What we say, our words, really matter. When someone says something kid or welcoming to us we feel accepted, respected, and really good inside. Of course, words that are mean, judging, or unkind have an effect, too. It brings people down. It causes pain. So we want to be people of good words, because good words lead to good deeds. We want our words and our actions to build people up! Words have power. Use your power this week for good!
Next Brickette issue will be March 2020, expanded edition
Our weekly Connections emailed newsletter (which is also available online) is read by more and more subscribers every week. It provides relevant, timely information and better integration with our website, social media, and worship bulletin. Connections keeps us and our community better connected and engaged.
To complement the weekly Connections, and to reduce redundancy and production costs, we are experimenting with distributing a more comprehensive edition of the Brickette fewer times each year. In 2020, the Brickette will be published in the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter; the first of March, June, September, and December. Special editions may also be added.
We look forward to receiving your feedback on our new publication schedule this year. Send your comments to hello@coldspringchurch.com, attention Publications.
How much does it cost? We ask that question a lot. Of all the prices to be considered, $10.99, 2 for $5, $30/week, even 1 million dollars, the price that is uniquely preferred to any other is FREE! Everybody likes free!
A lot of the online services you probably use are free. Gmail is free. Facebook is free. Yahoo News is free. Buy one and get one free. Food delivery can be free. But increasingly, companies are trying to figure out how to start charging, at least for some services, some of the time. But once free is the norm, its hard to accept when its not. Researcher Russ Roberts of George Mason University found out how upset WWII vets remain with the Red Cross when they stopped offering donuts for free! Get the rest of the story, find out what free really costs, and how we can bravely follow Jesus in Pastor Kevin’s message from Luke 17:11-19, Neighborhood Free for All. What’s free may be worth everything to you, and certainly to our neighbors!
God has great plans for you! And it starts right where you are! God loves you just as you are!
Jesus loves us as we are whether we are near or far.
Teaching us to love and care, accepting neighbors everywhere.
Yes, Jesus loves us! Yes, Jesus loves us! Yes, Jesus loves us, exactly as we are.
How do you like your French fries? Hot and fresh, right? Sure! But you better eat them fast because it only takes a few minutes for those fresh fries to get soggy and absolutely inedible! This week at Cold Spring Church, we will discover that the only thing more challenging than delivering hot, fresh fries is delivering fresh expressions about Jesus (our mission). Pastor Kevin will introduce us to the challenges facing today’s on-demand services like Grubhub and Uber Eats in this week’s message titled: “Expressing the Good News…Soggy or Fresh?” from Acts 10:34-43. We’ll find out what Thomas Jefferson, drive-thru’s, and Grubhub have in common with our mission to deliver fresh expressions of the Gospel so that our neighbors get it’s spiritual nourishment hot and fresh!
In 1802, the first batch of French fries were made in America for Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States. He discovered the French way of deep frying cut, raw, potatoes when he was a diplomat to France years earlier. French fries remained an uncommon chef’s delicacy for a hundred years until drive-ins introduced the easy to handle French fries became a staple of the growing mobile lifestyle in the 1930’s. By the 1950’s perfectly hot, fresh French fries were enjoyed by families dining-in or in their car. Today’s drive-thru’s deliver fries fast enough to gobble down in minutes. Your Grubhub delivery guy may take upwards of 30 minutes to arrive at your house, and by that time, your French fries have morphed from super fresh to soggy! And there’s no more challenging food to deliver hot and fresh than humble French fries.
Of all the great things we do, there is something that we have that will never run out. What is that? It’s you! Your presence. Participation. Engagement. When you set your devices down for a minute and look up, the person you’re with is the most important person in the world…to you! Being with others is a fantastic way to learn, grow, and serve. Sure, we can do lots of things solo. But when we are together, spending time with God, reading the Bible, working on a project, sharing our thoughts and feelings, can create amazing memories that are shared, and shared again, and on and one. Let’s be brave this year and remember we are sharable’s!
How many times already this year (or Decade! Wow, can you believe it?!) have you shared good wishes of Happy New Year? Lots of times, I bet. Well, at Cold Spring Church, we are transforming a mere Happy into something amazing! For 2020, let’s embrace a Brave New Year! Why? Because we know that the Light of the World is shining brightly and God invites us into a new future, something much more than the ordinary, in 2020. This Sunday, January 5th, start 2020 with a welcoming, energizing worship.
Pastor Kevin’s message, Star Words, takes us on a journey to connect with Jesus, the Light of the World, as we join a brave team of individuals we refer to as the Three Wise Men. They, like us today, will follow the Jesus Star to inspire our brave new year ahead.
What has God revealed to you in your life in the light of Jesus Christ? Ther are possibilities ahead. New opportunities to grow. Learn. Share. Serve. Star Words this Sunday at Cold Spring Church… where an ordinary Happy New Year is transformed into a spiritual force-filled Brave New Year! (Read more about your Brave New Year- click here!)
When the Wise men visited Jesus they brought gifts worth giving: Gold, frankincense and myrrh. As cool as those gifts were, they aren’t nearly as important as the individuals themselves. Each of us have value way beyond what we do. Exceeding things we give. Just you being you. Whoa! What a gift! You are the gift worth giving! We can learn a lot from the wise men who knew Jesus was the King! Let’s give gifts like the wise men today. Would you help me give away some real frankincense and myrrh this morning? Great. Here, take some for yourselves and meet me as people are sent out today! Thank you for being amazing gifts!
“Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus” (Philippians 3:13).
Happy Brave New Year!
2020 looks to be a significant year. Why? The start of every new year holds promise, but 2020? It’s the start of a new decade! Take a moment and re-read the verse above from Philippians.
For Paul, being a follower of Jesus Christ meant that he was paying attention to the signs Christ had placed before him. He was connected to spiritual energy moving him forward to the future. Like Jesus, he didn’t spend all of his time in religious assemblies, but out and about in the public square, in the neighborhood, with people from every walk of life, from every country, with diverse ideas and experiences. (Compare John 1:14 and Acts 17.)
The Mission Study Team and the session have invested a great deal of prayerful work over the past two years listening to the Spirit and the many voices in the congregation. Our congregational Focus Your Vision event and surveys last year were especially meaningful as we began to design our future-looking mission. All these inputs and discernment have produced clarity about our mission.
When we speak of “our mission,” we refer to our purpose put into action. Put into action that can be appreciated, accessed, and experienced by those we love and serve- our community of faith and the community at large. In other words, the measure of our success in fulfilling our mission is what our entire community says it is. We care about what our neighbors experience and we want them to experience God’s abundance and grace in 2020!
Every church of Jesus Christ can be assumed to worship Christ, proclaim the Bible, and serve others. But each of us, and each congregation, has a unique mission, a special call, as well. Why is Cold Spring Presbyterian Church at the corner of Seashore and Academy roads?
What has God called us to focus on in 2020?
We can’t do everything, because if everything is our priority, then nothing is a priority. If we focus on doing it all, we end up doing nothing at all. So our mission is what God has called us to do as a unique community of faith right now. For such a time as this, God has called Cold Spring Presbyterian Church, and all those participating in its worship and work, (thats you and me!) to celebrate, communicate, engage with, and promote our mission.
Similarly, when we refer to vision, we mean the imagined future we seek to see. Our vision describes the outcomes accomplished by God’s empowerment and grace.
VISION: Cold Spring Presbyterian Church
We believe that everyone deserves to experience God’s love in relevant and authentic ways. Our thriving faith community energizes spirits and transforms lives by putting God’s love into action to help make greater Cape May a better place. We invite others to join with us as we joyfully love and serve God and our neighbors through the power of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ.
MISSION: Cold Spring Presbyterian Church
Cold Spring Presbyterian Church delivers spiritual resources and experiences that are centered in God’s love. We enthusiastically proclaim the abundant life through Jesus Christ. Our mission is to improve the spiritual vitality and wellness of our congregation and community throughout the Cape May region through inspiring worship, practical teaching from God’s word, innovative programs, and community-focused events and ministry.
You will find our vision and mission statements on our website, in each Connections and Brickette issue, in our weekly bulletin. Our mission helps us tell our story! Our clear vision helps us know when to say yes or no. Our clear mission guides every decision the session makes about by our resources, priorities, and values as we listen to God’s Spirit. Our mission informs our teams, committees, and all our work across our congregation. Even more, our compelling vision and mission will attract new individuals, families, resources, partnerships and opportunities!
We are beginning our 306th year of ministry! And you are an important part of its success! Member, friend, neighbor… you have a place at Cold Spring Church in 2020!
Join us on Sunday, January 26th, after worship in Price Hall when we hold our 2020 Annual Congregational Meeting. We will celebrate all that God has done in our midst in 2019! You are invited to participate and be energized during this very special gathering.
What’s ahead in 2020? With the apostle Paul, we know three important things about the future:
- We are learning and growing as we follow Jesus.
- We have a mission.
- God is calling us all to bravely fulfill our mission and move forward into the future.
Thank you for all you do…praying and supporting, engaging, and serving… in the name of Jesus Christ!
Let’s expect a brave new year in 2020 as we experience God’s abundance and grace, working together to achieve our mission in God’s emerging, hopeful future! That’s why we can confidently say, “Happy Brave New Year!”
Sincerely,
Pastor Kevin
In the United States, a nation of immigrants, still swell with people from other countries, many fleeing persecution, fear, and poverty. Even in Cape May County we meet them in shops and restaurants, and welcome them to our communities and neighborhoods. Most of our families have immigrant stories, and our cemetery represents amazing immigrant stories of international travelers who came to the “new world” in search of freedom and to work and worship as they chose. This week, Pastor Kevin’s message continues the story of Jesus on the move as an infant from Matthew 2:13-23. Jesus was born in a borrowed Bethlehem barn in Asia and became an African refugee in Egypt, so the Christmas story is about an international migrant. Furthermore, a whole village full of baby boys died for Jesus before he had the opportunity to die for them on the cross. Surely this Jesus understands the pain of children who suffer and die for the sins of adults in our our communities. This week’s Gospel resonates loudly for our times and will equip and inspire us to participate in the transforming inbreaking of the divine that comes with the birth of Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. Joy to your world can be realized for you and our entire community because if Jesus is not for everyone, he’s not for anyone. Jesus is for all of us!