Super Sunday
Sunday, February 2 is going to be as action packed as a day can be. Some of this activity will be generated by great things at Elmhurst CRC. Some of it is happening in the wider world. Here’s a possible itinerary for the day:
- 7:26 a.m. The sun will rise over Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania. By 8:00 a.m. Punxsutawney Phil, the greatest groundhog of them all, will have made his prognostication concerning how long winter endure in 2020. Even though this winter has not been brutally harsh, I’m still lobbying for the shorter version!
- 9:00 a.m. Breakfast is served in the Garden Room at ECRC. What?! No worship service?
That’s coming later. The nine o’clock hour is being set aside on our annual Mission Sunday to listen to — and break bagels with —- three of our missionary partners: Chris Langkamp from Lampstand Ministries in Lawndale, Al Heerema from All God’s Children in Honduras, and Abel and Christa Muanica from Kenya.
- 10:00 a.m. A single, inspiring worship service in the Worship Center at ECRC. We’ll get to celebrate and thank God for his mission from heaven-to-earth in Jesus Christ and explore some of the great ways that this mission continues in the present. We’ll sing, pray, laugh… all the usual, but it will be at 10:00! Did I mention that worship will be at 10:00 on February 2??
- 11:15 a.m. Immediately following worship, our annual congregational meeting will be held.
At this meeting meeting we will elect four new Elders and four new Deacons for three year terms service. We’ll hear short reports of what God accomplished through our ministries from the pastors, Elders, Deacons, and Senior Leadership Team. And, we’ll hear what our ministry dollars accomplished in 2019 and approve a budget (Lord willing) for what God is asking us to do in 2020.
- 12:00 p.m. Meeting adjourns at high noon and a short ceremony is held to ordain and install our newly elected Elders and Deacons. The laying-on-of-hands happens as it has since the days of the apostles and prayers for the presence of the Holy Spirit to fall are offered.
- 5:00 p.m. Find some family, friends or favorite people and a fully operational television set. The Super Bowl will be starting soon… and the commercials!
- 5:30 p.m. The kickoff of Super Bowl LIV (54 for non-Romans) in Miami featuring the Kansas City Chiefs versus the San Francisco Forty-Niners. Here’s my prognostication: Somehow Tom Brady and the New England Patriots still find a way to win!
You are invited to participate in any or all of the above. My pastoral counsel for every Sunday is this: If you experience Sabbath (worship, rest and play) in God’s presence, it will be a great day.
Sabbath blessings to you and yous,
Pastor Gregg