Zion E-News (9-24-2020)
Yesterday, a member of Zion called to talk about a recent sermon and living under quarantine after a recent Covid diagnosis. It was one of those conversations that makes my day. It was so good to reconnect with someone who hasn’t been able to gather with us in church in several months. (Have I mentioned how much I miss seeing so many of you?)
Near the ends of the conversation, they shared a story I want to share with you. Recently, they drove past their old house. It was the house they had raises their family in, but they hadn’t been down that particular road in several years. Over the years, the house had changed. The grass wasn’t well maintained. Weeds were overgrowing the landscaping. It was painted a new color and needed a paint job again. The porch was full of stuff, just lots of stuff. The house they had lived in and maintained for 30 years was falling into disrepair.
Honestly, I thought I knew where the conversation was heading, because i was thinking about how sad I would be to see something I had invested in and cared for not be treated the way I would like. I expected to hear about sadness and maybe even a little anger that their home wasn’t being loved like they have loved it.
But then the story took a surprising twist. There was a man on the porch working at a little desk. And know I will do my best to paraphrase/quote the conclusion to the story:
“Seeing the man,I wondered if that man knew Jesus. Did he know God loved him? As you get older you start realizing the things we worry about don’t matter as much as we thought. The decorations. The perfect lawn. The cute home. I still like those things. But what really matters is that the man knows Jesus.”
The things we worry about. The things that stress us out. The things that fill our days to full and overflowing. In the scheme of eternity, they simply do not matter as much as this simple question: do you know Jesus? Do you kids know Jesus? Do your neighbors?
May we all have eyes to see the people around us through the eyes of God and love them as he does.
– Greg
Connect to God
This Sunday we will gather indoors at 9 and 11 am. In order to ensure we are able to practice social distancing indoors, we are asking people to sign-up for the service they are planning to attend. You can sign-up to attend worship either using the links in below or on the front-page of our website beginning on Monday mornings. Following are the links to sign-up for worship this Sunday:
9 am service: https://zionreformed.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/541818
11 am service: https://zionreformed.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/541794
If you are not able to join us in person or would simply prefer to not gather in a large crowd yet, you can still join us for online worship. For at least the first couple of weeks, both our 9 and 11 am services will be live streamed We will be live streaming both services at zionreformed.online.church and Zion’s Facebook Page. We will also rebroadcast the service on WCET at noon on Friday and 4pm next Sunday.
This week, we continue a series entitled “Christians at Our Best,” inspired by the book Christians in an Age of Outrage by Ed Stetzer. Living in a culture addicted to anger and outrage, it is easy to begin to take on the habits and practices of a world consumed with picking sides, dividing groups, and creating scapegoats. In this series, we will think together about how we can live as Christians in a way that brings the light and hope of Jesus to a world moving from one temper tantrum to another. This week, we remember we are ambassadors of the kingdom of God, sent by God, with a message for our world and that this mission must remain first in our lives.
We will also be welcoming Andrew Moore for our moment for mission this Sunday. Andrew is a church planter from Community Reformed in Zeeland. He and his wife have felt a call to plant a new church in Grandville. Our staff and Consistory have been in conversations with Andrew about how we can be both a support and encouragement in this endeavor. We look forward to hearing about Andrew’s next steps in this planting effort.
Grow in Community
We had a lot of congregational care needs and celebrating recently at Zion
1. We extend out sympathy to John and Kim Little and Rachel Montgomery and family in the passing of Josh Montgomery, Kim’s son and Rachel’s brother, on Friday evening in a car accident.
2. We ask for prayers for Bernie Grooters father who was recently hospitalized after suffering a stroke.
3. We also ask for prayers of Mike and Sharilyn VanWyhe’s daughter Alison who is hospitalized with pre-eclampsia at 30 weeks pregnant.
4. And, we extend our congratulations to Bronson and Ashley Swan in the birth of their son SawyerMatthew Swan. Sawyer was born on Tuesday, September 22 weighing 7lbs 13oz and was 21″ long. We praise God for a safe and healthy delivery and that mom and baby are both doing well.
We have recently started a closed Zion group on Facebook to create a place to discuss sermons, share prayer requests, and stay connected asynchronously when direct face-to-face connections are more challenging. If you want to join the group, you can request to join at this link: www.facebook.com/groups/ziongrandville/
Children’s programming for kids Pre-school through 5th grade begins this week at both our 9 and 11 am services. Kids will begin in the church service as in prior years and will then be dismissed too their classrooms. They will be in 3 classrooms and we will practice social distancing by requiring masks for children in K-5th and attempting to keep unrelated children 6 feet apart. We intend to follow the recommendations in the MI Safe Start for Schools documentation.
Youth group begins this week for both Middle and High School. High school youth meet at 4 pm and the Middle school youth meet at 5:45. Both groups will be having a paint war as part of their kick-off meeting. Students are encouraged to wear old clothes and to bring an extra set of clothes they can change into after the paint war. The paint is washable, but we cannot guarantee it will all wash out so please keep this in mind when choosing what to wear to the kick-off meeting. It’s going to be great!
Serve the World
Our downtown church plant, City Chapel was recently profiled by the Christian Reformed Church as it is a “union” church. A union church is one that is part of both the Reformed Church in America and the Christian Reformed Church. You can learn more about City Chapel at the link below.
https://www.crcna.org/news-and-views/union-church-focusing-millennials
We also received an update recently from Albino and Sandy Rodriguez, missionaries whom we support in Peru. You can read their update at the link below. There is also an opportunity to help provide food to struggle families at the end of their update. So, please check it out.
https://mailchi.mp/62a0d1e38c17/rodriguez-family-update?e=03ac51f875
If you would like to support our Personal Care Pantry, following items (full size – not travel size) are needed and can be dropped off on a Sunday morning or during the week Monday through Thursday:
Laundry Soap Bar Soap Dish Soap Disposable Razors
Shampoo Conditioner Toothpaste Paper Grocery Bags
Deodorant Tampons Maxi Pads Paper towels (1 or 2 pack) Toilet paper (1-4 pack)
Donations can be placed in the box in the narthex marked “pantry donations”.
If you need help, either with food, personal care items, help grocery shopping, or with financial needs, please contact Chip Harkes, our chair of deacons, and he can help connect you with the appropriate resources at Zion. His e-mail is chip@harkeslandscape.com and his phone number is 616-299-4804.
Administration
We continue to thank God for his provision of all of our needs and for the generous support of our congregation with their time, talent, and treasures. We are especially grateful this week for all those who have adjusted their means of giving to give online, through the mail, and via text.
Fiscal Year to Date Budget: $168,100.48
Fiscal Year to Date Contribution: $133,845.51
Giving Last Week: $6,958.00
Cash on Hand: $152,557.92
