Blessed To Be A Blessing

Ready, Waiting and Welcoming!

What a great time this past Monday, September 25.  Christ Covenant was able to provide a “Welcome Back Continental Breakfast” for the faculty and staff of both Salem Elementary School and Harrison Rd Elementary School on their first day back for the new school year.

We put on a spread for the 160 people in these two schools who work each day with the children near our church building.  I’m thankful to Principles Harold Morton and Deborah Frazier for the opportunity to serve those who serve the kids of our community.  

In particular, it was great to see the committment Mr. Morton and Mrs. Frazier have to their students and their families, to their staff and to our community.  We are blessed to have two leaders with such committment and faith in the positions that they are in.  I got to observe how they set the pace for an entire school.  You can believe I pray for them specifically as I pray for our community.

Christ Covenant has families who send their kids to public schools, private schools and who do home-schooling.  Mary Lynn and I used those three options as well as a charter school to get our three kids ready for college.  How you educate your children is a family decision based on the needs, resources and convictions of the family.

But praying and working for the wholeness of the community where God has placed us is an expression of our faith. 

Relief for ALL the People of Northern Iraq

Christ Covenant will be joining with the other congregations of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church to provide relief for all the people affected by the atrocities of ISIS in Northern Iraq.  Click Here to learn more or become involved.

By “all,” I mean “all:” the Christians, the Yazidi, the Kurds and even the Shiite Muslims and Sunni Muslims who suffer when standing up to ISIS.  Let me explain why.

Give Them Grace: Gospel-Centered Parenting

In a recent blog post, Pastor Tullian Tchivdjian recounts a conversation with his son after a crushing basketball defeat.  It's a great example of what gospel-centered parenting could look like and what it means to "pursue the heart" with our children in the lives that they live.

“Dad, I played terrible.”

I said, “I know you don’t think you played well but why does not playing well make you so sad.”

Continuing The Conversation: The Worship of God at Christ Covenant – Part II: Participatory Singing

We recently had dinner together as a church followed by open discussion in small groups  about new directions for our worship of God at Christ Covenant.  I’d like to continue that a bit in light of what I learned, and to share with those not there.

Participatory Singing

We work deliberately to encourage and enable congregational singing  at Christ Covenant.  That means all of us singing together.  Even – perhaps especially? - those like me, who don’t sing naturally, comfortably or well.

Continuing The Conversation: The Worship of God at Christ Covenant – Part I: Praying Together

We recently had dinner together as a church followed by open discussion in small groups  about new directions for our worship of God at Christ Covenant.  I’d like to continue that a bit in light of what I learned, and to share with those not there.

Praying Together

If prayer is like breathing in the life of a believer, then Praying Together – Corporate Prayer – would be like breathing for the Church assembled.  It should be a part of every gathering.  It should be God-focused, biblical in content, expressive of the life and needs of those gathered and intelligible to all.

Viewing the World Through "Sex-Colored Glasses"

Another biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer has recently been released.  Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is authored by UVa professor of religious studies Charles Marsh.  While reviews are generally positive – Click Here for the Gospel Coaliion review by Devin Maddox – all seem surprised by Marsh’s suggestion that Bonhoeffer was gay, or at least experienced what we moderns refer to as “same-sex attraction” with his friend and editorial trustee Eberhard Bethge.  This suggestion is notable on two scores: first, the lack of evidence that supports the idea and abundance of evidence that undermines it, and second, what Marsh’s suggestion says about life in 21st century America.  We now seem to see all things, including history, through what I’ll call “sex-colored glasses.”