Zion E-News (1-6-2022)

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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

This Week’s Bulletin

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1-9-22 Bulletin

This Week’s Bulletin

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1-2-22 Bulletin

Payment Dates ’21-’22

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Winter Retreat (Spring Hill Camps – Jan 28-30, 2022) – Full Cost: $150

$50 Deposit- due Nov 21
$100 Early Bird Rate- due Jan 16 (after Jan 16: $110)

High School Alaska Mission Trip Payment Schedule – Full Cost $700
June 11-19, 2022

$50 Deposit Due November 21

$100 Early Bird Rate Due January 16 (after Jan 16:$110)

$150 Early Bird Rate Due February 13 (after Feb 13:$160)

$200 Early Bird Rate Due March 20 (after March 20:$210)

$200 Early Bird Rate Due April 24 (after April 24:$210)

This Week’s Bulletin

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12-24 & 26-21 Bulletin

Zion E-News (12-22-2021)

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Our family went to see all the Christmas lights at LMCU Ballpark for the first time last night. As soon as we left, the kids asked if we would be stopping at McDonalds for ice cream (this is an annual tradition when we go look at lights). As we looked at lights, kids swapped seats and sang Christmas songs. We even had to find a bathroom for those who drank too much at the beginning of the trip. (In my defense, I was tired and drank a lot of ice tea to stay awake.) And then, one kid chimed in with, “Now it feels like a Brower Christmas!”

I am sure you each have some treasured Christmas traditions. I know one family who has “calories don’t count” Christmas Eve every year where people can make whatever they want, no limit to cost or calories, and it is a highlight of the year for the family. Others attend midnight candlelight services. Others open presents before even eating breakfast on Christmas morning. I know some in our church will be having quiet Christmas seasons, while others will be feeling the stress of too many parties and not enough time.

Sometimes, I think we can all feel the pressure to live up to some idealized version of the Christmas season. A time when everyone gets along and everyone gets all their presents and homes are full of family and friends. Few of us experience that type of holiday season. Maybe that is why I still enjoy watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation because no matter what goes wrong in my Christmas celebrations it will never be as bad as poor Clark Griswold’s Christmas vacation! (Seriously, it is my favorite Christmas movie and I watch it at least once every Christmas.)

Amid all the traditions, busyness, and stress the holidays can bring, my prayer for each of us remains that we would experience Jesus again this Christmas, God taking on flesh and living among us. Something amazing happens at Christmas, God’s great rescue plan breaks into this broken creation and begins to put things back together again.

A few days ago, NT Wright and Francis Collins (Wright is my favorite theologian and Collins is both a Christian and the head of the National Institutes of Health) performed a song they wrote together called “The New World has been Born.” They are not professional musicians, simply friends who love Jesus and had fun making a song. But, the song captures so much of what our world can miss about Christmas. Christmas is not a cutesy story about a baby in a manger, but a story of God remaking the world and making in whole and new again. The production value is pretty low, but I loved the song and I think you should give it a listen. You can find it below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNDiTTECvRU

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! (I’m on vacation next week, so there will not be an E-news.)

– Greg

Connect to God
This week we will gather for worship on Christmas Eve at 6:30 pm and Sunday  at 9:30 am. The service will be live-streamed both days and replayed again at 11 am Sunday. 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. 

As we celebrate Christmas together, we turn to scripture to remember the big story of the Bible. The beautiful creation. The brokenness of our world caused by sin. And, God’s unrelenting pursuit of us which culminates in coming to be among us in the person of Jesus. It is this unrelenting, never giving up, always and forever love of God that forms the foundation of our hope and joy each Christmas, Join us at either or both services as we remember again how God came to be with us.

Nursery will be available for kids ages 0-3yr. at our Christmas Eve service, and we will have “Christmas Eve Activity bags” available for kids attending the service with their family. We will run our normal children’s programming on Sunday, December 26.

Grow in Community
Our youth are collecting recyclable cans and change to raise money for their Alaskan Mission Trip. Any money raised though change or cans donated prior to 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 fro your generous support of our youth financially, through words of encouragements and in your prayers.

Following Kent County Health Department guidelines, we will no longer be requiring children to wear masks in Zion Kids beginning next Sunday,  January 2, 2022.

Serve the World
Our Christmas Eve offering this year will be given to both Jenison and Grandville Public School to assist students who need help with basic winters needs such as coats, boots, and hats.

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
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:  $325,097.83
Fiscal Year 2021/22 Contributions: $245,083.81
Giving Last Week: $7,834.50

This Week’s Bulletin

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12-19-12 Bulletin

Zion E-News (12-16-2021)

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The Christmas season can be filled with so much joy and delight. For many people, the season is filled with family get-togethers, parties with friends, presents and great food. But for many people, this time of year is filled with an odd jumble of emotions. The joy of Christmas. Grief for the loved ones who are not with us this Christmas. Pain from family estrangements or tensions barely contained. Sorrow at the inability to be with family and friends due to distance or health. Pressure to make it to all the parties, buy all the presents, get Christmas clothes, prepare the food, pay the bills, earn a little extra money to cover said bills and so much more. Sometimes a season that should be filled with wonder and hope can begin to weigh heavily on our hearts.

If this is where you are this year, it is OK. Sometimes we don’t have the Christmas cheer. Sometimes we don’t have the energy to get all the to-do list checked off. Sometimes life throws us a curve and we can’t afford a big Christmas. It’s OK.

The first Christmas was not picture perfect either. Mary was likely exhausted, sore, and just plain worn outface giving birth. Joseph was probably tired and overwhelmed after a long journey and now becoming a new dad. The Shepherds who came were likely young teen boys and girls and may have been more noisy than helpful to these new parents. Though we like to paint idyllic scenes of the first Christmas, if was probably noisy, tense, and exhausting as well.

The joy of Christmas does not come from the perfect parties and presents and people, but from the presence of the God who came to live among us. The joy in your Christmas will come this year from presence as well. The presence of God in your life and your presence with whomever you may be sharing the holiday. Your presence is enough. You matter more than the parties or presents or pastries.

In the midst of the busyness of this season, may you experience the peace of Christ who through his life reveals date great love of God for the imperfect, broken, confused, and weary people that we are.

– Greg

Connect to God
This Sunday we will gather for worship at 9:30 am. The service will be live-streamed at 9:30 and replayed again at 11. 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.

Join us this Advent season as we consider the importance of prepositions in our spiritual lives. This year we celebrate the God who has not called us to live under, over, for, or from God, but in Jesus came to be with us. At Christmas, we remember again God loves us so much he came to be like us and with us. Unfortunately, we can often unintentionally live for God, finding out worth more in what we can do to serve God, than we do dwelling in the love and presence of God.

We want to invite you to join us to celebrate the birth of Jesus this Christmas on either Friday, December 24 at 6:30 pm or Sunday, December 26 at 9:30 am. Both services will be very similar (think almost identical) and will point us to the hope we have in our God who has come to dwell among us in the person of Jesus.

Grow in Community
Nursery will be available for kids ages 0-3yr. at our Christmas Eve service, and we will have “Christmas Eve Activity bags” available for kids attending the service with their family.

Our youth are collecting recyclable cans and change to raise money for their Alaskan Mission Trip. Any money raised though change or cans donated prior to 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 fro your generous support of our youth financially, through words of encouragements and in your prayers.

Following Kent County Health Department guidelines, we will no longer be requiring children to wear masks in Zion Kids beginning January 2, 2022.

Our Zion Kids did a great job leading us in worship on Sunday. If you missed their singing and program fro any reason, you can watch them all in our YouTube channel.
Pre-school Songs
Elementary Songs
Zion Kids Christmas Program

Serve the World
Troy and Jill Austin and I (Pastor Greg) had a very productive meeting with the principal and a social worker from Grandville High School about how Threads and other Zion ministries can be a support to them in the schools. They were quite impressed by the shopping experience at Threads and the obvious commitment of our congregation to be a blessing to our local community. Please join me in praying that our partnership with schools may grow and bring much glory to God as we love our community in his name.

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
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:  $313,887.56
Fiscal Year 2021/22 Contributions: $237,249.51
Giving Last Week: $8,983.50

This Week’s Bulletin

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Bulletin for Sunday, December 12, 2021

Zion E-News (12-9-2021)

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This might be my favorite E-news introduction of the year because its the week I share my favorite books of the year. To be honest, I thought my reading was down a little this year because I spent much of the summer reading free mystery and spy books from Amazon Prime. But then I started making this list and realized I read a lot of books in the last 12 months. I stuck to my goal of reading from a wider variety of authors including multiple women, minorities, and a variety of Christian traditions, though heavily leaning toward reformed and evangelical. To be absolutely clear, I do not agree with all the books, I simply found them helpful and informative for my thinking and faith. So, in a little bit of a particular order, following are my top 10 books of the year:

10. A Church Called Tov by Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer. Scot and Laura look at the various scandals in evangelical churches, predominantly abuses of power by pastors, and do some carefully thinking about how to create cultures of goodness (Tov) that can both resist/prevent those abuses and respond well when they do happen.

9. Future Church by Will Mancini and Cory Hartman. Will and Cory look at 7 changes they believe churches need to make to transition from a Sunday morning event to disciple making ministries. We read this book as a staff and now Consistory is reading it as well.

8. Beyond Doubt by Brian McLaren. McLaren swims in the more progressive strand of Christianity. This book attempts to help people embrace doubt as part of the process of spiritual growth. His overall point, I believe is dead on, doubt is always a part of faith. This book had more bones to spit out than many, but I appreciated reading a very different view than my own.

7. When Everything is on Fire by Brian Zahnd. Zahnd also reflects on the role of doubt in our spiritual growth, but emphasizes the importance of our experience of the risen Christ as the center of faith. I have not yet finished this book, but loved the first few chapters that brought in Nietsche and Kiekegaard and the poor response of modern Christianity to modern skepticism.

6. It’s Not Your Turn by Heather Thompson Day. Day is a professor at Andrews University in Michigan, but had been a professor at Colorado Christian College prior to this year. She is a millennial and I think this book really hits the target for younger millennials and Gen Zs who are wrestling with the bumps and bruises of launching into adulthood and early career. She offers great advice on how to handle the success of others and how to keep growing as you wait for your opportunity as well. I really liked this book and I thought all the way through that I wasn’t really the target for it.

5. The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr. Barr combines historical analysis with her personal experiences moving from a complementarian view to an egalitarian one. While allowing women to be Elders, Deacons and Ministers is not an ongoing discussion in our denomination as we have allowed woman in all those roles for over 40 years, it was interesting learning about all the ways women were preaching and leading in the church from the very beginning and well into the Middle Ages.

4. Where the Light Fell by Philip Yancey. Few authors have had as much influence in my life as Yancey. In his latest book, he offers a memoir of his life and the way God kept reaching out to him as he struggled with the racist fundamentalist Christianity with which he grew up. If you have enjoyed Yancey’s other books, this is a great look at his personal story.

3. The End of the Christian Life by J. Todd Billings. Billings is a professor at Western Theological Seminary and for several years now has been living with a terminal cancer. Diagnosed in his 30s with two young kids in the house, he has written often on grief, death, and the providence of God. This latest book is a really thoughtful look at how embracing our mortality and limits puts our focus back on our hope in Christ and enables us to truly live. It moved me to tears often and left me with that confident hope of the resurrection to come.

2. What if Jesus Was Serious by Skye Jethani. I read this book and another by Skye on vacation this summer. This one offers 72 devotionals on the Sermon on the Mount. They are short, insightful, and they all have cute stick figure illustrations. Our staff will be preaching through the Sermon on the Mount beginning on January 9. This would be a great devotional tied to the series and a fun way to kickstart your personal devotional time as we begin the new year.

1b. A Burning in My Bones by Winn Collier. Collier wrote a truly moving biography of Eugene Peterson (the writer of the Message paraphrase of the Bible). I read Peterson’s own memoir a few years ago, which was good, but this is even better. The story of Peterson and Bono from U2 becoming friends is worth the price of the book. This one brought me to tears as well, especially as Collier tells of Peterson’s relationships with family.

1a. Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans. I almost forgot this book. Rachel passed away in her 30s the year before Covid hit and this book is written from her notes by Jeff Chu, a friend. There may be a theme in my favorite books because they all made me cry, but the introduction and conclusion written by her husband and friend were both very moving. The book itself offers Rachel’s trademark insights, great questions, humor, grace, and hope as she reflects on living authentically as a follower of Jesus.

I also read books on leadership development, responding to racism as a christian, a short book by a former professor, Jim Brownson, on questions Christians are afraid to ask, a couple other books by Skye Jethani, a book on Revelation by Eugene Peterson, the latest spy book by Daniel Silva, and a few more that were less memorable.

What books did you enjoy this year?

– Greg

Connect to God
This Sunday we will gather for worship at 9:30 am. The service will be live-streamed at 9:30 and replayed again at 11. This weeks service will not be on Facebook because of the Zion Kids Christmas Program, but 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.

Join us this Advent season as we consider the importance of prepositions in our spiritual lives. This year we celebrate the God who has not called us to live under, over, for, or from God, but in Jesus came to be with us. At Christmas, we remember again God loves us so much he came to be like us and with us. Unfortunately, we can often unintentionally live from God, treating God like a giant vending machine, rather than as our loving Father

We want to invite you to join us to celebrate the birth of Jesus this Christmas on either Friday, December 24 at 6:30 pm or Sunday, December 26 at 9:30 am. Both services will be very very similar (think almost identical) and will point us to the hope we have in our God who has come to dwell among us in the person of Jesus.

Grow in Community
Zion Kids practice for the Christmas Service practice is this Saturday morning. Kindergarten through 5th grade practice from 9:30 to 10 am. 3 years old through pre-school students practice from 10 to 10:30 am. They will also be practicing before church on Sunday as follows:
K-5th Kids meet in the sanctuary at 8:30 for practice.
Preschoolers meet in their classroom at 9:00 for practice.

Our Middle School youth group will be having their Christmas party this Sunday, December 12, from 11-2 in the youth room. Students should make sure they bring a white elephant gift!

Serve the World
We welcomed 35 families to Threads this week Tuesday. We continue to receive comments from shoppers about the high quality of the clothing and how thankful they are for this opportunity. We were also able to provide each shopper with a bag or box of items from the Personal Care Pantry. Your generosity is lifting up the name of Jesus in the people of our community.

Tim Mekkes and others from Good News Nepal returned from a recent visit to Nepal. But this week their hearts are saddened because a pastor in Nepal has been imprisoned by the Nepali Government for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a church. Although Pastor Keshab Acharya is not a GNN pastor, he is a brother in the Lord and a fellow servant of Christ. He also grew up in Jumla, one of the places they had just visited. Please pray for this pastor and his church.

We also have two missionary updates, one from Geoff Kooistra and the other from Keith Krebs.
Geoff Kooistra has been in Ecuador since November 28th and will return December 14th. He is participating in the 90th anniversary celebration and with the share-a-thon in Quito and Guayaquil. HCJB does lots of special programs for the season so pray that they will bring listeners closer to the Lord.

Keith Krebs will retired in March 2022 from his position as chaplain of the American Mission Hospital in Bahrain. Then he will continue with the RCA Global Missions as the Spiritual Care Coordinator for RCA Mission in Europe and the Middle East. In his eight years as chaplain he has met people from 134 countries! A new chaplain, Rev. Paul Deutsch, will start serving there in Bahrain January 1, 2022.

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
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:  $302,677.29
Fiscal Year 2021/22 Contributions: $228,266.01
Giving Last Week: $10,654.46