Epiphany, February 20, 2022

This Sunday:

This Sunday, in worship at COS, Rev. Andrew Mead will preach from Daniel 9:1-17 and Luke 19:41-46 in the standard English service. Yohan Lee will preach from Daniel 9 in the Basic English Service in Room 5.

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This week’s GPS Session is canceled. The COS Refugee Support Team (RST) anticipates sharing more information soon about their various efforts and will include opportunities for the congregation to join in this work.

Church News:

Current Giving for the month of February: $22,703.30

Giving for the month of February: $68,358.30

Monthly budgeted General Fund Giving is:  $118,873

General Fund Balance as of January 31: $141,314

YOU ARE INVITED to participate in the THURSDAY BIBLE STUDY, which began on February 17. The group meets Thursdays from 9:30-11 am and will be studying the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7. This week we will be reading and learning from Matthew 5:13-16. You are invited to listen to the group presentation on COS you-tube after Friday of the week and arrange your own electronic small group discussions if you wish. If you need CHILDCARE, or have further questions, contact Mary Loeks. Everyone is welcome!

Only Three Weeks Away!  Our next Blood Drive at Church of the Servant is scheduled for Monday, March 14. The Versiti blood supply in Michigan is still critically low. If you are able to donate at our next drive, we encourage you to sign up for an appointment. Follow this link to the online schedule:   https://donate.michigan.versiti.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/144226  Have questions? Please contact Ruth Huisman or Beth Karanicola, drive co-chairs. Thank you for saving lives!!

Feeding America. Due to recent 2022 changes to the Feeding America WM mobile food pantry program, the finance team is asking COS members to send their donations in support of the mobile food pantry directly to COS and COS will send contributions to Feeding America as part of its pledge of support. Feeding America is no longer able to accept donations on behalf of an organization and if it receives a donation from a COS donor it will support the general program of Feeding America.

Friendship ESL asks for a working computer for an Afghan university graduate, now here, studying for the TOEFL exam. Please render to the church office marked “ESL.”  Many thanks. 

COS Quilting Group: 36 quilts made by the COS Fabric and Fellowship group this winter.  We used mostly leftover fabric from our other projects.  These will be donated to the West Michigan Quilt Guild. The guild keeps the Spectrum Health Neonatal Unit supplied with quilts. Each new family gets to choose a quilt from the nurse’s closet for their little one. Our group meets the 4th Monday of each month in Room 5 from 10 to 2. Please let Hope Bradley or Claire Elgersma if you are interested in joining us.

We invite you to subscribe to “Setting the Table”. “Setting the Table” is our weekly worship email that provides recipients with a snapshot of where we are in the liturgical calendar, a glimpse of the upcoming sermon, the week’s scripture passage, and interesting bits of information about our current liturgy. These emails help to prepare ourselves for Sunday worship and can be used as part of your weekly devotions. Learn more and subscribe here.

You’re invited to join the Wednesday morning prayer group at COS to pray for the church community. The group meets every Wednesday at 10 am in the COS library. All are welcome to join whenever possible.

During Lent, we invite you into a conversation to probe the question: What does the Christian life look like together? We will be doing this by reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s classic book: Life Together.

The past couple of years have severely disrupted Christian unity and Christian community. We’ve seen deconstruction happening around congregational life, leaving the question: Is it possible to model a community that is Christ-centered and truly exists to love our neighbor? Is the church a place where we simply come to worship and be fed to go and live discrete lives of service, or can we bear witness to a greater purpose as a Christian community?

We don’t pretend to have the answers. Instead, we invite you to journey with us as we examine the nature, purpose, and principles of what a Christian community might look like.

How it will work:

  • Each Sunday during Lent (beginning March 6), the sermon topic will align with the week’s chapter from Bonhoeffer’s Life Together.
  • Immediately after the Sunday morning services will be a GPS session where a panel will discuss the chapter in more detail.
  • We hope you will study the book in your household or sign up to join a discussion group. 
  • Many of the book discussions will take place in church on a Wednesday night (beginning March 9) where we will come together to have a brief time of gathered worship (6-6.30pm) then break off into small groups and childrens’ activities (6.30-7.30pm) up to 8th grade.

Learn more about joining the book study by visiting coscrc.org/lifetogether