Rivals

My college buddy, Steve, grew up in Sacramento as a fan of the 49ers (back when they were actually winning). Over the recent years he and I have had fun using Facebook to take some good-natured jabs at each other and our favorite teams. (Steve is an elementary school teacher in Anchorage, so he's surrounded by a lot of other Seahawk fans who give him a hard time in person!).

All of this, of course, is in fun and a couple years ago I drew this caricature of the two of us. We're rivals when it comes to our favorite team, but above all we're friends and brothers in Christ!

As we move into  the last half of Ephesians 2, Paul addresses the reality that the churches in Ephesus and elsewhere in the Roman Empire were made up of former rivals: the Jews and the Gentiles (non-Jews). In fact they were more than just rivals - they were outright enemies in many cases! And yet, because of Jesus, they were united as part of God's family and were being joined together to form a spiritual building where God lives. That's amazing!

Take a few minutes to read Ephesians 2:11-22 and reflect on how you are experiencing similar unity with other Christians that you might otherwise not associate with. I hope you'll be able to join us this Sunday.

---

Crisis Fund Offering

This Sunday we'll have a basket collecting donations which will then be used to help those within our congregation and community who find themselves in financial need. You can make a check out to "CCC" and place it or cash into the basket following the worship service or drop it off/mail it to the church with a designation that it should be applied to the Crisis Fund. Thank you for enabling us to share the love of Jesus in a practical way.

On Sunday, September 17th, we're going to join with other churches in our valley to once again live out our identity as Christ's Body and BLESS others by serving them. This year we will hold our morning worship and then go to the Twisp Park for a lunch and to divide into work crews. We'll go out and tackle different projects for a couple of hours with the intention of sharing God's love in practical ways.

But we need to line up some projects first. That's where you come in.  We're looking for some rather simple tasks that small groups can accomplish in about 2 hours. We'd ideally like a variety of different things: some yard clean up, some indoor jobs, and some less strenuous tasks so that everyone and every level of ability will be able to participate. Begin brainstorming and seeking out what we might be able to do for others on that afternoon. Project forms are available for you to fill out and submit to the church office. We may not be able to accomplish everything suggested, but we hope to serve a number of people.

NEEDS:
Project Administrator: Someone good at organizing the various projects and thinking through what needs to be done in preparation for the 17th.
Project Leaders willing to prepare for and lead a group on that afternoon (you don't have to create the project, just be the point person)
Lunch Coordinator: arrange for BBQ and tables at Twisp Park for our pre-serving potluck lunch
DVR to record the Seahawk game and then set it up to watch at the church that evening

Please let me know if you are willing to help in any of these areas and plan on joining us in service on the 17th!

Hurricane Harvey Relief

Many have wondered about the best way to help out with the needs in Huston as a result of Hurricane Harvey. We have a number of sister Covenant churches in the area which have been impacted by the disaster, but are also front line "boots on the wet ground" in providing help. 

​Here is a link to an article with information about how to provide help including links to give through Covenant World Relief: http://www.midsouthcov.org/hurricane-harvey-disaster/