A few weeks ago our family watched Encanto for the first time on Disney+. It was not the only time we have watched Encanto. Last weekend, I think we all watched it again and a few people watched again another day. This past week, 6 songs from the movie are in the Billboard Hot 100 this week with two in the top 10. Something about the movie seems to have captured the cultural moment.

The movie tells the story of the refugee Madrigal Family who have built a new life with a magical house. Many of the family members also have magical powers which they use to help the community out of the Grandma’s fear they could become refugees again. I won’t tell you anymore except to say it is an engaging story about how trauma influences generations in a family. 

I wonder if the movie has caught so many people’s attention because many people are feeling the collectively trauma of all the change and loss of control during the pandemic. From everything shutting down two years ago to racial protests two summers ago to changing requirements in businesses and schools around social distancing and masks to debates over vaccines to personal quarantines, it has been a lot.

Talking with people from Zion, I hear some feeling overwhelmed by the demands and chaos of kids being in and out of school. Othersare still isolating because they have some significant health risks and the loneliness weighs heavily. Other in health care are just plain exhausted two years in. Many feel the pressure to carry a load they don’t feel they can manage. Others feel like they need to look like they have things under control when on the inside and in private life feels so out of control. And then there are all the topics we have learned to avoid even talking about. All themes that pop up in the movie.

Personally, this week in particular as much of each day has been caught up in dealing with technology issues as we upgrade some hardware we use in our livestream and have issues with a printer, I am tired of having to learn new technology and solve new technology problems. They are the least fun parts of my job. You probably have things in your job like that, too. We all do.
In the movie, the family feels the pressure to carry all this pressure and weight on their own. (I won’t give anymore spoilers.) We can feel that often, too. But, part of the good news of the gospel is that we do not carry the weight of the world, Jesus does. We do not have to set all things right, Jesus will. We do not have to heal every wound and bind every broken bone and right every wrong, Jesus will. And, until that day, God has sent his Holy Spirit to be with us and comfort us in the hurts and struggles of life. We do not face this world alone, but with our God within and around us. And then he places us in a church community where we can carry each others burdens and concerns.

As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

– Greg
Connect to God
This week we will gather for worship at 9:30 am. The service will be live-streamed and replayed again at 11 am. This weeks service will be at zionreformed.online.church and streaming on our YouTube channel. We will also rebroadcast a version of the service on WCET at noon on Friday and 4pm next Sunday. This week, we made some upgrades to our live stream technology. Beginning next week, this may impact our ability to replay the service at 11 am. The service will continue to be available on Facebook and YouTube to watch at your convenience.

This morning, we continue a sermon series entitled Upside Down Kingdom. This series draws from the gospel lectionary readings, predominantly in Luke, to help us see the counter-cultural values and ways of God’s kingdom. Our text today comes as the people respond to Jesus sermon in his home town of Nazareth. His vision of his ministry and the kingdom is more expansive and gracious than the people care to admit. Rather than embracing the vastness of God’s grace, they try to throw Jesus off a cliff. Sometimes, we al need a reminder God’s grace is bigger than we can imagine.

Grow in Community
Steve Landstra received good news this week after a recent scan of his lungs. The immunotherapy he began a few months ago is having the desired effect. The cancer does not seem to be growing and there were no new areas of concern. We join Steve, Shawn, Hayley, and Carly in giving God thanks for this good news.  Gwen Wallace will have knee replacement surgery on Wednesday, Feb. 2.

I keep hearing of people from Zion stuck at home with Covid. I was talking with a fellow pastor yesterday of a similar size congregation to Zion. He shared they had multiple people in the hospital and had lost four people to Covid just since this fall. I am so thankful that has not been our experience at Zion and ask you to join me in praying for all those who are grieving over and worried for family members with Covid.

Beginning February 22, we will be hosting a book discussion on Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison. The book focuses our attention on how we can build bridges across racial divides to model the restoring and unifying work of Christ among all people. You can sign up for the discussion through the Connection card on Sunday.

Serve the World
Threads will be having a semi-annual sale, which will be open to the public, on Saturday, March 12 from 9am – 1pm. Each and every item in the boutique will be priced at $1. The money raised from this sale is used to self-fund our ministry and purchase needed items. All are invited to come in and shop!
Currently, Threads is in need of new underwear and new socks for all ages/sizes, and also in need of plastic white shirt hangers and pants hangers. Any donations of these items is greatly appreciated.

Every fifth Sunday of the month City Chapel, our church plant, celebrates Embrace Sunday. On Embrace Sundays  they go out into the community to bless downtown Grand Rapids in some way. City Chapel invites you to join them on their next Embrace Sunday, this Sunday, at  Degage Ministries where they will be making birthday party kits.  If you would like to join them and learn more about this important church plant partner of Zion meet them at 11:15am, Sunday, January 30th at  Degage Ministries 121 Sheldon Ave SE, GR.

If you need help, either with food, personal care items, help grocery shopping, or with financial needs, please contact Jerrod Holzgen, our chair of deacons, and he can help connect you with the appropriate resources at Zion. His e-mail is Jholzgen@yahoo.com and his phone number is 616-520-1771.

Administration
The remodel of our bathrooms began earlier this month. Fixtures are being removed. Walls knocked down. It is a little noisy at times in the offices! You can check out the progress in some pictures below. The first shows the bathroom from the former entrance to the women’s bathroom and the second shows the same space from the former entrance to the men’s restroom.

    

As a reminder, during the remodel, the only restrooms available on the main floor of church can be accessed through the doors at the front of the sanctuary. They are single stall uni-sex restrooms.

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 2021/22 Budget:  $381,149.18
Fiscal Year 2021/22 Contributions: $331,362.75
Giving Last Week: $13,408.50

To form Adam,
To bury Moses, 
To heal the sick, 
To defend a sinner,
To conquer the grave,
Our God got in the dirt.
In all things, we can rest.
The Lord can handle our dirt.
(credit Heather Thompson Day and Eric Schumacher)

I ran across this quote a week or so ago and it has stuck with me. Sometimes, we can think God lives at a safe distance from the mess of life. As if, somehow, God is untouched by the brokenness and sin in our world. Like the deists of 250 years ago, we can imagine God as some great clock maker who made the world, but now watches over it at an aloof disinterested distance.

Scripture, however, does not present God this way. In the Bible, God gets intimately involved in the messiness of people’s lives. He stoops into the dirt to form a mud man (the literally meaning of Adam). He meets Abraham and Sarah in the pain and struggle of infertility. He sees Leah when her husband loves another. He buries Moses when he dies at the end of Deuteronomy. Jesus spits into the dirt to make some mud to heal the blind man. He stoops and writes in the dirt to protect the woman caught in adultery (the story seems like it was a setup of the woman of some kind). And of course he goes through the agony of crucifixion and willingly dies to be buried in the ground on Good Friday.

There are lots of places in life where we have to put our best foot forward, put on a happy face, and make the best of it. We may feel that pressure at work as we keep a professional demeanor even when it feels like everything is falling apart at home. Or, in public at school functions, we may wear a mask to keep these causal relationships safely superficial. There are times when we need to be careful what we show to protect our hearts and other relationships. Sadly, some can even feel that pressure at church.

But we should never feel a need to hide the truth of who we are and what we are going through from God. God already knows your struggles. He already knows the flaws you worry about. He knows. He knows the hurts and rather than judge or watch from a distance, the incarnation reminds us God chooses to get down in the dirt and messiness of life and be with us. God can handle your dirt. You can rest. God has you.

As Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

May you believe this good news and live in its peace.

– Greg

Connect to God
This week we will gather for worship at 9:30 am. The service will be live-streamed and replayed again at 11 am. This weeks service will be at zionreformed.online.church and streaming on our YouTube channel. We will also rebroadcast a version of the service on WCET at noon on Friday and 4pm next Sunday. Next week, we will remaking some upgrades to our live stream technology and this may impact our ability to replay the service at 11 am. The service will continue to be available on Facebook and YouTube to watch at your convenience.

This morning, we continue the sermon series Upside Down Kingdom. This series draws from the gospel lectionary readings, predominantly in Luke, to help us see the counter-cultural values and ways of God’s kingdom. Our text today comes from Jesus’ sermon to his home town of Nazareth. His vision of his ministry and the kingdom he will bring come straight from the Old Testament prophets. This vision of justice and healing challenges us to consider how our lives align with Jesus kingdom or the values of our world.

Grow in Community
Beginning February 22, we will be hosting a book discussion on Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison. The book focuses our attention on how we can build bridges across racial divides to model the restoring and unifying work of Christ among all people. You can sign up for the discussion through the Connection card on Sunday.

Following Kent County Health Department guidelines, we are no longer be requiring children to wear masks in Zion Kids as of last Sunday, January 2, 2022.

Serve the World
Threads will be having a semi-annual sale, which will be open to the public, on Saturday, March 12 from 9am – 1pm. Each and every item in the boutique will be priced at $1. The money raised from this sale is used to self-fund our ministry and purchase needed items. All are invited to come in and shop!

Currently, Threads is in need of new underwear and new socks for all ages / sizes, and also in need of plastic white shirt hangers and pants hangers. Any donations of these items is greatly appreciated.

Every fifth Sunday of the month City Chapel, our church plant, celebrates Embrace Sunday. On Embrace Sundays  they go out into the community to bless downtown Grand Rapids in some way. City Chapel invites you to join them on their next Embrace Sunday, January 30th, at  Degage Ministries where they will be making birthday party kits.  If you would like to join them and learn more about this important church plant partner of Zion meet them at 11:15am, Sunday, January 30th at  Degage Ministries 121 Sheldon Ave SE, GR.

If you need help, either with food, personal care items, help grocery shopping, or with financial needs, please contact Jerrod Holzgen, our chair of deacons, and he can help connect you with the appropriate resources at Zion. His e-mail is Jholzgen@yahoo.com and his phone number is 616-520-1771.

Administration
The remodel of our bathrooms began earlier this month. Fixtures are being removed. Walls knocked down. It is a little noisy at times in the offices! You can check out the progress in some pictures below. The first shows the bathroom from the former entrance to the women’s bathroom and the second shows the same space from the former entrance to the men’s restroom.

  

As a reminder, during the remodel, the only restrooms available on the main floor of church can be accessed through the doors at the front of the sanctuary. They are single stall uni-sex restrooms.

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 2021/22 Budget:  $369,938.91
Fiscal Year 2021/22 Contributions: $317,954.25
Giving Last Week: $2,498.50

 

1-16-22 Bulletin

Recently, I was reading through the book of Genesis and spent some time reflecting upon the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18. The story itself is fascinating as Abraham has the audacity to negotiate with God over the future of these two cities. God is going to destroy them for their terrible sins. These sins are illustrated in the story, as Isaiah describes them, as a lack of hospitality and concerns for the foreigner or sojourner. The story is a bit more graphic and involves attempted violence and assault. Abraham first asks God if he will save the city if there are 50 righteous people in the city. Eventually, he gets God down to saving the city if there are only 10 righteous people. 

Fifteen years or so ago, Tim Keller observed that Abraham backed down too soon. He should have pushed God to save the city for the sake of one righteous person. A righteous God clearly shouldn’t destroy a righteous person for the sins of others. But Abraham stops at 10. Perhaps, Keller posits, Abraham knew there were no righteous people in that city or the whole world. There was no one righteous enough to save the city. The story then clearly points to our need for the one true righteous person to come, Jesus, who would deliver us from the death to which all sin leads. This is a great point and it preaches so well!

My reflection may not be quite big enough for a whole sermon. What struck me in reflecting on the passage was that Abraham intercedes for his enemies. In chapter 14, Abraham had just gone to war with these kings.They had kidnapped Abraham’s nephew Lot and Abraham had to rescue his nephew. The people of these cities are not friends, they are not even neutral strangers, they have been active attackers and threats to Abraham, and here is Abraham praying (that’s what taking with God is after all) for God to have mercy on his enemies and save them.

In a society that is so quick to give us enemies and divide us from others, the Christian faith offers another way. Even when someone is actually our enemy, we pray for them. We seek their good. We love them as God first loved us. It can be hard to do so. It takes intentionality and some spiritual grit. It is not the way our world chooses to operate, but it is the way of God’s kingdom.

– Greg

Connect to God
This week we will gather for worship at 9:30 am. The service will be live-streamed and replayed again at 11 am. This weeks service will be at zionreformed.online.church and streaming on our YouTube channel. We will also rebroadcast a version of the service on WCET at noon on Friday and 4pm next Sunday. (I heard recently we WCET has had some difficulty on Sundays and our service has not played at 4. I apologize for the confusion that may have caused. I have been in contact with them and they are unsure what the problem may be. I am hopeful we can get it straightened out soon.)

This Sunday, we begin a new sermon series entitled Upside Down Kingdom. This series will draw from the gospel lectionary readings, predominantly in Luke, to help us see the counter-cultural values and ways of God’s kingdom. In our text today, Jesus begins his public ministry in the most obscure way: baptized in the wilderness by a fringe prophet as just another face in the crowd. But this is the way of God’s kingdom , it starts small, quietly even, but it ultimately changes the world.

This Sunday, we will also be celebrating Communion, also called The Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist. It is the family meal of Christians. We invite all committed followers of Jesus Christ to partake of this sacrament: those who are baptized members of a congregation that proclaims the gospel, who are at peace with God and with their neighbor, and who seek strength to live more faithfully for Christ. If you are not a Christian, or if you are not prepared to share in this meal, we encourage you to spend this time in prayer. We hope that this time is helpful to you as you consider your relationship with Jesus Christ and with His people, the church.

Grow in Community
Our youth are collecting recyclable cans and change to raise money for their Alaskan Mission Trip. Any money raised through change or cans donated by this Sunday, January 9 will be matched dollar for dollar up to $3,000. You can drop off any $.10 recyclables at Zion’s garage on Sunday mornings. The door will be opened. Thank you for your generous support of our youth financially, through words of encouragements and in your prayers.

Following Kent County Health Department guidelines, we are no longer be requiring children to wear masks in Zion Kids as of last Sunday, January 2, 2022.

Serve the World
If you need help, either with food, personal care items, help grocery shopping, or with financial needs, please contact Jerrod Holzgen, our chair of deacons, and he can help connect you with the appropriate resources at Zion. His e-mail is Jholzgen@yahoo.com and his phone number is 616-520-1771.

Administration
The remodel of our bathrooms in the Education Wing will begin on Monday! Until the remodel is complete, please plan on using the uni-sex bathrooms at the front of the sanctuary.

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 2021/22 Budget:  $347,518.37
Fiscal Year 2021/22 Contributions: $294,055.10
Giving Last Week: $19,692.50