covid-19

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. Stay for our Hospitality Table following worship. 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)

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Message Preview

Taking care of ourselves is good advice. Cold Spring Presbyterian Church provides resources for you to experience abundant life through Christ. All of us invest a great deal of our time, energy, and attention in accomplishing our whole-life wellness, which we can call our standard of living. The Bible speaks a lot about our standard of living, the standards that show our love for God and others, and how we measure the standard of living we achieve. We also pay attention to all aspects of our life, mind, body, and spirit. Our time, energy, and talents are exchangeable for the resources we need to maintain or improve our standard of living.

This week, an overlooked and misunderstood parable of Jesus about a business manager will show us how his standard of living flows out of his standard of giving. (Fun Fact: Did you know that 38 parables deal directly with money? Yes! And in the Bible, more than 2,000 verses are about money and possessions!)

In our Gospel reading from Luke 16, we may discover a redeeming quality in a dishonest manager as we spend, save, and give, each according to our unique life experiences.

Music Preview

Rev. Larry Moyer will sing, Just a Little Talk with Jesus, written by Rev. Cleavant Derricks, pastor of a small African-American church in Alabama. He wrote the song during the Great Depression. Money was already tight during these difficult times, but his church was in terrible need of new hymnals. Rev. Derricks found a publisher, Stamps-Baxter, and contacted them. He stated he needed hymnals and did not have the money to purchase them while offering a bargain. Would the publisher accept his songs to provide hymnals for his church? The publisher bought just two of his songs. Rev. Derricks is said to have received fifty hymnals in exchange for the rights to his music. This song became one of the best-loved southern gospel songs within a few years.

Our lyric video hymn is God of the Poor (Beauty for Brokenness) by Graham Kendrick. It was commissioned by Tear Fund and originally recorded in 1993 for the Spark to a Flame album and re-recorded for 2011’s Very Best of Graham Kendrick. The theme reflects our reading from Amos about our responsibility to not only care for our neighbors, but to work for justice.

We will conclude worship singing God Whose Giving Knows No Ending. The musical setting grounds these inspiring words, an early American shape-note tune named for a Baptist church in Harris County, Georgia. The Hymn Society of America received more than 450 submissions searching for a new hymn about whole-life stewardship, and God Whose Giving Knows No Ending was their favorite.

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 anytime on YouTube Live!
(click here)

Physical distancing and masks are recommended but are 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.

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 Red Brick Church. We are fully accessible and lot parking is available. Stay for our Hospitality Table following worship. 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)

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Read the Message and Music preview!

Message Preview

Happy birthday, football! Football is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Football League (NFL) today. Football is any game where you kick a ball with your foot on a linear field of play, including soccer and rugby. The goal is to get the ball to your opponent’s end zone for a touchdown. The NFL generated 15.26 billion dollars in revenue in 2019 and is the most profitable sports league in the United States. Total attendance at NFL games reached a record 18.29 million fans across the regular season in 2021. Increasingly football is beating out baseball as America’s favorite sport. This week football may also become your favorite metaphor for our spiritual life in Christ!

Living rooms and stadiums will erupt with shouts and cheers for a touchdown. But like watching the football move up and down the field, the forces of good and evil can be seen to compete. Sin can seem on the offense, putting the most points on the scoreboard. Too infrequently, though, spiritual goodness appears to be winning. The Apostle Paul spoke about the personal struggle of wanting to do good (Romans 7:18-19). Paul told Timothy about his spiritual progress as he learned to grow and mature, make better choices, living his best life in Christ (1 Timothy 1:12-17).

In our Gospel reading from Luke 15, we celebrate when God’s goodness wins. In the story about the lost sheep, Jesus wants us to realize that more important than a football crossing into the end zone is when even one person responds in faith to Jesus. With Jesus, a touchdown is an expression of repentance, and a pattern of repentance and faith, that elicits huge cheers in heaven! There is joy in the presence of the angels when one sinner repents, then for the ninth-nine righteous who need no repentance (Luke 15). The faith community can be a place of celebration as we discover The Gridiron Gospel and pick up the ball of faith this week at Cold Spring Church.

Music Preview

We begin with our countdown to worship video that sets the theme for our experience today. God welcomes all of us, right now, without exception! Barbara Cain will sing I Could Never Outlove the Lord, accompanied by Jayne McDonough. Following the message we will be moved by an energetic music lyric video, Chief of Sinners Though I Be, recalling our New Testament Reading where the Apostle Paul uses that phrase to describe himself and the astonishing good news that by God’s grace he celebrates all that Christ is doing for him. We will put our faith into action singing our sending hymn, O For a World. Everything longed for in the lyrics is a reminder of how far our present world is from what God wants. Yet this is not just wishful thinking; it is a call to action, a summons to participate in the fulfillment of God’s desire for all earth’s people to live in radical shalom because Christ lives in and through us.

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 anytime on YouTube Live!
(click here)

Physical distancing and masks are recommended but are 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.

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 Red Brick Church. We are fully accessible and lot parking is available. Stay for our Hospitality Table following worship. 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)

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Read the Message and Music preview!

Message Preview

Where do you see faith at work? This Labor Day weekend we will celebrate God’s work in our lives that we most clearly realize when we put our faith in Jesus Christ to work.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

We work on lots of projects, big and small. Think about your last project. How did it turn out? Sometimes, the project may not have turned out the way we expected! Ordinary setbacks, unanticipated obstacles, or our inactions or distractions may leave the task incomplete. We want to stay with it. Sometimes we can’t or won’t. What do we do? How can we build things that matter?

In this week’s message from Luke 14:25-33 titled, Before You Build, we hear Jesus set some pretty high expectations for those who follow him. There is no discount discipleship. No coupons to reduce our costs. When Jesus invited others to follow, it meant following in his footsteps. What did Jesus mean when he said to love him more than our family? (Yes, he said that. But it doesn’t mean what you may at first think.) Jesus says our possessions (time, energy, attention, health, finances) must never get in our way. What prompted Jesus to use the metaphor of a builder who couldn’t finish the project or a king estimating his chances of winning a battle? 

What does it cost us to follow Jesus? The short answer is everything! But the good news is that Jesus has paid the cost, and we can be ready to complete God’s tasks. Our goals may not be as audacious as Nehemiah’s or as fantastic as the Apostle Paul’s, but what we do matters because we matter. Let’s get it done because when Jesus starts something, you can be sure he will finish it! That includes us, too. What God began in your spiritual core, your heart, God will keep at it until we reach our full potential in Christ. Find out how you can build your life by taking these three steps of faith at Cold Spring Church this week:

1. Secure the foundation
2. Build the future 
3. Stick to the plan

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

Music Preview

This week we will enjoy a hymn solo for Labor Day by Barbara Cain with Jayne McDonough titled, O God Our Creator, You Work Every Day. Our first hymn is an upbeat piece by 7eventh Time Down titled I Have Decided. Our worship will reinforce our theme of making good decisions and not turning back when Jesus calls us forward. We close worship with Lord of All Hopefulness that celebrates God’s work in our lives throughout each day.

“…That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18).

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 anytime on YouTube Live!
(click here)

Physical distancing and masks are recommended bu are 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.

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 Red Brick Church. We are fully accessible and lot parking is available. Stay for our Hospitality Table following worship. 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)

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Read the Message and Music preview!

Message Preview

Like a giant pinecone with a crown, the pineapple symbolizes welcoming  hospitality. The Tupinamba people who settled in the Amazon Rainforest 3000 years ago regarded the pineapple as an object of worship. While pineapples were an integral part of daily life for the Tupi people, it is now grown and enjoyed worldwide as a superfood and symbol of hospitality.

There’s ordinary hospitality, and then there’s a new model of hospitality we read about in this week’s Gospel reading in Luke 14. Jesus insisted that offering genuine hospitality was not a spiritual gift given to a select few. Being hospitable was not optional but a practice required of all. And with practice, hospitality will increase and stack up to have a cumulative healing effect. This week we can learn how to offer genuine hospitality that transfigures those who extend and receive it. Hospitality can bring healing to the alienated, hurt, alone, and those who feel like an outcast or somehow distant from God’s kingdom or presence. Let’s be Pineapple People at Cold Spring Church! Let’s embrace opportunities to welcome the stranger, reach out to neighbors, and in the end, embrace God’s healing and love for us all!

Music Preview

Rev. Larry Moyer will be singing Be It Unto Me, a powerful song by The prolific Gospel singer Don Moen. He wrote about the song, “but Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but with God everything is possible.” – Matthew 19:26. 

The hymn following the message will begin with the verse Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing with added lyrics by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, God We Sense Your Peace and Power. This new hymn  is a retelling of Jesus’ teaching to take the humble seats at the table and to invite strangers who are in need to our own tables; it is a prayer that we will catch the vision of God’s reign that turns the world upside down.

We close our worship singing Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life  reminding us that Jesus walks in every neighborhood and community. Because dense populations always result in concentrated hardships, this hymn’s timeless evocation of urban need connects to our own day as well as to Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37/Luke 13:34). The tune, Germany, was the first used with this text and is now customary.

“…That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18).

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 anytime on YouTube Live!
(click here)

Physical distancing and masks are recommended bu are 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.

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 Red Brick Church. We are fully accessible and lot parking is available. Stay for our Hospitality Table following worship. 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)

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Read the Message and Music preview here!

Message Preview

We welcome Norris Clark to the pulpit this week while Pastor Kevin and Melissa are on vacation. In a message entitled, Good News vs: Fake News, we will sharpen our discernment skills and be encouraged in sharing the Good News in Jesus Christ.

Music Preview

We welcome pianist and organist Mary Snyder while Jayne and Dennis are away. Our music lyric video is Good Good Father, a beautiful worship song with a simple chorus that simply praises God as being good and reminds us all that we are loved! The song opens by saying, “I’ve heard a thousand stories of what they think you’re like” but continues with the truth that often comes to us when we take time to be still and listen to God in Christ. We will close singing Now Sing the Gospel Story to the tune of the hymn The Day of Resurrection.

“…That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18).

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 welcomed 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 anytime on YouTube Live!
(click here)

Physical distancing and masks are recommended bu are 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.

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 Red Brick Church. We are fully accessible and lot parking is available. Stay for our Hospitality Table following worship. 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)

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Read the Message and Music preview here!

Message Preview

Everyone has faith in something. We can’t begin our day without it. Faith empowers us to dare, imagine, and hope in what can be and what we can become in Christ. Where do you need to see victory in your life today? Let’s focus less on measuring how much or how little faith we have and instead decide in what and in whom to place our faith. God is faithful and worthy to be the object of our faith. In Hebrews 11, we will consider a list of ordinary people commended for faith not fully realized. Jesus is the finisher of faith. We will re-visit the story of David and Goliath and discover that victory for Israel was not the moment Goliath tumbled to the ground. Instead, David’s faith put victory in motion when he bent down to choose five smooth stones from the river. Find out how well-placed faith can bring victory in your life, too. “Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world” (Hebrews 11:4, ISV).

(Tip: Remember that friends don’t let friends miss out on spiritual energy that can change their lives! This week is a great time to invite others to join you!)

Music Preview

Gloria Echols is a gospel singer from Pennsylvania who will sing two duets with her former co-worker, the Rev. Larry Moyer. Gloria led a non-profit housing assistance organization serving low-income and unsheltered individuals. She is a featured soloist at her church in Landsdale. Gloria and Larry will sing Great is Thy Faithfulness and Let There Be Peace On Earth.

We Walk By Faith, written by Henry Alford (1810-1871). Alford’s most famous hymn is probably Come, Ye Thankful People Come. Our sending music is the anthem Hymn of Promise by Natalie Sleeth. It was composed in early 1985 and dedicated to a friend diagnosed with cancer and died weeks after its premiere. Soon after the anthem was published, it became known by an alternate title, In the Bulb There Is a Flower, encouraging us to hope in Christ.

“…That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18).

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 welcomed 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 anytime on YouTube Live!
(click here)

Physical distancing and masks are recommended bu are 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.

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 Red Brick Church. We are fully accessible and lot parking is available. Stay for our Hospitality Table following worship. 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)

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Read this week’s Message and Music preview here!

Message Preview

Do you have a fear of missing out? Occasionally, or often, we may feel like others are having all the fun, and we can’t bear to be left out. This feeling is so prevalent that the fear of missing out has earned its internet slang, FOMO. With the rise of TikTok and other social media platforms, we can’t resist posting videos and photos of events, parties, and gatherings, leaving others with that dreaded FOMO. People who suffer from the “fear of missing out” may constantly check their devices for social media updates to see what their friends are doing. Suffering from severe FOMO can sometimes lead to impulsively canceling plans or obsessing over what others are doing rather than enjoying their own life.

In this week’s message from Luke 12, Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.” Gain resources this Sunday to turn FOMO into fearless kingdom living. 

(Tip: Remember that friends don’t let friends miss out on spiritual energy that can change their lives! This week is a great time to invite others to join you!)

Music Preview

A beautiful hymn medley of Be Thou My Vision with Amazing Grace will be shared by the Rev. Larry Moyer.

Pat Barrett, one of the composers of our video lyric hymn, Build My Life, says “Build My Life is one of those songs that has carried me through so many years of change and uncertainty. Life rarely behaves with our plans and it’s usually in the uncertainty and the not knowing and the trials that reveal what we’ve been standing on and what we put our trust in. Jesus talks about a man who dug a hole and built his house on a rock. When the storm came, the house withstood the storm. This really is a reminder for us that we can build our life on anything, we have the freedom to build our life on whatever we want. And the invitation of Jesus is to build our lives on things that last.”

The closing hymn, How Firm a Foundation was sung by American troops engaged in the Spanish-American war on Christmas morning in 1898. With all of its notoriety, the author is somewhat of a mystery. The hymn is attributed to “K” in the original publication.

“…That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18).

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 welcomed 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 anytime on YouTube Live!
(click here)

Physical distancing and masks are recommended bu are 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.

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 begins at 10:30 AM every Sunday in the Red Brick Church. 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)

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You will want to read this week’s Message and Music preview!

Message Preview

Look around you and you’ll notice that one of the fastest growing, most profitable businesses involves renting out storage units. The storage industry is bigger and more profitable than the entertainment industry in Hollywood. People spend more money on storage than on movies or entertainment.

Few people stay in one place anymore. It seems like 1 out of every 4 people you meet were born outside of Cape May. On average, people in the United States move at least eleven times during their lifetime. Sometimes the spaces are bigger; sometimes the spaces are smaller. We get new jobs, we get married, we have families, we get divorced, we become “empty nests,” we move across the country. All of these changes in lifestyle and location can involve a pressing need for storage. We just love or must store “stuff,” or fill our lives with a huge, ego-driven “Self!” When we build “bigger barns,” we are liberated and uninhibited about amassing more stuff, and more self, to fill those empty spaces. We think more “stuff” will make us feel more situated, safe, and secure. While authentic emotional attachments can be a positive influence in our lives, it’s just as likely that emotional attachments to things can diminish our lives, too. What to do?

Jesus’ parable in this week’s lesson From Luke 12:13-21 reminds us that the best “storage” we can have is not in storage lockers but in the hearts of those we love, the minds of our communities and our neighbors, and those in need. Who did God prioritize to be recipients of our accumulated “stuff” and “treasures”? Those who are treated unjustly, the strangers, visitors, women, children, the sick and injured, the cast-out and the left-out are the real “storage units” for any leftovers and surplus in our lives.

You will want to invite someone with you to worship this week as we talk about life’s storage lockers.

Music Preview

Today for our 5th Sunday in July, we will have a hymn sing-a-long from the blue hymnal in the pews. Choose a favorite hymn and have the number ready!

Our lyric video hymn is God of the Poor (Beauty for Brokenness) by Graham Kendrick. It was commissioned by Tear Fund and originally recorded in 1993 for the Spark to a Flame album and re-recorded for 2011’s Very Best of Graham Kendrick.

Our closing hymn, Take My Life and Let it Be, was written by Frances Havergal. In her own words, the hymn is a “consecration hymn” in which the singer commits all of her possessions and being to the Lord for his purposes. It expresses what each of us ought to feel and long for, even if at times we see so much disparity between the words and our actual state that we have to sing most of it in hope and faith.

“…That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18).

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 welcomed 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 anytime on YouTube Live!
(click here)

Physical distancing and masks are recommended bu are 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.

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 begins at 10:30 AM every Sunday in the Red Brick Church. 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.

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You will want to read this week’s Message and Music preview!

Message Preview

Last week we recalled the first moon landing recognizing that Jesus is the Cosmic Christ, holding all things together. We also visited with Jesus and his friends Mary and Martha at their home in Bethany. This week, we join the disciples who were just listening in on Jesus praying. What was Jesus praying about that the disciples immediately wanted it, too? So much so that they asked Jesus to teach them to pray like he did to get it.

We refer to that prayer Jesus shared with the disciples as The Lord’s Prayer. Is it the Lord’s Prayer? Maybe it should have been called the People’s Prayer? Whatever its title, it has become familiar to many of us. But our repetition of the prayer may obscure Jesus’ real point to the lesson and hide the disciples’ true request. What made the Prayer unique was how Jesus referred to God. No rabbi in Jesus’ time or since, would begin any prayer using a term of endearment like daddy! Jesus shocked his listeners who could not even imagine that a personal relationship with the Creator was possible. But wait, there’s more.

So what was Jesus praying for that the disciples urgently wanted it, too? Discover an important clue to that question in our Gospel reading and message from Luke 11:1-13. What do you really want? Do you know? Whatever it is, how can you be certain you are wanting the right thing because your persistence is not futile with Jesus. Ask. Seek. Knock. You will receive it! Now that is shocking.

Music Preview

Barbara Cain will sing Sweet Hour of Prayer. This hymn stresses prayers for the world, and the people. All possible prayers we have every day is squeezed into one hymn that exaggerating it was entitled sweet hour of prayer. The romanticized language adds a tone that stresses withdrawal from the mundane world and focusing on God alone.

Following the message, we will sing a hymn of prayer written by Scottish poet and protester against slavery, James Montgomery (d. 1854). Lord, Teach Us How to Pray Aright is based on Luke 11. It reminds us of the need for  prayer in tune with the Holy Spirit and to express our thanks for Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Our sending music is Spirit of God Descend upon My Heart. In this very personal and well-known hymn, the singer calls to mind various places in Scripture concerning Christian love and the Holy Spirit. As we sing, we ask God to move within us so that we may live a life of whole-hearted devotion to Him, bathed in His presence and motivated by His love. We recall the “first and greatest commandment” to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37, 38 NIV).

“…That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18).

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 welcomed 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 anytime on YouTube Live!
(click here)

Physical distancing and masks are 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 to worship in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM.

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 begins at 10:30 AM every Sunday in the Red Brick Church. 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.

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You will want to read this week’s Message and Music preview!

Message Preview

This week we remembered the first Moon landing on July 20, 1969. An estimated 650 million people watched in amazement as Neil Armstrong descended a ladder towards the surface of the Moon. The Astronaut’s words spoken that day, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” will help us understand the Apostle’s words from Colossians 1 that the earthly Jesus has a cosmic role, too! Do you remember where you were that Sunday? What was going on in the world?

We may ask, in the ordinary and even the extraordinary life experiences, is Jesus the One? All of us need some reassurance. Jesus reminded everyone to look around at what they hear and see, “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them” (Matthew 11:2-6). So it is not surprising that Jesus’ good friends, Mary and Martha, wondered the same thing. In our message this week, Mary’s devotion to Jesus is praised, compared to Martha, who was preoccupied with other things (Luke 10:38-42). We may mistakenly think that Jesus preferred Mary’s attention to that of Martha’s. When Jesus is the focus of our daily attention, not constrained to our needs alone, we can experience Christ in all things in the kitchen and the living room. Jesus’ role is far more expansive than we imagine! And so is ours!

Become a part of Jesus’ cosmic story this week at the Red Brick Church, which will enlarge your spiritual world and equip you to understand better God’s earthly and cosmic mission that includes you and me! You’ll want to bring a few traveling companions to worship with you.

Music Preview

The Rev. Larry Moyer will sing a Rick & Mark Wright song Holy Spirit, Rest in Me. Rick, the Father in this Father/Son duo, says he awoke one morning with the words “Holy Spirit rest in me” on his mind. Rick quickly wrote them down, and within 15 minutes, the words for the four verses came to him. He feels this was “only possible through the mighty power of the Holy Spirit.” He then composed the tune with his son, Mark.

Following the message, we will enjoy singing along with Kelly Willard, the composer of the lyric video hymn, Make Me a Servant. Willard writes, “Someone asked me to share the story behind writing the chorus Make Me a Servant. Well, it’s pretty simple, what happened. At home, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, saying very gently, “You know, you could stand to have a little more of a servant’s heart.” I went straight to my piano and began playing and singing this prayer…” Make me a servant, humble and meek; Lord, let me lift up those who are weak. I still pray for a servant’s heart. “And, may the prayer of my heart always be, make me a servant today.”

Our sending hymn is God You Spin the Whirling Planets. This text was written for the 1979 National Meeting of United Presbyterian Women by Jane Parker Huber, whose theme, In the Image of God, is variously considered as reflection, focus, distortion, and polishing for clarity. The words are set to an anonymous 19th-century American tune. 

“…That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18).

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 welcomed 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 anytime on YouTube Live!
(click here)

Physical distancing and masks are 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 to worship in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM.