On Monday night, March 9, our Jewish friends and neighbors begin celebrating the fun festival of Purim. It commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from evil Haman’s plot “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day,” as recorded in the book of Esther. Haman is the villain in the story. God brings the light of deliverance through the hero, Queen Esther! She carried so much about her community that she rescued those in danger, saving lives. You’ve heard of the corona virus , itsimportant to do whatever we can to keep ourselves healthy, and in a small way, care for our community, too. We can be a hero when we take health and safety seriously. Wash your hands. And use hand sanitizer. Here are packets of hand sanitizer for you and to share with your friends. Like Esther, you can help your community be safe, too, because Jesus loves the whole world!
Presidential debates provide an open platform for candidates to engage oneanother and the most important issues of the day. This year, the vetting process itself that determine who qualifies as a candidate has sparked a great deal of debate of its own. Polls are conducted and informal vetting processes, often called invisible primaries, eventually reveal vetted candidates who can appear on the stage.
We are familiar with vetting as a process. A fingerprint or Face ID is required to unlock our phones. Before you hire that contractor, you put them through a vigorous vetting process. Communities screen applicants before conferring an award, background checks are conducted before offering someone a job, fact-checking precedes making any decision. A Visa, passport, or immigration papers are received only after a successful vetting has concluded. Intelligence gathering has become commonplace.
But the vetting process is not a modern invention. This week, Pastor Kevin’s message,
Spiritual Vetting Process, (Being, Not Doing), invites us to join Jesus when the Spirit led him into the wilderness. How he prepared for his vetting process can provide insights for when we face our own temptations. , because his success was found is his preparation. , because and trials, can be an incredible resource for us when we face our own vetting processes.
This week’s micro-steps:
- When you have you been in the wilderness? What tempted you there?
- What do you hope to learn over these next 40 days?
- Of the three temptations Jesus faced, which one do you find the most difficult to resist? What about temptations faced by our congregation and culture?
- How will you discern between being and doing in your daily experience?
Making good decisions is always a great idea. Sometimes its difficult! But Jesus knows exactly how we feel. He understands us. To be a good friend means we can know a little bit about walking in someone else’s shoes. Take a look at my boots here! One of you want to try to walk in them!? It’s hard to do! Jesus knows us and knows how hard we try to do good, treat others with respect, and show God’s love. And that’s hard work! But because Jesus walks in our shoes, we know we are never walking alone!
Ever feel like you really needed somebody to walk in your shoes? To truly understand you… for you. Pastor Kevin Yoho’s message, Who’s Walking In Your Shoes?, from John 1:14 will offer assurance that God loves and knows you so well because Jesus walks in your shoes! Knows where you’ve been and where you’re going. The Lenten journey begins as we walk with Jesus where we are. Then we can be empowered to walk in other’s shoes, too, as we serve the neighborhood and make new connections of hope.
Sometimes we need better light light to help us see where we are. But the risk is that the light will reveal what we are afraid of, or what we didn’t know was there. While we can resist the light, remain hunkered down in our own shadows, God loves us too much to stay there with our limited vision. The hope is that true light will reveal a way forward, a new path, opportunities that for too long had been hidden. The disciples of Jesus were stuck in shadows, paying attention only to what was right in front of them. So Jesus invited them to an experience. An dazzling experience like no other.
To learn and grow, spiritually, mentally, and physically, we need to be open to new inputs. But sometimes our biases and prejudices, our attitudes and habits, can get in the way of authentically seeing and hearing what’s in front of us. That’s why Jesus took his friends up the mountain. So just for a moment, and just long enough, can we suspend belief, suspend our “we know it all” positions to truly see and hear and consider truth?
Why did Jesus take the disciple up that mountain that day?
They needed to know something…. Really know it to trust it. Actually, to know the real Jesus, not just the healing Jesus, the miracle worker Jesus, the leader Jesus. But know Jesus in his essence… he is God. And knowing he is really, really God in person, how does that’s truth inform our life?
Like Moses, like Peter, James, and John, we can get an unobscured sense of God’s glory, Jesus’ light, to shine in the face of our failings. And dispel any misunderstandings about who Jesus is and who God is and who others are and who we are. That would be something! That possibility is available for all of us this week as we gather in worship and are transported to a place of realignment, recalibration, refocus, even revelation in Pastor Kevin’s message from Matthew 17, the Light we Need. Could our assumptions be transfigured right along with Jesus?Find out by listening to this message!
Last week we learned that Cold Spring Church is the Church of Presidents! To become president, or any position you might seek in life, you must grow and learn every day in mind, body , and spirit. Jesus did the same. What things did you learn during last week? Tough question! (Thanks for sharing!)
How many games can you think of that use a ball? Baseball, basketball, baseball, volleyball, football, golf, tennis, ping pong! So many more, too! Catch this! Here’s ball for each of you. Toss it around. When you play a game with a ball, its super important that you keep your eye on the ball. If you don’t keep your eye on the ball, you will spend all of your time chasing it.
This week, I want you to keep your eye on Jesus. How do we do that? Read the Bible. Talk to God every day. So many ways to listen to Jesus. So keep your eye on the ball, and on Jesus, this week!
When we take a minute to look around our world, what do we? What does God see? We easily can notice fear, hatred, injustice and oppression, people trying to not only cope with life experiences both welcomed and overwhelming. We also see people trying many different means to thrive with a life of meaning. But Jesus instructs his followers that our sense of meaning correlates to our behaviors towards others when he said:… be reconciled … be loving … be forgiving … be merciful… be accepting. It’s hard work! But Christ’s indwelling Spirit empowers us to be transformed into Jesus’ likeness because we know whose and who we are.
This week in Pastor Kevin’s message, we tackle a few of those hard sayings of Jesus as we consider the apostle Paul’s encouragement to be a faith community built on common ground. It’s a strikingly different way to live without judgement, resentment, contention, and contempt.
Jesus is for everyone. How will our community know if we do not make that message real?
Our mission is to serve the least, the lonely, and the lost. Every moment is a chance to note what’s happening inside. Every moment is another stop on you tour of discovery and growth. Could take micro-steps in the path of Jesus to better reflect God’s love for this world and everyone win it?
This week’s Micro-Steps:
1. Do you think about your need to be reconciled to others as critical to authentic worship of God?
2. What groups do you belong to? How can your participation in various groups inspire your sense of generosity, gratitude, and giving?
3. How will you this week nurture your inner spirit and sense of meaning through your engagement in our faith community?
4. How will you renew your commitment to reach those treated as the least, those who are lonely, and those who feel lost? Take a micro-step today!
When we take a minute to look around our world, what do we? What does God see? We easily can notice fear, hatred, injustice and oppression, people trying to not only cope with life experiences both welcomed and overwhelming. We also see people trying many different means to thrive with a life of meaning. But Jesus instructs his followers that our sense of meaning correlates to our behaviors towards others when he said:… be reconciled … be loving … be forgiving … be merciful… be accepting. It’s hard work! But Christ’s indwelling Spirit empowers us to be transformed into Jesus’ likeness because we know whose and who we are.
This week in Pastor Kevin’s message, we tackle a few of those hard sayings of Jesus as we consider the apostle Paul’s encouragement to be a faith community built on common ground. It’s a strikingly different way to live without judgement, resentment, contention, and contempt.
Jesus is for everyone. How will our community know if we do not make that message real?
Our mission is to serve the least, the lonely, and the lost. Every moment is a chance to note what’s happening inside. Every moment is another stop on you tour of discovery and growth. Could take micro-steps in the path of Jesus to better reflect God’s love for this world and everyone win it?
This week’s Micro-Steps:
1. Do you think about your need to be reconciled to others as critical to authentic worship of God?
2. What groups do you belong to? How can your participation in various groups inspire your sense of generosity, gratitude, and giving?
3. How will you this week nurture your inner spirit and sense of meaning through your engagement in our faith community?
4. How will you renew your commitment to reach those treated as the least, those who are lonely, and those who feel lost? Take a micro-step today!
Are you ready for tomorrow?! Yes. Its probably your favorite holiday of the year. Presidents Day! What? Not your favorite holiday? Well, you should know that Cold Spring Church is the Church of Presidents! Wow. Called the Church of the Presidents by Dr. Paul Howe, author of the publication Mayflower Descendants in Cape May County, reported at least four Presidents of the United States worshipped at Cold Spring Presbyterian Church during their frequent vacation visits to Cape May, New Jersey.
Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)
President and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison worshipped here on August 24, 1890
William H. Taft (1909-1913)
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)Presidents aren’t born president. No! They are born just like you and me. Then they grow. Learn. Develop their gifts and talents. Jesus was the same way. God’s son was born a baby. Baby Jesus didn’t stay a baby, though. Either did you. The Bible says that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor of God and people.”
One thing Melissa and I enjoy on Presidents Day weekend is Girl Scout Cookies. Yummy. Girl Scouts aren’t born Girl Scouts, they don’t start as Ambassadors, senior high age. They start as Daisies. Then grow and learn.
Cold Spring Church is the place to grow and learn, learn to be more like Jesus, and to celebrate that we are the Church of Presidents! So enjoy your Presidents Day tomorrow… and enjoy these Girl Scout Cookies today!
We’re On A Mission
How We Participate in Presbyterian Mission: Our congregation, like our 9,000 sister congregations across the United States, is joyfully sent out into the world in the name of Jesus Christ. One way we participate in our shared ministry is through our annual Per Capita giving. This year, our congregation‘s Per Capita is assessed at $38.75 per individual member. The session pays for each member and your remittance for your share helps to offset this amount in our budget. As the primary source of funding for the Office of the General Assembly, each individual member’s contribution of their Per Capita is how we mutually and equitably share the costs of moving the whole Presbyterian church forward in mission.
You may use your special Per Capita apportionment envelope from your offering envelopes, or simply indicate Per Capita on the memo line of your check or online gift. On behalf of the session, thank you for your remittance and active participation in our common ministry.
Per Capita giving makes the following possible:
- Presbyterians to discern and live out God’s call in their lives
- Churches to connect with individuals seeking a call to ministry
- Staff and support General Assembly committees and commissions
- Manage and coordinate General Assembly gatherings
- Presbytery and synod leaders to gather for training and discernment
- Provide counsel and support for churches in crisis (misconduct, legal matters)
- Presbyteries to address matters of inclusion, participation and representation at all levels of church leadership and decision making
- The denomination to build connections with ecumenical partners around the world
- Presbyteries and pastors to receive support on immigration issues
- Presbyterian history to be saved and utilized by future generations
All Presbyterians are called to take part in the whole church’s ecclesiastical and administrative work through per capita giving. The annual rate is a per-member apportionment that is assessed biennially by the General Assembly. (Book of Order, G-3.0106)
“Per Capita is crucial to the overall health of the PC(USA), because it binds presbyteries, synods, and congregations together in one church.”
– J. Herbert Nelson, II,
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA)