Mid-Week Messenger

Jan 30, 2025

Greetings Everyone

In the spring of 1992, while living in Germany, my family and I went to Romania on a missions/service trip. The goal was to build a playground and help with various work projects for an orphanage in a Romanian village. The previous soviet regime led by Nicolae Ceaușescu had been overthrown but his policies of building an army through child birth had left may orphanages overwhelmed and under resourced. During the trip we had a joint worship service, it was a small picture of two worlds colliding. One group represented by the Highschool students from military bases around Western Europe who filled the balcony of this old church, the other was represented by the local Romanian Christian congregations sitting in the pews on the ground floor. There was a stark contrast in almost everything. There was a curtain down the middle of the aisle separating women and men. The Romanian women had head coverings and dresses, and the men had their best suits on with ties and dress shoes. The western teenagers sat in one mixed mass, and wore grubby work clothes, Guns and Rose’s sweatshirts, and ball caps. Yet we all worshiped singing in our own languages. I believe that corporate worship brings God’s people, even those across vast ideological and cultural differences, together like no other earthly experience. Corporate worship is the church gathering together under the preaching of the Word, singing and praying of the saints, and practicing of the sacraments. (Westminster Confession of Fath: Ch. 21)So how is this the case? I’d like to give you three ways in which this happens. These are not the only ways, but they are certainly no less than these:

1. Worship is the act of ascribing glory to the thing you love. If I love something, I will want to share it with others. Think of a movie, book, song, or experience you’ve had that you loved. You want to share it with others, you want others to love it or be impacted like you have. For Christians, we gather around the thing we love, the Triune God and His beauty.

2. Worship reminds us of our identity. When Christians gather together we are proclaiming to ourselves and those around us that we are God’s covenant community who stand redeemed by the grace of our Lord. We do not just sing songs, pray, or read Scripture, we let those things teach us, remind us, and encourage us to remember our first identity is given by Jesus.

 

3. Worship is a premature picture of our eternal reality. When Christians gather, we reflect what is going on in heaven (Rev. 7), but also gives us a vision of our eternal destination. The book of Revelation gives us an eternal picture of what has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen. John is given a vision of all the nations in unison continually bowing down before the Lamb. (Rev. 7:9-17) This is what we were made for, “To Glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism question 1)

When you enter a worship service, you are not just there to consume, to be entertained by music and a good speaker. You are there to be brought into the presence of God in order to feed on Him, His word, His provision. When people stand before a Holy God, they recognize their uncleanliness and therefore must turn to a holy substitute, which is Jesus. How do you plan to enter into Sunday’s worship?

Ben Melli

 

Week At A Glance

Sunday, February 9th 

9:00 Adult Bible Study – Chapel

10:00 a.m. Worship Service

Monday, February 10th 

5:30 p.m. Bell Choir Practice

Tuesday, February 11th  

7:00 a.m. Men’s Bible Study and Breakfast

Wednesday, February 12th 

10:00 a.m. Ladies AM Bible Study (LAMBS)

6:00 p.m. Youth Group Meeting

7:00 p.m. Choir Practice

Thursday, February 13th 

10:00 a.m. Bible Babes

 

 

 

 

EVENTS CALENDAR

Worship Committee

We have a newly formed Worship Committee that meets once a month and reports to the Session. A worship committee is a group within a church responsible for overseeing and guiding the overall worship experience, including gathering input from the congregation, developing a worship philosophy, selecting worship music, managing worship-related finances, providing support to the pastor and director of music, and ensuring the services are inclusive and meaningful for all members. 

Please contact any of our committee members:  Lynda Nelson, Karen Leftwich, Alma Ramlow, Kathy Brown, and Shelle Kuntz.

Special Notice

 

Please do not use the commercial dishwasher in our kitchen in the Fellowship Hall without prior instructions from either Rod Cogliati or Ross Doty on the proper setup and cutoff. The proper sequences must be followed, otherwise the machine will be out of sync which will necessitate a call for a repairman and an extra expense to the church.

 

Thank You,

The Fellowship Committee

DIRECTORY UPDATE 2025

If you are not in our church directory and would like to be, or need to update your info, please email the church office. And don’t forget to let us know if you would like to be added to the Mid-Week Newsletter list.

CONTACT US

You may also like …

Mid-Week Messenger

Mid-Week Messenger

Greetings Everyone John writes that Jesus did many miracles and taught so many things that they could not have all...

Mid-Week Messenger

Mid-Week Messenger

Greetings Everyone In the spring of 1992, while living in Germany, my family and I went to Romania on a...

Mid-Week Messenger

Mid-Week Messenger

Greetings Everyone Sarah Irving-Stonebraker is a professor of history at Australian Catholic University in North...

301 Central Ave,
Whitefish, MT 59937