Just send your email address by text message:

Text COLDSPRINGNJ to 22828 to get started.

Get your Worship Guide (click here)

Download your Worship Guide (red link, above) which includes a message and music preview, Scripture readings, prayers, community news, and much more! A limited number of printed Worship Guides are available in the Narthex.

Join worship now on YouTube (click here)

You can worship with us anytime on our YouTube Live channel. Enjoy all our previous week’s messages and music, too. Share the link above and the blessings with a friend!


Message and Music preview!

This week, get into gear and get moving in your spiritual life!

After worship, stay for a Soup, Salad, and Pizza Luncheon in our beautiful Price Hall Banquet Room!

Message Preview

Pulling up in front of a loading zone, the sign read: NO IDLING. A car running at idle doesn’t accomplish anything worthwhile. Idling is a wait state between off and on. Idling a traditional gas vehicle not only needlessly consumes fuel but creates noxious fumes for those walking nearby. Electrics, hybrids, and most newer vehicles are intelligent and automatically stop the engine when idle. Even cars know it’s best to get energized and move forward!

This week, our message from John 9 and 2 Thessalonians 3 will invite us to examine the status quo and consider where we are. Is there anyone who hasn’t gotten weary of doing good? Found yourself stuck in idle? Get your faith in gear this week, and with the spiritual fuel you need. Not to “work harder,” but love more, trust more, serve more, and feel more engaged in doing good. No idling. Do good!

Music Preview

We begin with our Fall countdown, setting the theme for our worship experience today. Accompanied by Jayne McDonough, Barbara Cain will sing A Man Who Could Not See, a hymn by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette based on the Gospel reading, John 9. Following the message, we will enjoy an energetic music lyric video For Such a Time As This based on Queen Esther’s courageous affirmation of God’s call to her from Esther 4. Our sending hymn is The Church of Christ in Every Age. The hymn writer Fred Pratt Green was ordained a British Methodist Minister in 1924 and didn’t turn to hymn writing until retirement from active ministry. Green’s hymns reflect his concern with social issues. Green composed The Church of Christ in Every Age in 1969, a time of social unrest not unlike today. Published at first under the heading of “The Caring Church,” it has earned a place in many hymnals.

Whatever your religious affiliation, or none at all, we all hear Jesus say, “Come to me all who are overburdened, and find rest for your soul!” Everyone is welcome at Cold Spring Church. Yes, everyone!

Enjoy sitting with others from greater Cape May as we worship together. We simplified our service and made it even easier to participate, with our Worship Guide and lyric videos displayed on a large screen.

Worship with us on YouTube (click here)

Physical distancing is recommended but not required!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Energize your life and discover the amazing love of Jesus! This week is the perfect time to join us in person for worship. Enjoy live music and solo, lyric videos, and a message of hope from God’s word.

We are excited to welcome you to worship in our historic Red Brick Church that premiers on Sundays at 10:30 AM.

2022-11-06 Hybrid Worship and Communion

By Intersections, Newsletters, Sermons

You’re in the right place!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Our welcoming, energizing, community worship premiers at 10:30 AM every Sunday in the beautiful and historic Red Brick Church. We are fully accessible and street and lot parking is available. Get news and event information in your inbox every week by subscribing to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Get your Worship Guide (click here)

Download your Worship Guide (red link, above) which includes a message and music preview, Scripture readings, prayers, community news, and much more! A limited number of printed Worship Guides are available in the Narthex.

Join worship now on YouTube (click here)

You can worship with us anytime on our YouTube Live channel. Enjoy all our previous week’s messages and music, too. Share the link above and the blessings with a friend!


Message and Music preview!

This week, we got questions. And, Jesus is listening!

Message Preview

One question kids never tire of asking is Why? Why, why, why, why, why! Kids want help getting the answers they seek. They deserve our loving and generous attention. We wish to affirm their value and address their concerns, so they feel heard.

This week, we see how Jesus responds to persistent and controversial questions, even insincerely asked ones. The religious folks who badger Jesus in our reading from Luke 20:27-38 aren’t looking for answers. Not really. They only want reassurance for their points of view and, if they can, embarrass Jesus while they’re at it! How did Jesus react?

At Cold Spring Church, your questions are welcome. Jesus invites and assures us that whatever our motivations or questions, or how persistently we ask them, Jesus never tires of listening—or responding. Those dilemmas you’re facing? He’s with you. Those seemingly unanswered queries? God’s got you. No matter the depth of our pain or anxiety, Jesus understands and receives us just the way we are.

Get to the heart of the matter, what matters to you, this week at Cold Spring Church.

Music Preview

We begin with our Fall countdown, setting the theme for our worship experience today. Rev. Larry Moyer, accompanied by Jayne McDonough, will sing a Gaither hymn, Little Is Much When God Is In It. Following the message, we will be moved by an energetic music lyric video. You Never Let Go is inspired by Psalm 23, verse 4. We need to find something firm to stand on in our darkest moments, and the Lord “never let us go.” The composer, Matt Redman, says this song has caused many people to write to him about how God has been at work personally for them.

Our sending hymn is When We Are Living, written by Roberto Escamilla. He was born in 1931 near Monterrey, Mexico, close to the border with Texas. The first verse he learned as a young boy and was based on Romans 14:8: “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” The remaining verses were written about living and receiving love through service and giving and receiving through our pain and questioning. The hymn concludes with an affirmation that nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8: 38-39). When we live in a way that focuses closely on God’s love, nothing else really matters. “Hard times will prove us, never remove us,” writes Roberto Escamilla, “we belong to God, we belong to God.”

Whatever your religious affiliation, or none at all, we all hear Jesus say, “Come to me all who are overburdened, and find rest for your soul!” Everyone is welcome at Cold Spring Church. Yes, everyone!

Enjoy sitting with others from greater Cape May as we worship together. We simplified our service and made it even easier to participate, with our Worship Guide and lyric videos displayed on a large screen.

Worship with us on YouTube (click here)

Physical distancing is recommended but not required!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Energize your life and discover the amazing love of Jesus! This week is the perfect time to join us in person for worship. Enjoy live music and solo, lyric videos, and a message of hope from God’s word.

We are excited to welcome you to worship in our historic Red Brick Church that premiers on Sundays at 10:30 AM.