Archive for December, 2008

Tuesdays in January, beginning January 6, 7:15 p.m.

Join us for worship and Bible study on Tuesday nights! We will have a short worship service from 7:15-7:45 with bible study from 7:45-8:30. This is a great opportunity to join in worship with the folks from Dignity Diner. Come early to sit with our guests, or drop by for any piece of the evening. For more info contact Vince Amlin at groups@holycovenantumc.org.

If you’ve made a financial commitment to Holy Covenant for 2008, the last day you can fulfill that commitment is December 31. Donations made after December 31 will be recorded in the 2009 fiscal year. We encourage you to catch up on your commitment so that we can end the year in a responsible way. If you’d to read more, make an end-of-year gift to Holy Covenant, or set up your online giving for 2009, visit http://www.holycovenantumc.org/get-to-know-us/giving/. Thanks for your generosity: because of you, our doors are open and our ministries expanding.

UnChristian: A sermon series on how the Church has gotten it wrong and how to make it right
Sundays in January and February
9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.

Jan. 11 a church that is not hypocritical
Jan. 18 a church that is not sheltered
Jan. 25 a church that is not anti-gay

Feb. 1 a church that is green
Feb. 8 a church with a sense of humor
Feb. 15 a church that seeks forgiveness
Feb 22 a church that is not boring

Our next cycle of groups happens in February-March. Sign-up begins in the New Year. Watch for a faith-sharing groups, in-depth Bible study, a men’s group, an LGBT group, mission groups, and more. Contact groups@holycovenantumc.org for more information.

Friends in Holy Covenant,

Fresh from preaching about Mary this past Sunday and thinking, as we all are, about how different this Christmas will be for many people who are unemployed, cold, anxious, far from home, I remembered one of my favorite quotes from the thirteenth century mystic, Meister Eckhart: “Let us all become mothers of God, for God is always needing to be born.”

Beyond the intoxicating consumerism and over-the-top sentimentality that work on us constantly in this season, I believe that deep down we love and truly need Christmas because the stories, odd as they are, stir up in us some profound hope that we hadn’t known was there. Hope for a world where “imperfect” families are fully included in the community. Hope for a world where the air is not polluted and we can actually see the angels above and the star in the sky that the wise men were following. Hope for a world where good news, not dread, is the message and the measure of society.

I think we need Christmas because its stories are some of the most vocational in the Bible. If we really listen to them, we realize that it’s not just Mary and Joseph, or the shepherds, or the wise men, who are being asked to do something. It’s us, too. We’re being asked.

I love a candle-lit Christmas Eve carol service (join us this Wednesday at 7 p.m. …we’ve got room for everybody in our inn!), to the extent that candles and carols are more than “pretty” or “elegant” or “sweet.” To the extent that they shine light on the manger and the world Christ was born to change, to the extent that they call up in us some desire to act and live differently for the sake of this broken and beautiful world, to the extent that we are convinced that we can be “mothers and fathers of God,” I say, well, then, let’s light a candle and sing some songs.

Merry Christmas to you all, to those you love, and to those you’re trying to love, even when it’s difficult.

Peace on earth,
Pastor Trey Hall

At a special meeting on 12/14, leaders approved and said “Amen” to our ministry budget for 2009. Together with other members and friends in this congregation, you committed a total of $185,000, which is a 22% increase from 2008. In the midst of dire economic times, your faithfulness keeps our doors open wide and ministries expanding. To get a copy of the budget or for more information, email our Finance Chair: barrett.ellis@gmail.com. And you can still make a pledge commitment for 2009. Email giving@holycovenantumc.org with your commitment or for more information.

Tuesdays in January, beginning January 6, 7:15 p.m.

Join us for worship and Bible study on Tuesday nights! We will have a short worship service from 7:15 to 7:45 p.m. with Bible study from 7:45-8:30. This is a great opportunity to join in worship with the folks from Dignity Diner. Come early to sit with our guests, or drop by for any piece of the evening. For more info contact Vince Amlin at groups@holycovenantumc.org.

As a congregation, we’re committing in 2009 to focus on one major all-congregational project for each tenet of our mission statement: SEEK God-LOVE all people-CHANGE the world. We’ll be reading the entire Bible through this year and providing a Sunday morning (10:30 to 11:15 a.m.) group to touch base on what we’ve read (Seek God). We’ll be encouraging every member and friend to sign up for one small group over the year (Love all people). We’ll be taking serious steps to green our church and our homes and help save the earth (Change the world). Interested? Watch for more information next week.

Dear Friends in Holy Covenant,

I think it’s great to write letters to Santa. Lord knows I’ve written a few. But every year, as I get ready for Christmas, I re-read the letter of an anonymous Argentinian youth, who opted one year for letter not to Santa, but to Jesus. In it, the youth asked Jesus why he keeps coming back, year after year. Maybe, the youth wonders, it’s because:

“You have a message that’s called the Gospel, and a Church, and that’s us – a Church that wants to be servant of all, a Church that knows that because God became human one Christmas there is no other way to love God but to love all people. If that’s the way it is, Jesus, come to my house this Christmas. Come to my country. Come to the world of women and men. And first of all, come to my heart.”

May it be so for all of us this Christmas. Prepare the way!

In the name of Christ, the Incarnate One,
Pastor Trey Hall

Spread the word: Holy Covenant will launch a Sunday evening worship service with a different ethos on February 8 at 7:00p!

“Why an alternative ethos?” you ask. Our Sunday morning services are designed to be bold, active, and passionate-to shake us with the grace of God, to wake us up to a new day of hope. That said, because of both personality/spirituality differences in the human spectrum and the relative paucity in our culture of places to rest, breathe, unwind, &c., we hope this service will provide a reflective, laid-back space to encounter God and Christian community. The ambience will be casual, unplugged, peaceful, and low-tech; music will use acoustic accompaniment for folk/bluegrass, hymns, spirituals, congregational singing. Read more, ask questions, and offer feedback on Holy Covenant’s Facebook page.

***We’re looking for some gifted volunteer musicians to regularly or occasionally support the music of this service. If you play guitar, mandolin, fiddle, or string bass and would be interested in offering your gifts, contact Cassie Meyer, a lay leader who will be coordinating and leading music for this new service: cassiemeyer@gmail.com.