Can you believe that 2 years ago on March 13th the world was, in a way, put into shutdown mode? This Sunday will be 2 years later and we have made it through (almost). I know at times it felt like we never would come out of the shutdowns and yet we have. During that time we at Tom's Creek were obedient to God and continued to find ways to come to together in worship and stay connected as a community. We never truly closed and we continued to be the body of Christ and continued to join in many ways in vibrant worship. This Sunday it will be a little hard for some to be obedient to our call to worship together because of the time change. Yes, you better set your clocks ahead before you go to bed Saturday night or you are going to miss out joining with us as we worship! I am also excited that both Rev. Dr. Sarah Dorrance and myself will be leading worship. It was time for my wife to get one of the check ups they now start at age 45 and I went down to North Carolina to be with her and drive her to and from the procedure. I wanted to not worry about the sermon and be able just to enjoy our time together and for me to be able to be fully present to her for anything she needs. So, Pastor Sarah is preaching the sermon as we look at what it means to live a Jesus shaped life. Last week, we looked at the fact that we were made by God to live like Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are shaped by God into a better reflection of Jesus but this only works if we allow God to shape us. This week, we look how Jesus was obedient and how he shares we are also to be obedient. Obedience is not one of those warm fuzzy words we like but it is a mark of a follower of Jesus. We are going to look at how we are called to be obedient to God especially when it is not what we want to do but it is what God is calling us to do!
The bulletin for this Sunday is attached for you to look at. Remember that in the bulletin we have announcements, a prayer list, church attendance, the amount of offering that has come in that support our ministries, along with the outline of the service. We attach it weekly so that those of who can't be with us can keep up with the church and more fully join in worship online. We appreciate everyone who continues to worship and be a part of our community even if they can not come to the church building. While we always prefer to see people in person, we also love those who join us from afar and we are blessed to have you as part of our worshipping community!!
We are live-streaming on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel. For those that are watching when we live-stream we do have a person that can see the comments posted if there are sound or visual issues. While we don't want to fixate on every little issue we do want to know when something is way off and affects your ability to be able to enter into worship. Unless you are watching worship when it is live I would recommend watching on the YouTube channel because the quality is MUCH better.
We are not passing offering plates so the wooden boxes are available to put your offering in. The 2022 offering envelopes are in church mailboxes for those that continue to use them for their offering. Of course you can also give online, use text to give (844-406-0358), or mail the offering to church.
We will be collecting prayers in the prayer box on the table in the parlor. Also, if you have announcement that you need to be shared please write them down and give them to me before the service. This will be an ongoing practice for prayers and announcements to help ensure that they are heard and understood by all (especially those worshipping with us virtually).
Now is the time for us to worship in praise. Now is the time to give thanks for the ways God has walked with us during the worldwide shutdown and led us out of it too! Now is the time to commit to being obedient to the call to worship and to follow Jesus, no matter where that leads us. And now is the time to write a note to change your clocks ahead so that you don't miss worship!!
Blessing,
PH
Comments