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News & Announcements for Palm Sunday, March 24, 2024
JOIN US FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL
If you’re looking for an opportunity to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ, we encourage you to join us Sunday mornings for a intergenerational Sunday school class, from 9:00-10:00. We look forward to seeing you!
GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE – FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 7:30 PM
Join us Friday evening for a contemplative service of Scripture and song as we remember the profound nature of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. The service begins at 7:30 pm and is an important part of our preparation to celebrate Easter. We look forward to seeing you there.
HELPING HANDS OFFERING – NEXT SUNDAY
Each 5th Sunday, any undesignated offerings placed in the collection plates go to Helping Hands, a ministry of churches in the Madison Heights-Elon area of Amherst County to help residents in need. It is administered through Madison Heights Baptist Church. Thank you for helping us meet the needs of those in our community!
MISSION FOCUS FOR MARCH: GLEANING FOR THE WORLD
Our mission focus for the month of March is Gleaning for the World which provides relief supplies to those in need. You may also make a donation by specifying GFTW on your check memo line.
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News & Announcements for March 17, 2024
JOIN US FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL
COMMUNITY LENTEN SERVICE – WEDNESDAY, MAR. 20, NOON
The Community Lenten Services conclude this week, on Wednesday, March 20 at Madison Heights Baptist Church. Pastor David is preaching this week, and lunch will follow. We look forward to observing Lent with you and our fellow brothers and sisters in the area.
WOMEN’S BOOK CLUB – THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 10AM
The Book Club will meet on Thursday, March 21 at 10:00 a.m. at Mary Wilhelm’s home. The book we are reading for March is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Whether you are able to read the book in time or not, plan to join us!
MISSION FOCUS FOR MARCH: GLEANING FOR THE WORLD
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- Palm Sunday (March 24) – 10:30 am
- Good Friday (March 29) – 7:30 pm
- Easter Sunday (March 31)
- Sunrise Service – 7:30 am
- Easter Celebration – 10:30am
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News & Announcements for March 10, 2024
JOIN US FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL
If you’re looking for an opportunity to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ, we encourage you to join us Sunday mornings for a intergenerational Sunday school class, from 9:00-10:00. We look forward to seeing you!
COMMUNITY LENTEN SERVICE – WEDNESDAY, MAR. 13, NOON
The Community Lenten Services continue this week, on Wednesday, March 13 at Madison Heights Christian Church. Each ~30 minute service is at noon at a different church in Madison Heights, with a different pastor preaching each week. We look forward to observing Lent with you and our fellow brothers and sisters in the area.
WOMEN’S BOOK CLUB – THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 10AM
The Book Club will meet on Thursday, March 21 at 10:00 a.m. at Mary Wilhelm’s home. The book we are reading for March is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Whether you are able to read the book in time or not, plan to join us!
MISSION FOCUS FOR MARCH: GLEANING FOR THE WORLD
Our mission focus for the month of March is Gleaning for the World which provides relief supplies to those in need. Please join us on Wednesday, March 20, at 8:30 a.m. in the church parking lot to go and help in person. You may also make a donation by specifying GFTW on your check memo line.
40 DAY CHALLENGE – CONTINUES THROUGHOUT LENT
For Lent this year, we invite you to remove one item from your closet or cabinets that you no longer need or wear and put it in a bag. After the 40 days, donate these items to a place that can share them with someone who can really use them. To help you get started, we are providing bags that can be picked up in the Narthex after worship. See the February newsletter for more information.
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News & Announcements for March 3, 2024
JOIN US FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL
If you’re looking for an opportunity to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ, we encourage you to join us Sunday mornings for a intergenerational Sunday school class, from 9:00-10:00. We look forward to seeing you!
COMMUNITY LENTEN SERVICE – WEDNESDAY, MAR. 6, NOON
The Community Lenten Services continue this week, on Wednesday, March 6 at Rose Chapel Baptist Church. Each ~30 minute service is at noon at a different church in Madison Heights, with a different pastor preaching each week. We look forward to observing Lent with you and our fellow brothers and sisters in the area.
WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY – MONDAY, MARCH 4, 7PM
The Women’s Bible Study will meet on Monday, March 4th at 7:00 p.m. at the church. Judy Reyburn will be our facilitator and hostess this month. We are using the book, The Love Stories of the Bible Speak by Shannon Bream. This month, we will be studying Esther and Xerxes – Marriage to a Monarch. Ladies, read your book and complete your workbook! Bring a friend. As always, if you don’t get your homework done, come anyway!!
MISSION FOCUS FOR MARCH: GLEANING FOR THE WORLD
Our mission focus for the month of March is Gleaning for the World which provides relief supplies to those in need. Please join us on Wednesday, March 20, at 8:30 a.m. in the church parking lot to go and help in person. You may also make a donation by specifying GFTW on your check memo line.
40 DAY CHALLENGE – CONTINUES THROUGHOUT LENT
For Lent this year, we invite you to remove one item from your closet or cabinets that you no longer need or wear and put it in a bag. After the 40 days, donate these items to a place that can share them with someone who can really use them. To help you get started, we are providing bags that can be picked up in the Narthex after worship. See the February newsletter for more information.
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March 2024 Pastor’s Corner — This Changes Everything
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. — 1 Corinthians 15:16-17
There are a lot of doctrines that are crucial to our Christian faith. In the EPC, we have a list of them known as “The Essentials of Our Faith.” Those essentials include what we believe about the Trinity — God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), God the Holy Spirit; the problem of our sin and our salvation in Christ; the church; the return of Christ; and the purpose and mission of every Christian. All of those are important doctrines and in many respects define the boundaries of orthodox Christianity. It’s not so much that believing these things make you a Presbyterian, but that Christians throughout the centuries have held these doctrines as essential. But in the paragraph about Jesus Christ is a statement that is, in many respects, more important than any other:
“[Jesus Christ] died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. On the third day He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Mediator.”
That’s it. That’s the entire house of cards. Everything we believe as Christians rises and falls on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote in the passage quoted above, if Christ was not raised from the dead, everything else we believe is meaningless. Conversely, in order to understand why and how Christ was raised from the dead, it’s necessary to believe most everything included in the Essentials of Our Faith. As Thomas Oden writes,
No aspect of Jesus’ ministry was more minutely recorded than his resurrection. Due to the pivotal importance of his resurrection, the evidence for it appears to have been assiduously collected, transmitted, and embedded in the essential proclamation of salvation attested by the earliest Christian communities. The Gospel narratives seem to be saying to us that if we cannot credit the last validating episode of his life, we are not likely to grasp anything else said about him. (The Word of Life, pg 495)
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything. It is the confirmation that everything the Old Testament said about Jesus is true; that everything Jesus said about himself is true. It is the means of our sanctification, the way our sins are atoned for, the reason we are freed from the shackles of our sins. It is the promise of our redeemed and restored souls, the hope of our eternal salvation, the guarantee of our future life with Christ. It is the way God chose to restore all of broken creation to what He intended from the very beginning. And it is completely unprecedented in human history, so much so that it is “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:23).
We’ve heard the “old, old story” so many times that we can forget how radical, revolutionary and profound it really is. That’s why we have the season of Lent in the church calendar. The early church fathers recognized how important it is for believers to spend a significant period of time reflecting on what Jesus accomplished on Easter Sunday. During this season, I invite you to make a habit of reading 1 Corinthians 15 as part of your daily Scripture reading and prayer time. Spend time meditating on and contemplating the wonder of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Allow the depths of the love of God made manifest through His Son Jesus Christ settle deeply in your heart, and share that message of hope and life with those around you. That’s what we have to offer: because He lives, so we live. That changes everything.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. — 1 Corinthians 15:20-22
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison
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