Dear Friends,

I confess to you that my expectations of worship are often too low. These past two Lord’s Days at Christ Community have surely been a foretaste of eternity — something that ought to be true every time we meet together with one another to hear the Gospel proclaimed: when God speaks to us as we read the Bible together, sing the Bible together, pray the Bible together, hear the Bible preached together, and see the Bible in the sacraments. As First Presbytery installed Bryan Crotts as our Associate Pastor in the morning worship service, we truly feasted together spiritually. We sang five of the richest and greatest hymns of the English-speaking Church. We were touched as Bryan’s father, Stephen, asked him the ordination and installation questions. It was moving to see the congregation stand in assent to the vow you were asked to take. Dick de Witt gave the finest charge I have ever heard given to a minister in an installation service. Steve Maye graciously challenged us all in his charge to the congregation. (And thanks to Tommy Cook and the help of the rest of the deacons, we enjoyed a physical feast of fresh-baked (still warm!) cookies following the service.)

Last week, I told you about the Friday night/Saturday meetings our officers were having. I can report to you this week that we had an excellent time together, assessing the year past and dreaming about the new year. We shared broad agreement on our present condition, as well as the directions in which we need to move this year. Both elders and deacons will be meeting next Monday night, first in a joint meeting to read the Bible together, pray together, and hear a few reports of common interest, and later, the Session and Diaconate will break into their respective meetings.

Our Upward Basketball outreach begins this Saturday. Some of you have children playing in games. Many are volunteering as coaches, referees, and in other roles. Our youth will operate a concession stand as they make money for summer missions trips. The leadership team of Upward encourages everyone to come out to welcome visitors and especially those families participating in our league who have no church home. Your warmth and kindness show something to them about the Gospel’s power. What might the Lord do through you over the next eight weeks? Games start at 9 in the morning and then at the top of every hour until 2 in the afternoon.

Remember we’ll have our first Sunday Supper of 2010 this week. It’s Italian Night, so bring your favorite Italian specialty to share. Dinner starts at 5:30. After some singing, we will dismiss the children and have a brief devotional. We will then move into our prayer time, asking the Lord to work in us, our church, our community, and in the world. We’re always dismissed by 7:15. Come pray together for our members, our leaders, revival, reformation, missions, and the advance of the King’s reign. These have become very special times in the life of Christ Community Church. I hope you’ll plan to be here.

Men, don’t forget our monthly breakfast this Saturday morning. Hot breakfast is served at 7:30 and we always have you out by 8:30. After we eat together, Mark Guthrie will speak to us. Mark is always a compelling speaker and I know you will be blessed by his remarks to us.

As I write this, images of the devastation in Haiti following Tuesday’s earthquake dominate our airwaves. I first traveled to Haiti in 1987, and our church had a team of youth there just 18 months ago. How do you think about natural disasters like this? Has something slipped past God? Was the earthquake the Lord’s judgment on voodoo, as one commentator suggested? I had planned for us to begin a four-week sermon series on worship this week, but events in Haiti have prompted me to “call an audible” and preach from Luke 13:1-9 this Sunday. We need to think Biblically about natural disasters and other surprising events, such as terrorism. We will also celebrate the Lord’s Supper this Sunday morning. I look forward to seeing you here.

Your friend,