Get Your Father’s Day Worship Guide (click here)

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Everyone loves a great story. It’s Father’s Day, and today, we honor everything fantastic about dads. Father’s Day reconnects us to stories about the best of Dad-ness, whether our dad, our experience as a dad, or about the “dad’ role that someone has had in your life. Do you have a few stories to share about awesome dads? Maybe you have a “dad” to thank especially today!

As a nation, we celebrate June 19, also known as Juneteenth. On June 19, 1865, the United States freed hundreds of thousands of enslaved people in Texas. President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. It extended freedom to enslaved people in the Confederate States still under open rebellion. However, making that a reality depended on military victories by the U.S. Army and an ongoing presence to enforce them. It wasn’t until more than two years later, in June Read More

 

Get Your Trinity Sunday Worship Guide (click here)

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Christians know all about the Trinity, right? Well, if you’re like most followers of Jesus, while we do affirm the Trinity (notice the Fire of Pentecost and the Dove of the Spirit depicted in our denomination’s logo, to the right.) But few of us would profess to understand the Trinity completely. We will celebrate Trinity Sunday this week. Jesus said of the Spirit, “I have many things to say. When the Spirit of truth arrives, he will guide you into all the truth.” We need the Spirit to help us understand Jesus! From the beginning,

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Get Your Pentecost Sunday Worship Guide here

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Last week was Ascension Sunday when we recounted Jesus ascending into heaven. Before Jesus was out of sight, he gave the disciples a fantastic job to do. They were to be his witnesses to the entire world, but only after they received power from the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to wait for the promised Holy Spirit. And while Pentecost Sunday celebrates the receiving of the Spirit as the birthday of the Church, featuring the bold, powerful color red, Pentecost originated as a Jewish holiday.

One thousand six hundred years before Jesus, Moses instructed the people to present their first harvest to God to say thanks. In Hebrew, it is called Shavuot (rhymes with “oat”), meaning “weeks,”—and so it is known as the Feast of Weeks. The Feast of Weeks occurs fifty days after Passover on the Hebrew calendar. By the time of Jesus, the Feast of Weeks was called Pentecost, derived from the Greek word for “fifty.”

In Leviticus 23, we see the connection between Passover and the Feast of Weeks when the Lord spoke to Moses. “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it.” (23:9-11). The flame never went out. 

Jesus was our Passover sacrifice on the cross. Three days later, Jesus rose triumphant over death! But there’s so much more. Fifty days after Easter, Jesus gave the Holy Spirit that power-lifted the followers of Jesus. The Spirit uplifted an already special day and transformed it into Power-Up Sunday. You won’t want to miss Pastor Kevin’s message and learn how to practice Pentecost every day using the 5-fold Pentecost Power-Up and Power-Up Your Life!

Music Preview

Barbara Cain will sing “Come People of the Risen King.” This music calls the church, both young and old, to rejoice in the risen King. Following the message, we will be singing On Pentecost They Gathered. You may recognize this hymn tune from Mendelssohn’s oratorio “Elijah.” During communion, we will enjoy Blessed Jesus, Living Bread. You may listen or join in singing.

We will conclude worship with the hymn Every Time I Feel the Spirit, an African-American spiritual dating to before the US Civil War. Contemporary artists and gospel music groups have frequently recorded the song.

An escaped enslaved person from Maryland named “Aunt” Mary Dines reported the earliest known performance of the song. She served as President Abraham Lincoln’s private cook and prepared meals for displaced enslaved people at Camp Barker. President Lincoln often passed by the Camp into and out of Washington, D.C. During the Civil War (1861–1865), musical performances by the residents included “Every time I feel the Spirit,” a favorite of the Lincolns. According to Dines, the President was moved to tears and returned to hear more singing on another day. PENTECOST is the name of the tune chosen by the United Methodist Hymnal (1989) editors. The syncopated music we sing today from the Presbyterian hymnals (PCUSA) uses an arrangement by Joseph T. Jones (1902–1983) from Great Day: Negro Spirituals (1961), adapted by Melva Wilson Costen for The Presbyterian Hymnal (1990).

“…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. Feel free to share photos or text friends about what you are learning! 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 all who are able and comfortable in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM.

 

Get Your Worship Guide here

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Our Memorial Day tributes are tragically overshadowed by the school shooting on Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas that took the lives of nineteen students and two adults.

“A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more” (Matthew 2:18).

Our entire nation mourns the violence, especially gun violence in the United States. Let’s not grow weary in the urgent and challenging work ahead to address violence and promote peace in our communities and ensure the safety of our children. 

As we remember the sacrifices of those who have died serving our country in every branch of our military, we remember those sacrifices were not just for our freedom, but for the freedom of all people around the world! Jesus said, “There is no greater love than this, that one lays down their life for another.” As a faith community, we thank God for freedoms here and around the world.

The message this week centers on Jesus’ Ascension into heaven when he gave the disciples a new job to do. With his ascension, Jesus called us to be “little Christs,” Jesus’ incarnation in the world. That’s a large responsibility. If it were not for Jesus’ promise of Pentecost we will celebrate next Sunday, June 5th, the disciples would have no power to go “into all of the worlds.” Jesus, in his Ascension, promised spiritual power was on its way. Discover how to develop your spiritual staying power this week at Cold Spring Church! Thank you for bringing others with you to our Memorial Day worship experience.

Music and Video Preview

We will enjoy a special Memorial Day countdown video and a video tribute to those who gave their lives in military service. Rev. Larry Moyer will serve as our worship leader and will offer a special solo this week. Following the message, we will sing the hymn, All Hail the Power. This hymn is a declaration of praise, but it’s also much more than that. The words both declare the majesty of Christ and task us with making that majesty known to all. Like many hymns describing the glory of God and the hope that one day all people will see that glory, this hymn alludes to Philippians 2:9-11: “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

We long for this day and declare our hope in its arrival in the text of this hymn. But are we willing to declare that hope to those who have not heard it? The phrase, “Easier said than done” comes to mind here. After we have sung these words of victory and longing, what do we do? Do we act on those words and turn our expectancy into realities? Or do we wait for someone else to do it for us? The fourth stanza of this great hymn declares, “We’ll join the everlasting song….” Everlasting means that we are a part of that song right now – are we willing to lift our voices together to sing more than a hymn, and truly crown our God Lord of all, then tell others the Good News? 

Our closing hymn was written by the Rev. Carolyn Gillette in remembrance of the beloved children and adults who died in the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022. Many of us, as individuals, do not accept violence, keep silent, or clamor for guns. Yet, as a nation, we do these things, and as a nation, God invites us all to repent; we need to turn around and live a different way. All of us are called to do more than sing and pray. Let’s find ways to work for gun safety laws in your community and state. If you’d like to read more about this hymn, click this link to an article from the Presbyterian Mission Agency.

“…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. Feel free to share photos or text friends about what you are learning! 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 all who are able and comfortable in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM.