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Intersections

Cold Spring Church has been at the crossroads of our community for more than 300 years, and Intersections is our blog of engaging ideas designed to get you connected to what matters to you!

2020-01-31 Worship Online or In-Person Resources

By Intersections, Sermons

Welcome to Our Worship Page

Get the 2020 Annual Congregational Report Here

Worship Guide (v1) for January 31, 2021

Readings January 31, 2021

Children’s Worship Ages 4-7 for January 31, 2021

Children’s Worship Ages 8-12 for January 31, 2021

This week is the perfect time to join in our worship online or in-person. We simplified our online service and made it even easier to participate, and viewing does not require a Facebook account! Join the video stream on Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/coldspringchurch) or, if you don’t have internet access, use our New call in number: +1 (929) 205-6099. Enter Meeting ID: 882-3154-2428 Password: 1714. (Please remember to use the Passcode to have the very best worshipping experience on the phone!)

Share Your Experience!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Once you and your family are ready, share the picture with us by posting to Facebook #ColdSpringChurch or Instagram #coldspringchurchnj. You may want to subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Worship Your Way!

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

 Dear online worshipping friends: We apologize in advance should our live stream be interrupted (again!) by Facebook. We are working with Facebook and the music publisher to honor our music licenses and resolve these issues. Should you experience an interrupted live stream, please rejoin as soon as we are back online! Thank you for your patience.

Pre-registration is encouraged but not required to attend worship. If you’d like to worship in person, you may contact the office 609-884-4065 or email hello@coldspringchurch.com.

Worship Preview

Among the stressors we experience in the COVID-19 pandemic is contending with the constantly changing information we must evaluate every day. Who do you trust? How do you evaluate information sources? How can we more consistently make the very best decisions we can? What do you do when a long held belief is challenged by reliable new information? The best decisions are based on reliable authority. Whose authority do you count on?

In this week’s Gospel, those listening to Jesus became increasingly stressed, especially the religious know-it-all’s because Jesus’ new information challenged the status quo and empowered a new way of living. To the unclean spirits, unkind spirits, unforgiving spirits, negative spirits, confused spirits, Jesus’ words are authoritative, reliable, but even more, Jesus’ words were aligned with his actions. Jesus sets our spirits free! Jesus wasn’t just a great teacher, he was a great healer! Jesus showed love to those most thought to be unlovable, incurable, and hopeless. Do you feel unloved? Do the stressors and circumstances of life, large or small, seem incurable? Does hope always seem just out of reach? This week, find hope, healing, and love that will amaze you. In worship, let’s be open to experience Jesus’ authority over every dimension of our life. Jesus is too amazing for words as he empowers us to live our very best life, the abundant life. Get ready to be amazed!

Music Preview

The hymn today, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, was written by Isaac Watts in the 18th century, and grew out of his desire to give followers of Jesus the ability to sing about Gospel events. The symbol of the cross remains a persistent image of sacrifice and hope. Jesus died for all on the cross, but was buried and rose again, leaving the empty cross to stir our spirits. This hymn is particularly powerful because it includes many poetic devices. For example, an oxymoron is found twice in the first stanza: “my richest gain I count but loss” and “pour contempt on all my pride.” The third stanza contains a paradox in a crown of thorns, and there are two rhetorical questions in the second half of this stanza: “Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?” The piece ends with a proclamation of Amazing Love, that Demands my soul, my life, my all.”

2020-01-24 Worship Online or In-Person Resources

By Intersections, Sermons

Welcome to Our Worship Page

Worship Guide (v1) for January 24, 2021

Readings January 24, 2021

Children’s Worship for January 24, 2021

This week is the perfect time to join in our worship online or in-person. We simplified our online service and made it even easier to participate, and viewing does not require a Facebook account! Join the video stream on Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/coldspringchurch) or, if you don’t have internet access, use our New call in number: +1 (929) 205-6099. Enter Meeting ID: 882-3154-2428 Password: 1714. (Please remember to use the Passcode to have the very best worshipping experience on the phone!)

Share Your Experience!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Once you and your family are ready, share the picture with us by posting to Facebook #ColdSpringChurch or Instagram #coldspringchurchnj. You may want to subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Worship Your Way!

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

 Dear online worshipping friends: We apologize in advance should our live stream be interrupted (again!) by Facebook. We are working with Facebook and the music publisher to honor our music licenses and resolve these issues. Should you experience an interrupted live stream, please rejoin as soon as we are back online! Thank you for your patience.

Pre-registration is encouraged but not required to attend worship. If you’d like to worship in person, you may contact the office 609-884-4065 or email hello@coldspringchurch.com.

 

2020-01-17 Worship Online or In-Person Resources

By Intersections, Sermons

Welcome to Our Worship Page

Worship Guide (v1) for January 17, 2021

Readings January 17, 2021

Children’s Worship Ages 4-7 for January 17, 2021

Children’s Worship Ages 8-12 for January 17, 2021

This week is the perfect time to join in our worship online or in-person. We simplified our online service and made it even easier to participate, and viewing does not require a Facebook account! Join the video stream on Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/coldspringchurch) or, if you don’t have internet access, use our New call in number: +1 (929) 205-6099. Enter Meeting ID: 882-3154-2428 Password: 1714. (Please remember to use the Passcode to have the very best worshipping experience on the phone!)

Share Your Experience!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Once you and your family are ready, share the picture with us by posting to Facebook #ColdSpringChurch or Instagram #coldspringchurchnj. You may want to subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Worship Your Way!

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

 Dear online worshipping friends: We apologize in advance should our live stream be interrupted (again!) by Facebook. We are working with Facebook and the music publisher to honor our music licenses and resolve these issues. Should you experience an interrupted live stream, please rejoin as soon as we are back online! Thank you for your patience.

Pre-registration is encouraged but not required to attend worship. If you’d like to worship in person, you may contact the office 609-884-4065 or email hello@coldspringchurch.com.

 

 

2020-01-10 Worship Online or In-Person Resources

By Intersections, Sermons

Welcome to Our Worship Page

Worship Guide (v1) for January 10, 2021

Readings January 10, 2021

Children’s Worship Ages 4-7 for January 10, 2021

Children’s Worship Ages 8-12 for January 10, 2021

This week is the perfect time to join in our worship online or in-person. We simplified our online service and made it even easier to participate, and viewing does not require a Facebook account! Join the video stream on Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/coldspringchurch) or, if you don’t have internet access, use our New call in number: +1 (929) 205-6099. Enter Meeting ID: 882-3154-2428 Password: 1714. (Please remember to use the Passcode to have the very best worshipping experience on the phone!)

Share Your Experience!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Once you and your family are ready, share the picture with us by posting to Facebook #ColdSpringChurch or Instagram #coldspringchurchnj. You may want to subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Worship Your Way!

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

 Dear online worshipping friends: We apologize in advance should our live stream be interrupted (again!) by Facebook. We are working with Facebook and the music publisher to honor our music licenses and resolve these issues. Should you experience an interrupted live stream, please rejoin as soon as we are back online! Thank you for your patience.

Pre-registration is encouraged but not required to attend worship. If you’d like to worship in person, you may contact the office 609-884-4065 or email hello@coldspringchurch.com.
There will be a brief congregational meeting following worship today. 

This Week’s Worship Preview

We are a star-struck culture. Those that dominate social media and dictate popular styles and attitudes are called stars. Entertainers, performers, You-Tubers, athletes, tech giants, and even everyday heroes inspire us to be our best. Since the pandemic began, more and more people also seek comfort and guidance from the cosmic stars as we consult birth-charts, astrologers, and psychics. We seek light to lead us out of the coronavirus chaos and the isolation and daily constraints, the fear and uncertainty, and COVID-19’s sickness and death. This week, we can focus on the Star, the Bright and Morning Star, the Light of the World, which brings real hope and a future.

This week Christmastide concludes with the last day of the Twelve Days of Christmas. In the season of Light, we call Epiphany, and we travel with the stargazing Magi who followed the Jesus Star. It was a very bright moving star that came to a rest just above the spot where Jesus lay. Their long journey, likely from modern-day Iraq, led to a house in Nazareth, not a manger in Bethlehem as is often depicted on Christmas cards. And when they saw Jesus, they were overjoyed!

What star shines brightest for you on this new year’s horizon? Where does that star lead you? What gifts will you bring into the year? Follow the Jesus star. It is the only one that will take you home in God’s emerging future of hope. It is the only one that will make you a rising star and not a shooting star. Find out how to follow the Jesus Star this week at Cold Spring Church.

This Week’s Music Preview

We will sing the traditional carol, We Three Kings, which will stir our spirits this week. as our worship begins and after the message.  stir our spirits this week, inviting us to join them on their stargazing journey. Despite the well-loved title, the Scripture identifies the gift-bearing visitors as “magi” meaning scholars, not kings. And there were three gifts, but the actual number of scholars is unspecified. Yet, this carol remains our favorite!

The scholars did indeed bring three gifts – gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These gifts are traditionally interpreted to acknowledge Jesus as king, God, and sacrifice, respectively, as depicted in the hymn. Herod slaughtered two-year-olds and younger boys suggesting that Jesus could have been up to two years of age when the gifts were presented to him. Jesus’ family would’ve living in a house by the time the magi arrived. The magi offered their best to Jesus, and we can be inspired to do the same, today.

 

2020-01-03 Worship Online or In-Person Resources

By Intersections, Sermons

Welcome to Our Worship Page

Worship Guide (v1) for January 3, 2021

Readings January 3, 2021

Children’s Worship Ages 4-7 for January 3, 2021

Children’s Worship Ages 8-12 for January 3, 2021

This week is the perfect time to join in our worship online or in-person. We simplified our online service and made it even easier to participate, and viewing does not require a Facebook account! Join the video stream on Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/coldspringchurch) or, if you don’t have internet access, use our New call in number: +1 (929) 205-6099. Enter Meeting ID: 882-3154-2428 Password: 1714. (Please remember to use the Passcode to have the very best worshipping experience on the phone!)

Share Your Experience!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Once you and your family are ready, share the picture with us by posting to Facebook #ColdSpringChurch or Instagram #coldspringchurchnj. You may want to subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Worship Your Way!

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

 Dear online worshipping friends: We apologize in advance should our live stream be interrupted (again!) by Facebook. We are working with Facebook and the music publisher to honor our music licenses and resolve these issues. Should you experience an interrupted live stream, please rejoin as soon as we are back online! Thank you for your patience.

Pre-registration is encouraged but not required to attend worship. If you’d like to worship in person, you may contact the office 609-884-4065 or email hello@coldspringchurch.com.

This Week’s Worship Preview

What will you be focusing on in the new year? This week, we gather around the Lord’s Table and consider how Jesus is not just the Light of THE World, but the Light of OUR World, illuminating our journey ahead. Let’s focus on Jesus and the light he brings to us!

This Week’s Music Previe

John Wesley Work, Jr., may not have originated the spiritual “Go, Tell It on the Mountain,” but he can take credit for the fact that we still sing it every Christmas. As the son of a church choir director, Work grew up in Nashville loving music. Even though he earned his Master’s in Latin and went on to teach ancient Latin and Greek, his first love continued to be music, and he went on to become the first African-American collector of spirituals rooted in the Black experience. This proved to be a daunting task for Work because they were passed down orally and very few were written down. But Work proved up to the challenge, publishing his first song book six years later. It was in this second volume that “Go, Tell It on the Mountain” first appeared. The original singers of the song fulfilled the same important task the angels gave the shepherds that first Christmas night outside of Bethlehem, proclaiming, “that Jesus Christ is born!”  And thanks to John Wesley Work, so can we. We end our service with our communion favorite, “The Blessing.”

 

2020-12-27 Worship Online or In-Person Resources

By Intersections, Sermons

Welcome to Our Worship Page

Worship Guide (v1) for December 27, 2020

Readings December 27, 2020

Children’s Worship Ages 4-7 for December 27, 2020

Children’s Worship Ages 8-12 for December 27, 2020

This week is the perfect time to join in our worship online or in-person. We simplified our online service and made it even easier to participate, and viewing does not require a Facebook account! Join the video stream on Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/coldspringchurch) or, if you don’t have internet access, use our New call in number: +1 (929) 205-6099. Enter Meeting ID: 882-3154-2428 Password: 1714. (Please remember to use the Passcode to have the very best worshipping experience on the phone!)

Share Your Experience!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Once you and your family are ready, share the picture with us by posting to Facebook #ColdSpringChurch or Instagram #coldspringchurchnj. You may want to subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Worship Your Way!

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

 Dear online worshipping friends: We apologize in advance should our live stream be interrupted (again!) by Facebook. We are working with Facebook and the music publisher to honor our music licenses and resolve these issues. Should you experience an interrupted live stream, please rejoin as soon as we are back online! Thank you for your patience.

Pre-registration is encouraged but not required to attend worship. If you’d like to worship in person, you may contact the office 609-884-4065 or email hello@coldspringchurch.com.

This Week’s Worship Preview

This is the first Sunday after Christmas, and the last worship service of 2020. In these still uncertain pandemic times, we join in with all of creation to sing praises to God. Maybe you don’t feel like singing! That’s understandable. But God is here. With you. With us. And God’s grace is greater than any pandemic, any problem, and God’s abundant forgiveness is greater than all our sin. Sure, 2020 has left us out of sorts in every dimension of our life. We mourn lost loved ones. We grieve lost traditions. The Christmas Story proclaims that God is with us, Emmanuel, Jesus. That’s why we can celebrate.

In our Gospel reading we will witness the astounding effect the Christ Child had on those who met him, including Simeon and Anna. When Jesus is consecrated in the temple at 40 days of age, Simeon proclaims, “I have waited my entire life to see the Messiah, now I can die in peace.” Anna’s response is appears opposite that of Simeon’s, but is just as dramatic when she says upon seeing Jesus, “I have waited my entire life to see the Messiah, now I can truly live!” The message this week, The Christmas Nudge, asks us what our response is as we encounter Jesus today? Like Simeon and Anna, we too can feel God’s nudge to experience Jesus this year, as never before!

This Week’s Music Preview

We begin worship with O Come, All Ye Faithful. The origins of this 18th century hymn has spread worldwide and is used by many denominations in every language imaginable. in both Latin and other versions.

 

Poinsettia Dedications 2020

By Intersections

While 2020 has presented us with many difficulties and changes, we are happy to still have our annual holiday poinsettia dedications.

In honor of our frontline health professionals, nurses, doctors, and first responders.

In memory of Family Members from Elaine Jordan

In memory of Mother Helen and Sister Kathy from Joan O’Neill

In memory of Parents from Bev Mate

In memory of Parents from Chuck McPherson

In memory of Jenny Rosa and Charlie Mason from Tom & Mary Imperato

In memory of Parents from Lenore & Marty Bowne

In memory of Everett and Virginia Keen from Nancy Wand and Family

In memory of All Our Loved Ones from Barbara & Elmer Cain

In memory of Jim’s Parents from Edward & Ruth McCaughey

In memory of Jim’s Brother from J. Robert McCaughey

In memory of Rebecca’s Parents from William & Bette Carson

In memory of Parents from Everett and Virginia Keen

In memory of Sons from Steve & Tom Wilson

In honor of Tom and Steven Wilson from Nancy Wand and Family

2020-12-24 Christmas Eve Worship Online Resources

By Intersections, Sermons

Welcome to Our Worship Page

Worship Guide (v1) for December 24, 2020

 

This week is the perfect time to join in our worship online. We simplified our online service and made it even easier to participate, and viewing does not require a Facebook account! Join the video stream on Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/coldspringchurch) or, if you don’t have internet access, use our New call in number: +1 (929) 205-6099. Enter Meeting ID: 882-3154-2428 Password: 1714. (Please remember to use the Passcode to have the very best worshipping experience on the phone!)

Share Your Experience!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Once you and your family are ready, share the picture with us by posting to Facebook #ColdSpringChurch or Instagram #coldspringchurchnj. You may want to subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Worship Your Way!

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

Pre-registration is encouraged but not required to attend worship. If you’d like to worship in person, you may contact the office 609-884-4065 or email hello@coldspringchurch.com.

 

 

2020-12-20 Advent 4 Worship Online or In-Person Resources

By Intersections, Sermons

Welcome to Our Worship Page

Worship Guide (v1) for December 20, 2020

Advent Devotions for December 20, 2020

Readings December 20, 2020

Children’s Worship Ages 4-7 for December 20, 2020

Children’s Worship Ages 8-12 for December 20, 2020

This week is the perfect time to join in our worship online or in-person. We simplified our online service and made it even easier to participate, and viewing does not require a Facebook account! Join the video stream on Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/coldspringchurch) or, if you don’t have internet access, use our New call in number: +1 (929) 205-6099. Enter Meeting ID: 882-3154-2428 Password: 1714. (Please remember to use the Passcode to have the very best worshipping experience on the phone!)

Share Your Experience!

You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime. Once you and your family are ready, share the picture with us by posting to Facebook #ColdSpringChurch or Instagram #coldspringchurchnj. You may want to subscribe to our weekly Connections email newsletter. Sign up here!

Worship Your Way!

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

Pre-registration is encouraged but not required to attend worship. If you’d like to worship in person, you may contact the office 609-884-4065 or email hello@coldspringchurch.com.

This Week’s Worship Preview

Our Advent journey is in its final week as we witness Gabriel’s magnificent proclamation to Mary, and her Magnificat response to the news that she will give birth to the Savior. Pastor Kevin’s message, The True Location of Christmas, will stir our spirits in our pandemic world. Let’s reflect on Luke 1:26-38 and Romans 16:25-27 with the guidance of these questions:

1. If someone greeted you like royalty with “Your Majesty,” how do you think you would respond? Can you imagine addressing others in this fashion? Why, or why not?

2. What does it mean to you that God risked the vulnerability of becoming human “with us,” in our location, in order to restore us to our rightful place as bearers of the image of God?

3. This Christmas, how does loving God and others help us deal with our own selfishness as we see Christ in others?

This Week’s Music Preview

“What Child Is This?” is our carol this week with lyrics composed in 1865 by William Chatterton Dix, in Bristol, England. Adapting the memorable melody of “Greensleeves”, he tells the amazing story of the incarnation that God With Us, Jesus, is the “babe, the son of Mary!” (Yes, the exclamation is in the lyrics.) Lenore Bowne and Jayne McDonough offer “Mary Did You Know?” Written by entertainer Mark Lowry, in 1984, it is an example of a more modern musical take on the Christmas Story popularized by the Gaither Vocal Band in the 1970’s.

 

Thank You For Joining and Supporting Our Mission!

By Intersections

Thank you for supporting our shared mission to bless greater Cape May with the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Advent season prepares us to welcome the Messiah who enters our lives in these uncertain times. Your gifts continue to bless others and transform lives, and your partnership in the Gospel is needed now more than ever.

On behalf of the Finance Team, thank you for joining and supporting our mission with your financial gifts. Your gift may be mailed, given online through www.tithe.ly, or by visiting our website: www.coldspringchurch.com/giving.

Though many find giving online to be a convenient and safe way to support our church’s ministry faithfully, some prefer offering in-person. You will find donation boxes in the Red Brick Church, and one marked General Ministry and the other designated to the Deacons Ministry. Or, mail your gift to the church office.

You may request traditional offering envelopes for 2021. Call me at 609-465-3411, and I will have them available to pick-up at worship, the church office, or mail the box of envelopes to you.

Your financial gifts, generous acts of kindness, and expressions of love that bless the entire community are deeply appreciated. May God’s grace and abundance continue to bless you with Christmas joy both now and in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Elaine Jordan, Treasurer