Zion E-News (3-11-2021)

My family has been watching WandaVision on Disney+ for the past couple of months. Every Friday, we all gather around and enjoy a shared story. The show tells the story of Wanda whose husband has died and in her grief, she creates a fake world tied to old sitcoms, a new husband, and through mind control forces a whole town into her grief induced fantasy.

The show resonated with me because I think many of us have been living through grief this past year, often unacknowledged. When we don’t acknowledge out grief, it often comes out in unhealthy ways.  In the show, it comes out in Wanda kidnapping an entire town. For many in our culture, it has surfaced in angry outbursts, arguments over truly minor issues, political polarization, valuing winning over relationships, and a retreat into our own bubbles where everyone agrees with us.

I see it in me and in our church.

So, one year into the pandemic, let’s give each other space to grieve a hard year. I still grieve I was not able to be present for several funerals of our church members. As one example, I was talking with my kids last night and telling them about how Thelma VanderZouwen teased me one Sunday when I gave myself a giant forehead hickey from one of Ethan’s bath toys when he was just a baby. Even now, remembering her and so many others, brings tears to my eyes. We have not been able to grieve the loss of people as we normally would.

Last spring, kids were never able to return to school. It was isolating and lonely. And, sometimes just plain boring to be stuck at home. They missed out on lots of normal school growing up stuff they won’t get back. Mission trips. 6th grade camp. Overnighters at friends houses. Little league. Sports season lost. Those losses are real and they hurt.

We haven’t been able to see the people we love as often. Grandparents are separated from grandchildren. Children from parents in nursing homes. It is OK to grieve the small losses of small groups meeting and hanging out with large groups of friends and high school football games and big weddings and so much more. We have not been able to be together as we normally would and it is right to grieve those losses.

So, be kind to yourself this week. Take time to grieve the big and small losses of this past year. And, when someone lashes out in their own grief, have sympathy, compassion and grace for them, too. It has been a rough 12 months for us all.

And keep hope. This season will end. As more and more people are vaccinated, as the economy continues to open up, we are returning to whatever the new normal will be. God has been faithful in the midst of an odd year and he will be faithful in the next.

Trusting in his provision,
Greg

Connect to God
This Sunday we will gather in person at 9 am and online at both 9 and 11 am. You can find the services either on our Facebook page or at zionreformed.online.church. We will also rebroadcast the service on WCET at noon on Friday and 4pm next Sunday. (I heard recently WCET has been having problems with the audio on several of their broadcasts. We have been in contact with them and hope they can resolve the issue.)

Beginning March 28, Palm Sunday, our in-person worship time will go back to 9:30 am. We look forward to seeing you then and hope you enjoy the extra half hour of sleep each Sunday morning.

Christianity at its core is not about thinking the right things about God or knowing our Bibles inside and out, but about following Jesus. The earliest believers were called Christians because they looked and acted like little Christs, little Jesuses. In Mark 8, Peter proclaims Jesus to be the Messiah, but when Jesus explains what being Messiah actually entails the disciples push back. The disciples want Jesus on their own terms. But, if Jesus really is the Messiah he claims to be, it requires a response from us, a response that looks a lot like death. Do we believe Jesus or what we wish to be true of Jesus?

We are sending out a lot of surveys lately. Consistory has sent another survey out this week to gauge the congregation’s current feeling about wearing masks at worship. We encourage everyone to fill out the survey and let us know what you think. You can find the survey here.

Grow in Community
If you would like to keep up with Steve Landstra’s health journey as he battles lung cancer, the family has set up a CaringBridges page and you can find it here.

In the last decade, a giant cultural wave has swept the North American church into a brand new world — a pluralistic, complicated, high-tech/low-touch world that has only been accelerated during this Covid-time. Facing the challenge of engaging a jaded world, a fresh expression has emerged alongside the traditional church. If you have any interest in church planting or how to reach new generations, join us for a 3 week discussion led by Andrew Moore of the book Fresh Expressions of the Church. You can sign-up for this book discussion by e-mailing Pastor Greg at gbrower@zionreformed.org.

We are reading through the New Testament over the next year as a congregation. The reading schedule for this coming week is below (and thank you to everyone who reminded that Luke only has 24 chapters and not chapters 25 and 26 I included in last weeks e-mail):
Monday: John 8
Tuesday: John 9
Wednesday: John 10
Thursday: John 11
Friday: John 12

You can also find the reading schedule on our website under the Ministries tab.

Serve the World
Camp Zion will be occurring again this summer. If you have or are a teen interested in working at Camp Zion this summer, make sure you apply by filling out the application at the link below by the end of March. It is a great way to invest your summer in blessing our neighbors.
Camp Zion Teen Staff Job Application

We want to share a huge thank you to our congregation and broader community for their support of the Rissley family after the tragic loss of their daughter Ruby 2 weeks ago. Last Friday, we had a great response to our spaghetti supper and were able to raise over $6,800 for the family. We are grateful for all who donated and/or volunteered their time too this event and especially to the entire Austin family for their efforts organizes and running the dinner.

Our missionaries, Keith and Denise Krebs, serve in Bahrain where Keith is a chaplain for the American Mission Hospital. His services include spiritual and emotional care to the hospital’s patients, their families and the staff. The hospital recently broke ground for a new women and children’s hospital set to be completed in 2022. Keith asks prayer for their safety, courage and endurance, for the recruitment of 200 new staff for the new hospital and especially for the recruitment of a new chaplain.

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
Our Consistory met on Tuesday this week. As part of our meeting, we reviewed the list of people who responded they were willing to be considered to serve on Consistory beginning in June. According to our Bylaws, our Consistory nominates a double slate (twice as many nominees as open positions) and then after the congregation approves the slate we draw the new Elders and Deacons names from a hat. This year, we have decided to set aside our bylaws (we double checked and this is OK to do) and simply have a single slate of nominees because we had exactly 4 people respond they were willing to serve. We believe each of them are more than qualified to serve and will be a blessing to our congregation during this season of ministry.

Our nominees for the office of Elder are Ken Johnson and Haley Stone and for the office of Deacon are Troy Austin and Tom MacGraw. We will formally bring these names to the congregation at our annual congregational meeting in May for your final approval.

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.

Fiscal Year to Date Budget:  $420,251.20
Fiscal Year to Date Contribution: $408,333.47
Giving Last Week: $8,215.00
Benevolent Fund Offering of 3/7: $2,350.00
Donations to the Rissley Family: $6,874.39