Zion E-News (2-10-2022)

When asked to summarize the desire of God for our lives, Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart mind, should and strength. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Recently, I was reading up on the great commandment and came across and idea I had not heard before. According to the writer (whose name I cannot currently remember), the implication of the command is not only that loving our neighbors summarizes the law, but also that the primary way we show our love for God is by loving our neighbors. The two hang together. You cannot love God without also loving your neighbor.

Earlier this year, our staff met to think about God’s call on our church, our vision to empower believers to live as missionaries in the community, and what God might be calling us to specifically focus on as a congregation this year. Last year, you likely remember we urged everyone to read through the New Testament together. We focused on growing in our knowledge of and connection to God through reading scripture. I know both my family and the discipleship group I am in all benefited from this intentional focus on reading the New Testament together. I hope you did as well.

This year, we want to help each of focus more outwardly on how we can show the love and mercy of God to our community. To that end, we have set a goal of collecting 1,000 RBIs this year as a congregation. You might be asking, “What is in an RBI?” In baseball, and RBI is a run batted in and it is a key measure of a teams success. The more runs you score the more likely you are to win. For us, an RBI is a Relationship built with a nonbeliever or an unchurched person (someone who is no longer connected to church, but has some sort of faith), a Blessing given, or an Invitation made to church, to study the Bible, or follow Jesus.

Every week, you will be able to turn in an RBI through a special card in the bulletin or online on our website. If you have a picture you took of the experience you can turn in a physical picture or upload it to the website. We will post all the stories on a wall in the lobby along with a scoreboard to track our progress to 1,000 RBIs by the end of the year.

You may be wondering what counts as an RBI so let me share two examples.
1. Pattie Grooters works in food service at Grandville schools. While serving breakfast, she made a connection with a student at Grandville who plays on the girls basketball team. She and Bern started going to all many of their games to cheer the girls on. The relationship is so important to this teenager that she invited Pattie to an honors dinner. Pattie took the time to notice and care for this girl and she experiences God’s love in Pattie.
2. Someone stopped by church on Tuesday this week with a special needs friend. They spend one day a week together every week doing odds and ends, volunteering with Threads and just enjoying one another’s company. This gives the parents of the friend a little break and this friend overtime has become a part of the family of the Zion member. (For some context, this relationship started over 10 years ago and has steadily grown over time.)

Both of these relationships have developed over time, but they started by simply taking an interest in someone else and caring about their life. Maybe for you it could be making a point to meet a new neighbor, shoveling the driveway of an elderly neighbor or offering to watch the kids of a young parent (someone did that for us years ago and it was a lifesaver one summer for our family) or something else entirely.

You may be wondering who gets to decide what counts as an RBI. You do! If you think you have started or developed a relationship with someone who doesn’t know Jesus, it counts. If you think you have blessed someone else in some way, it counts. If you feel like you have invited someone to take a step toward God in some way, it counts. Tell us your story and we will put it up on the wall and celebrate your courage in living as an ambassador of God’s kingdom.

You should also know, Haley Stone created the wall we will be using to share stories and keep track of our RBIs, so if you see her this weekend, make sure to tell her what a great job she did. 🙂

– Greg

Connect to God
This week we will gather for worship at 9:30 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. The service will continue to be available on 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 begins Jesus greatest sermon in this gospel: the Sermon on the Plain. Having just chosen his 12 disciples, he lays out for them the unique values of his kingdom. A kingdom not centered on prosperity, pleasure, power, or popularity, but standing firmly with those the world ignores, rejects, and oppresses.

Grow in Community
Congratulations to Tom and Megan MacGraw on the birth of their daughter Ryleigh Mae. Ryleigh was born Monday at 12:51AM. She weighs 6lbs 5oz and both mom and baby are doing well. Please join the McGraw’s in a prayer of praise and thanks to God for this precious gift. 

This paragraph is about child abuse so skip it if it might be triggering for you. I saw a news story about a baby dying from child abuse this weekend in the Grand Rapids area. It brought me back to a night a little over 20 years ago when I sat in the hospital holding a baby’s hand all night after they had been shaken by the mom’s boyfriend. There are so many kids growing up in homes that are not safe. Would you join me in prayer for those kids and for foster parents to be ready to care for them?

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. Sunday is the last day to sign up.

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.

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
Willing To Serve response forms are due Sunday, Feb. 20. A cover letter and response form were placed in the mailbox of every eligible member. A copy of the letter and response form can be found here, Completed response forms can be placed in the box marked “CONSISTORY NOMINATIONS” on the table in the narthex or you can email your response to cstegeman@zionreformed.org.

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.

The Reformed Church in America announced the people appointed to serve on the denominational restructuring team last week. If you are interested in learning more, you can check out the article here.

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:  $403,569.72
Fiscal Year 2021/22 Contributions: $347,075.75
Giving Last Week: $8,903.50