Our current political and community conversations are too often filled with criticism without grace, or accusations without evidence. Looking at others with contempt comes easy in our culture. From social media to the corner deli, judging the offenses of those around us is second nature. Why do we hold others in disdain? Our Gospel lesson this week, Jesus introduces us to two individuals at the temple. One gave thanks for not being like those despicable others. The second humbly asking God for mercy. From Despicable to Incredible is Pastor Kevin’s message about building skyscrapers and changing our “Good News” conversations to eliminate the corrosive nature of contempt, and how we can get out of the habit of expressing it, both in our personal relationships, and more broadly, as a nation.
Do you know what special day is coming up this week? Sure! Halloween! It’s great to have a costume and pretend. What will you be this year? Here are a few masks to try on. Wow! No matter what mask we wear we can tell its you! Masks can hid our face, but can’t hide our heart and spirit. Next week is also All Saints Day. We don’t follow Jesus at Cold Spring Church alone. On no! All Saints Day November 1 reminds us that millions of people just like us followed him thousands of years ago, too, and there will be countless others who follow Jesus in the future, too. We are not alone in our faith. And next week is also Reformation Day. 502 years ago a man named Martin Luther along with many friends decided to make improvements in the Church, to help all of us focus on three things, we find hope by the Bible alone, by Faith alone, and through Jesus alone. We are reforming, improving, and that’s why whatever mask we wear for Halloween, or the other masks we may put on, will not hide us from God’s love. This Halloween, remember that God loves you, stay safe, and don’t eat too much candy!
There are thousands of intersections in Cape May. What intersections are the most remarkable to you? Which is closest to where you live? Closest to where you work or go to school. What is your impression of your intersection? Is it busy with traffic? Do kids wait there for their school bus? Consider the corner of Seashore and Academy Roads, for example. For hundreds of years, our intersection has been a gathering place, a sending place, a safe place for neighbors to worship Christ, pray, and serve the community together. Intersections are crossroads of activity. This Good News message from Luke 18 about a widow and a judge. Why did she go to the judge at night? What does Jesus want us to learn from the judge’s action even though he hated God and others!? Join us at corner of Faith Avenue and Justice Street where Jesus is looking for faith in action. Invest a few minutes to listen to Pastor Kevin’s message and meet Jesus at the corner of Faith Avenue and Justice Street. What will you find there?
You being here today is an amazing thing. You have created an intersection, a meeting, and opportunity between you and Cold Spring Church. We are better because you’re here. You’re better because you’re here. You and us go together like, peanut butter and jelly. God’s love for us goes together with us perfectly too, like peanut butter and jelly. God’s love for us. Our love for others. It just goes together! Enjoy the peanut butter and jelly I have for you… and remember, God’s love for us, and our love for others goes together like… Yep. You got it!
A sincere thank you to all of the members and friends of the congregation who met in Price Hall on Saturday, October 5, for our Second Annual Fall Harvest Potluck Supper. The selection of foods was not only delicious but attractively prepared and colorfully displayed as to create a feast worth a second visit to the tables. Our take home boxes went back to the cupboard as there was little to take home but fond memories.
Thank you to Mary Imperato and Anne Ferrari who provided a fun-filled trivia contest where guests vied for small prizes. MAC’s Mary Stewart joined us to present an informative Halloween presentation. Pumpkin centerpieces were awarded to those who found an autumn leaf under their dinner plates. All this and the chance to share a meal made for a memorable evening.
Food, fun, fellowship – all experienced by the Fabulous Fifty who gathered with us.
Lenore Bowne, for the Congregation and Community Life Team
This week, Pastor Kevin’s message starts with the disciples asking for more faith to meet a particularly thorny problem about forgiveness. But in response, Jesus says they had all the faith required, it just needed to get in motion! So its like riding a bike, because there’s a huge difference in outcomes between riding a stationary bike and a moving bicycle. We’ll learn about a Scientific American study that Steve Jobs shared many years ago. The research evaluated which species on the planet was the most efficient in locomotion. While the mighty condor was above any other species, beating even a human in an automobile, it was a human riding a bike that blew the condor away from its top spot! We will learn we don’t need more faith, in a message titled, Faith: Bicycle For the Spirit.
We also gather for Global Peace and Witness- World Communion Sunday with an opportunity to receive a special offering to help put our faith into action locally and around the world. You’re invited to join us for inspiring worship as as we gather around the Lord’s Table. All this and more this week at Cold Spring Church, your neighborhood stop for moving faith.
What do you do when you get some money? What are your options? Well, you could spend, save, or give it away.
Doing good in my family, school, & community makes me happy Our brain is “hard-wired” to feel happy when we do good. You can increase your feelings of happiness by giving service and doing good to others. Directions: Make a list below of things you can do in your family, school, and community to make them better and happier.
“When we have the opportunity to help anyone,
we should do it” (Galatians 6:10a).
“Each one should give, then, what one has decided in your heart to give.
You should not give if it makes you sad.
And you should not give if you think you are being forced to give.
God loves the person who gives happily”
(2Corinthians 9:7).
God wants us to use our time, energy, attention, talents, and even our money wisely because God loves a cheerful giver. A cheerful saver. A cheerful spender. Being cheerful is remembering that God loves us and wants us to be loving towards others, too! You have the power to do Good!
Energize Your Spirit — Transform Your Life
Our Vision
We believe that everyone deserves to experience God’s love in relevant, accessible, and authentic ways, and that our faith in practice represents an amazing opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals, communities, and the world. Our thriving faith community puts God’s love into action to help make greater Cape May a better place. We welcome people of all ages to joyfully love and serve God and our neighbors in the name of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. God loves Cape May, and we demonstrate that love every day of every year!
Our Mission
Cold Spring Presbyterian Church energizes spirits and transforms lives by delivering resources and experiences that are rooted in the Good News of Jesus Christ through inspiring worship, practical teaching, innovative programs, and community-focused events and ministries.
Established in 1714, Cold Spring Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a member of the Presbytery of West Jersey. We invite you to become a part of our hopeful future.
(Our vision and mission was drafted by our Transformation Pastor and was updated received by the session in September 2019. It emerged from the work of the Mission Study Team including Marty Bowne, Kevin Beare, Taylor Burkhardt, intentional transformation journey our congregation began in 2016, including community-directed worship and events, congregational surveys, feedback, and the Focus Your Vision day in 2018. The comprehensive Mission Study will be completed in November 2019.)
Who is the Mission Study Team: While the Mission Study Team (MST) was open to new folks joining in and helping out as we go along, the team to date included: John Stalford, Chuck McPherson, Melissa Arnott, Marty Bowne, Lenore Bowne, Larry Hume, Taylor Burkhardt, and Kevin Beare. Pastor Kevin led the team.
Why We Need A Mission Study: 305 years is a long time. And over three centuries, even since 2016, every community, everyone, experience change. More than you may at first recognize. Being in a community for a long time can so familiarize us to what we’re used to, that’s we cannot clearly see what has changed and who our neighbors have become. Cold Spring Church does many things, but the future belongs to ministries that can focus their resources to deliver amazing, life-transforming ministry the community really needs. We want to take best advantage of existing community resources, and convince our congregation and other friends that our story and program is worth supporting and investing in. In order to do that, we need to create as thorough and as balanced a profile of our community and our congregation as we can. . . . God is already at work in our community. Our task is to find out where Cold Spring Church can enter that picture moving forward.
Thanks to a special community-directed $5,000 mission grant from the Presbytery of West Jersey, the session approved and has begun to implement our very exciting two-part mission initiative. Here is a summary of our project.
- Podcasts and Streaming Videos: As part of our mission we will develop new ways to engage those who find it difficult or impossible to attend worship services, and those who are homebound, remote members, by delivering the worship experience as a video livestream, with post-worship video download as a podcast/online via our website. Anyone with a computer, tablet, or smart phone can participate. Eventually, we may take realtime prayer requests, as well. This initiative is expected to incur costs of under $4500.
- Conquering the Opioid Abuse Epidemic: As part of our mission, we will support families affected by addictions, especially affected by the opioid crisis, through group ministry of spiritual resources, small groups. Last year, more than 35 attended our Opioid Abuse and Prevention training in partnership with Rutgers University and Youth Advocate Program. Our new initiative, Thriving Families, will be implemented in 2020 and is not expected to incur costs over $500.
Getting Started—Campus Online Access: To extend our reach into the community, we encourage you to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other social media share the good news with your friends and followers. Post photos or maybe a inspirational Bible verse or something you heard in the message, or song.
Facebook: coldspringchurch — Twitter: @coldspringnj
We want our WiFi network to enhance your experience while attending worship or another event, you may use our networks as listed below:
Price Hall Network Name: ColdSpringChurchWiFi Guest (no password required).
Red Brick Church Network Name: CSPCRedBrickWifi Password: See the password printed isn’t he weekly bulletin.
We are grateful for our friends in West Jersey Presbytery for their commitment to community mission and investing in our mission! Get connected and share your experience!