When our family goes camping in the national parks, we occasionally use a generator to charge our trailer’s battery and allow us to use things like the microwave and a fan. But, our generator is not big enough to run our air conditioner. Anytime someone tries to turn on the AC, the generator turns off due to the overload.

I have been thinking about that generator lately because I think the news lately has been overloading many people’s emotional generators. Our brains were shaped and formed to care about the people in our village of 200-300 people. But now, on social media and through the news we have access to all the tragedies of the entire world. We are not made to handle this much suffering and pain.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by the terrible shootings this week in Texas or the one 12 days ago in Buffalo or the war in Ukraine or global warming or refugees at the border or whatever else may be weighing you down, it is OK. You do not need to respond or do something about every instance of suffering or pain or anxiety in our world. That is not your job.

Honestly, that is Jesus’ job. He is the one who has ascended to the right hand of God the Father and has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Are we called to join Jesus in redeeming this broken and hurting world by seeking his justice and binding up the broken hearted? Of course. But, we are not called to do it on our own, individually. This is the work of the church across the world and over all time. But each of us are only called to what we are equipped and able to handle.

So, if God has given you a heart for babies and ending abortions, give your all to that work and help pregnant women make the choice for life. If you have been given a heart for refugees, give your all to helping refugees adjust to life in the US. If you have a heart for the environment, find ways you can help protect the world God has made.

It is OK to turn off the TV, close the app and step away from the trauma of our world. Accept your limits. Grieve all the hurt in our world that breaks your heart. Bring those burdens to God in prayer. Do what you feel called to do. And then, let go and give yourself permission to be a human with human limits.

– 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 Sunday is the end of the Easter season as the church celebrates Ascension Sunday (Ascension Day is Thursday, May 26 this year). As we enter what is commonly called Ordinary Time, we will be spending the next few weeks thinking about how God’s mission for the world has a church. As we think about the role of the church in God’s mission, his deep longing to see people from every tribe, people, and language returning to God in worship, we will be looking at three key teachings from Jesus that inform our role in this mission. The last two weeks of this series we will focus on the Great Commandment and the Great Mission of Jesus, but this week, as we celebrate ascension day, we turn our attention to the Great Commission given in Matthew 28.

Grow in Community
Summer is a great time to try out new ways to serve in at Zion. if you are interested in serving on one of our welcome teams, now is the time to try it out a few times over the summer! if you are already on a team or want to try it out, you can sign up to serve as an usher, greeter, or to help at the child check in station here.

Starting on Sunday morning, June 5, we’ll switch to our summer mode in Zion Kids! We’ll be running a nursery, and a simplified program for kids 3 yrs.-going into 3rd grade (all together). We read Bible stories to kids in small groups, pray, do crafts & play with them.  It’s really fun, and a great way to get to know the kids!  To make this happen, we need your help! Would you be willing to serve In kids ministry two times over the summer months?  We’re looking for young grandparents, teenagers, parents, and people who enjoy being around kids.  We’ll make sure to pair summer volunteers alongside our regular kids ministry people.   All adults over 18 years old must go through Keeping Kids Safe training and a background check prior to serving with kids.  If needed, Rachel will contact you to set up a time to go over our policies. These really are fun Summer Sundays with extra time to get to know the kids a bit more! You can sign up through the links below, or via a sign up sheet outside of Room 205, or by texting Rachel at 616-669-3412.  Thanks for considering supporting our kids & young families!
Summer Kids Ministry  
Nursery

Our nursery is filling up again! Praise God for the gift of these children. And, we need your help. Would you be willing to support young families so parents can attend the worship service, and provide great care for our young children? The time commitment is once every 4 weeks during the school year, and a couple of times over the summer. If you’re interested, please contact Rachel Brower at 616-669-3412.

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
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: $571,723.77
Fiscal Year 2021/22 Contributions: $524,457.16
Giving Last Week: $6,018.60

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been reading a short book entitled Wisdom from Babylon all about how the church lives in a secular age. There has been a massive shift in the culture of North America in the last 30 years. Thirty years ago, you could assume that even if someone was not a Christian they probably had values rooted in the Judeo-Christian worldview. This is simply no longer the case. Whether it be issues tied to our sexuality, to war, to care for the poor, fewer and fewer people seek to develop their values by turning first to scripture and the Christian tradition. 

This can feel a bit unnerving. For those coming from a European historical context this is a radical change from the norm of Christendom, where Christianity was the favored religion and assumed belief of people, since roughly 380 AD. For 1600 years, people of European descent assumed being French or German or American or Canadian meant you were also a Christian. In only a generation this has changed and it is discombobulating and disorienting as we try to get our feet back under us.

The author urges us to look to the post-exilic prophets in the Old Testament, and 1 Peter in the New Testament, as well as the early church, as well as historic minority churches and the church in secular Europe for wisdom. These followers of God all have more experience living as a minority community in a world that follows a different God and we can learn from them. While our culture may not claim allegiance to another religion, secularity can be an all encompassing worldview just as Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam can be. We can learn from these communities where the church has learned to thrive and be a faithful witness without political or cultural power.

One paragraph really stuck with me and I want to share it with you, Gordon Smith writes: 
“As I will stress again and again when speaking of what it means to be the church… in a secular age, the greatest threat to the church is not external, but internal. The greatest threat is fear, not the society or culture in which we are located.”

Fear leads to a fight, flight, or freeze response. It leads us to attack those who disagree. It leads us to run away from uncomfortable interactions. It leads to us hiding behind the walls of the church. But if we truly believe our God is present and providing, then we can engage our increasingly secular culture without fear, but with confidence in our God and his control of our future.

I am reminder of Peter’s advice to the churches he leads in 1 Peter. He basically says, love your neighbors: be so kind and generous, so gracious and welcoming that they want to know more about Jesus. And then, obey the authorities in your life so they think well of Jesus, but don’t worry about the political games and power plays of our world. Focus on God’s kingdom instead.

I wonder what God could do with a believer or a church who trust him fully and worried only about how their behavior showed people the love of Jesus.

– 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.

During the Easter season, we will be considering questions Christians often avoid that many young people as well as people wondering about Christianity frequently want to ask. Some of these topics may be uncomfortable for us as believers as young people often see through the masks and inconsistencies of our lives, but I hope in considering these questions we can humbly acknowledge our own weaknesses and point each other to the glory and beauty of our God. This week, we consider a troubling question for many in our pluralistic world: “do we have to believe in hell to be a Christian?”

Grow in Community
Starting on Sunday morning, June 5, we’ll switch to our summer mode in Zion Kids! We’ll be running a nursery, and a simplified program for kids 3 yrs.-going into 3rd grade (all together). We read Bible stories to kids in small groups, pray, do crafts & play with them.  It’s really fun, and a great way to get to know the kids!  To make this happen, we need your help! Would you be willing to serve In kids ministry two times over the summer months?  We’re looking for young grandparents, teenagers, parents, and people who enjoy being around kids.  We’ll make sure to pair summer volunteers alongside our regular kids ministry people.   All adults over 18 years old must go through Keeping Kids Safe training and a background check prior to serving with kids.  If needed, Rachel will contact you to set up a time to go over our policies. These really are fun Summer Sundays with extra time to get to know the kids a bit more! You can sign up through the links below, or via a sign up sheet outside of Room 205, or by texting Rachel at 616-669-3412.  Thanks for considering supporting our kids & young families!
Summer Kids Ministry  
Nursery

Our nursery is filling up again! Praise God for the gift of these children. And, we need your help. Would you be willing to support young families so parents can attend the worship service, and provide great care for our young children? The time commitment is once every 4 weeks during the school year, and a couple of times over the summer. If you’re interested, please contact Rachel Brower at 616-669-3412.

Our youth are looking for Shareholders for our 2022 Alaska Mission Trip. Becoming a shareholder means that you will donate $40 or more to help offset the costs of the trip. As a shareholder, you will be matched up with one student and commit to praying for them before the trip, during the trip, and after the trip. There are all sorts of benefits for shareholders like: a meal with your student after the trip, an update from the student during the trip, a copy of their pre-trip devotionals (you can also find the devotionals on our website here), the knowledge you played a role in a student’s spiritual growth and so much more. 

Serve the World
On Monday night, I received an e-mail from Albertha Kuiper, a missionary whom we support to reach the Mixtec people in Mexico. She is well past retirement age, but will be traveling back to Mexico to visit the Mixtec people and has several people for whom she asks for prayers that they might be open to the gospel including: Arturo and his family, Ernesto, and Flavia. She also asks for prayer as she works on a retranslation of Galatians, a Mixtec dictionary and encyclopedia. As we pray for these requests, I urge you to join me in thanking God for the example of Albertha who continues to serve and share her hope in Christ through Wycliffe. Her heart for Jesus and the Mixtec people inspires me and I hope you as well.

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 carpet installation was completed this week and it looks great!

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: $560,513.50
Fiscal Year 2021/22 Contributions: $518,438.56
Giving Last Week: $7,713.50