Trinity Season, Week of Sunday, November 15, 2020
On Sunday, November 15, we will continue to worship using our zoom format, individually, but still as one body, united in Christ This week Rev. Karen Campbell will bring us a message based on the scriptures of Habakkuk 2:2-20 and Rev. 18:1-8. Resources, videos, and liturgies can be found on the Church of the Servant website at coscrc.org/category/housechurch
GPS – This Sunday with Cory Willson, the Jake and Betsy Tuls Assistant Professor of Missiology and Missional Ministry at Calvin Seminary and Co-Author of Work and Worship: Reconnecting our Labor and Liturgy
Title: Attuning to God’s presence in work and in gathered worship amidst a pandemic.
November 15 – Part 1: Stories and theological frameworks that unify our daily work and gathered worship
November 22 – Part 2: Practices for gathering and scattering as God’s people
Here is a link for information on the book: http://cdn.bakerpublishinggroup.com/processed/book-resources/files/Excerpt_9781540961983.pdf?1598622150
Church News
Dark Times, Deep Grace continues one more week before taking a break. Join us this Wednesday evening at 8.30 pm on our COS facebook group. We simply read God’s word together and encourage you to draw and use the vehicle of art as an opportunity to slow down and notice how God is present through his word. Our guest artist this week will be Janis Carpenter. The session is recorded so if you miss it on Wednesday nights you can catch up during the week by looking for the recording on the COS facebook group. You can also view the videos on the COS website online here.
Thanksgiving Offering: Please give generously to support Coit Community Church. There is a purple link “Give to Church of the Servant” on the Giving Page that opens up to a list of online offering opportunities. Choose the 5th one down – Thanksgiving Offering for Coit Church – and fill in the amount you wish to give. Or you can send a check to COS with Thanksgiving Offering on the Memo line. Check out their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CoitCommunityChurch
Financial Update- Last week’s offering and online giving (includes monthly ACH): $41,635.82
Current Giving for the month of November: $59,990.33 (3 Sundays left)
Our monthly General Fund budget is $112,926.
Please update your directory information and photo for the new directory. The Online Member Center can be accessed here: https://servantkeeper.com/member-portal/church-of-the-servant The “Members and friends” link on the COS website should direct members to this same page. On your first visit you will be asked to enter your FAMILY email and set up a password. There is one login per family, rather than individual logins for each person. Once you have logged in, you can look at your personal family profile, view contribution history, etc. You can also access the online congregational directory.If you are not sure what your family email is, or if you need any help please contact diane.jonker@coscrc.org or dave.hartwell@coscrc.org
Our Meijer Simply Give program continues through Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021. If you give online before December 12, COS staff will automatically apply your funds to Double Match Days. You may give here: https://tinyurl.com/y4qn27n4 Meijer Simply Give Double Match days are Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020 and Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. On those days, for every $10 card purchase, Meijer will match this with $20, so the COS food pantry will benefit with a $30 gift! If you buy a $30 Meijer Simply Give card, it will turn into a $90 gift to the COS food pantry. Give easily online OR you may purchase your Simply Give cards in person at the Cascade Meijer, anytime during the campaign, but preferably on the Double Match Days.
Children’s winter hats, gloves, and sock drive – We are still collecting new and hand-knit hats, gloves, and warm socks for the students at Ridge Park Charter Academy. COS has a container in the entryway of the front doors for easy drop-off. We will collect these winter items through December, bringing the items to the school each month. Thank you to all of you who help keep our neighborhood kids warm this winter!
COS Mobile Food Truck Drive-thru last Saturday –We had a record number of cars picking up food boxes for 178 households. We distributed 5233 lbs. of food–mostly produce. It was a gorgeous sunny, warm day and we had about 25 volunteers including kids, teens, college students and parents. On Dec. 5 we anticipate just as many households and perhaps more. We will be ordering more food from Feeding America in an effort to feed more folks and not run out. Please contact Deb Wood at drwood3570@gmail.com if you or your family would like to volunteer. Thanks for your support of this vital ministry!
We helped save lives! Thank you for the great response to our call for blood donors. We had a pretty full appointment schedule at our drive on November 9. We collected 21 units, and had three first-time donors! Up to 63 lives will be positively impacted by our efforts! It was a very successful drive. Thank you!
Classis Grand Rapids East invites its member congregations to participate in W. Michigan Community Organizing training via Zoom on Thurs. evening, Dec. 10. Check with Carol Rienstra (carolrienstra@gmail.com) or Lori Wiersma (lori.wiersma@coscrc.org) for more info about this opportunity to inform and focus our “seeking justice” efforts for the common good of the western Michigan community.
COS’s Prisoners in Christ team has been reflecting on how our work enhances the mission of COS. Throughout the past 16 years, we have sought to practice restorative justice–“bringing people together to make things right.” Our mindset has been to see all people as offenders in need of mercy and grace. We are all captives (prisoners) to sin, and in need of the love that Christ freely offers to set us free. The lens through which we have looked at people who are impacted by incarceration is a lens that sees the need for healing the harms caused by crime and punishment – a restorative justice lens, not a retributive, judgmental lens. We are so grateful for guidance and inspiration from our founder, Troy Rienstra. Now off parole, he has moved into his next role, directing Nation Outside, the Voice of Formerly Incarcerated People. Working with Nation Outside and other organizations, the Prisoners in Christ Restorative Justice team wants to contribute to the common goal of raising up a new generation of kingdom workers. We invite anyone who is interested in joining us to contact Arend VanderPols (arend@avpservices.net), Troy Rienstra (troy.nationoutside@gmail.org), or Carol Rienstra (carolrienstra@gmail.com)
“GIFTS THAT REDUCE TAXES” is a four-part series, presented by Barnabas Foundation, to provide you with helpful tips for giving in ways that increase your impact while reducing your costs and end-of-the-year stress– allowing you to have more funds to invest in ministry. The trustees of the Church of the Servant Legacy Foundation encourage you to consider whether any of the topics addressed in these webinars that were presented over the last month would be relevant to you. The recordings are available at https://barnabasfoundation.com/reducetaxes . If you are not familiar with the COS Legacy Foundation, set up to help the congregation to have longer term financial security, please find an introduction on the COS website: https://www.churchoftheservantcrc.org/giving/cos-legacy-foundation/ and watch for more information to come on that page to help you develop a will or do estate planning for your family.