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2020-03-29 Worship Online Resources

By Intersections, Sermons
You may watch the video on our Facebook page. Audio of the message is above. Thank you for sharing!

At Cold Spring Worship Online, you have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, right where you are, anytime.

We believe that everyone deserves to experience God’s love in relevant and authentic ways, while keeping themselves and the community safe, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our thriving faith community puts God’s love into action to help make greater Cape May a better place. We joyfully love and serve God and our neighbors through the power of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you for joining us!

Below are resources that can be used before, during, and after our 10:30 AM worship experience. Share them with others, too!

“Wherever two or three are gathered, there I am…” Jesus.


Worship Guide (v3) for March 29, 2020

03-29-2020 Readings

Notes to Share for March 29, 2020

Children’s Worship Ages 4-7 for March 29, 2020

Children’s Worship Ages 8-12 for March 29, 2020

Lenten Devotions for Week 5

2020-03-22 Message- Social Distancing, Mud, and Spiritual Connections

By Intersections, Sermons

How are you doing? No one will remain unaffected by this pandemic. Covid-19 presents an unprecedented global health crisis that increasingly threatens lives and our quality of life closer and closer to home. Travel bans. School closures. Fear, uncertainty, and anxiety are among our responses while social distancing is necessarily becoming our default behavior along with thorough hand-washing. Don’t beat yourself up if you feel fear. Listen again to last week’s message and the admonition from 1 John 5:4: Faith overcomes fear as we let God’s word hold us, not fear. We live by faith.

Social distancing is not a modern invention. In the message this week from John 9, we will meet a man who experienced social distancing; from his family, from his neighborhood, from his religious community, too. No one wanted him close. Except Jesus. Let’s not confuse social distancing with spiritual distancing. Remember that Jesus is as close as a friend, offering living water that satisfies our deepest thirst, and connects us to the presence of God, opening our eyes to see!

Plan to join us on Cold Spring Worship Online at 10:30 AM on Sundays. Read the scripture readings, the Lenten devotional, and the digital worship worship guide. We can practice spiritual closeness and social distancing at the same time!

How will you safely practice social distancing but stay spiritually close to others who need you? To others you need?

What has God done for you? With whom will you share that through a phone call or email this week?

Think about a time when Jesus corrected an incomplete understanding and brought healing?

Could this health crisis be an occasion for more radical care, greater compassion, and wider inclusion, or will we miss the opportunity to show the love of God to those most in need of it?

Get connected this week. Pray. Give thanks. Thank you for supporting our mission to energize spirits and transform lives in new ways! Be safe as you live by faith.

2020-03-15 Message Ahh, Yes! Living Water for All

By Intersections, Sermons

Who’s thirsty? You know when your body is parched. Without skipping a beat, you reach for water. “Ahhh… Yes!,” you say. Water is the most important resource in the world. Did you know that in one year, the average American residence uses over 100,000 gallons? Wow! But sadly, unsafe water kills 200 children every hour. In some countries, less than half the population has access to clean water.

In recognition of World Water Day (March 22), we will be introduced to Living Waters for the World, a ministry of the Presbyterian Church to help share clean water and the love of Christ around the world. Volunteers have installed 1,000 clean water systems in 26 countries. Look for information in our bulletin this week about Living Waters for the World that continues to train and support volunteer teams from churches like ours. If you’re interested in joining a team, or forming one, please let us know!

Pastor Kevin’s Lenten message this week transports us to a foreign country  where Jesus meets a woman who had come to a well to drink. But it was her spiritual thirst that was quenched with living water. You can quench your spiritual thirst this week, too, as we discover that no where and no one is off limits for his transformative love, his living water, or his salvation. Come and see!

2020-03-08 Message- From Night to Light

By Intersections, Sermons

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!

Whatever villain you name, that villain will likely be living in some way in the dark. From history, we recall the darkness around Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and Saddam Hussein. We know of characters like Dracula, The Joker (of Batman lore), The Phantom of the Opera, Voldemort (of Harry Potter fame), Gollum (of JJR Tolkien’s fantasies) and The White Witch (of C. S Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles).

None of these villains can successfully live in the light of day, due to the darkness of his or her soul. The metaphor of darkness echoes the state of one’s inner being.

This week, come to the Light at Cold Spring Church as we visit a man named Nicodemus diwho, while in the darkness, meets the Light of the World in Pastor Kevin’s message, From Night…To Light. Just a step into the light is all that’s needed. Just step closer, and your fear, doubt, and shame will be no more.

Here are your Micro-Steps in Faith for this week:

  1. When have you been forced to let go of control? What did you discover as a result?
  2. Think of a villain. Did that villain finally see the light? How did that happen? And if not, why not?
  3. How did you come to know Jesus? How has your understanding changed over time?
  4. Look at the other passages in the Bible where Nicodemus appears: John 7:50-51 and John 19:38-39. What do you learn about Nicodemus when you read these additional passages? Did he find the Light?

2020-03-08 Message- Queen Esther and Community Health

By Intersections, Sermons

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!

2020-03-01 Message- Spiritual Vetting Process

By Intersections, Sermons

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:

  1. When you have you been in the wilderness? What tempted you there?
  2. What do you hope to learn over these next 40 days?
  3. 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?
  4. How will you discern between being and doing in your daily experience?

2020-03-01 Message for Kids- Jesus Walks In Our Shoes

By Intersections, Sermons

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!

2020-02-26 Message- Who’s Walking In Your Shoes?

By Intersections, Sermons

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.