Covenant Update
Dear Covenant Family;
It was a longer day than normal at Covenant today. Following our Sunday service, we had a Fellowship Luncheon to celebrate our 35th anniversary. The BBQ luncheon and drinks were provided by the church and members brought their favorite desserts to share with others. We had plenty of food and desserts and it was a great time of fellowship. We had 44 church attendees with a few more folks joining their family for the luncheon. Although today was a festive day at Covenant, we did have some sad news to report. Pastor Don reported that Virginia Phillips passed away Friday evening due to the heart issues she had been dealing with for weeks. We will pass on funeral information when we receive it. Please keep Virginia’s family in your prayers. Attached is today’s bulletin for your information on today’s service.
Pastor Don’s sermon was titled Young Love and his scripture was from Revelation 2:1-7. Pastor Don began by remembering a song from when he was very young called Young Love sang by Ric Cartey written in 1956 with lyrics – “Young love, first love, filled with true devotion”. Don said it made him think of our church and our love for God and our devotion to serving Him. At Don’s request, a number of members gave examples of our love and devotion to God through Covenant, both recently and over the years. This type of love and devotion formed the basis of the author John writing to the churches in Ephesus in verses 1-3
Revelation 2:1-3 – “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: 2 ‘I know your deeds and your labor and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people, and you have put those who call themselves apostles to the test, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured on account of My name, and have not become weary.
God knows our deeds, He is watching us. Don gave the example of how parents always seem to know what their young children are doing, the children can’t hide from their parents, just like we cannot hide from God.
Don went on to then warn us to not abandon “our first love” (verse 4), which he said is to “share the Gospel”, and to go and make disciples. We need to continue in a loving fellowship with others around us and to continue to share God’s Word.
After the service ended, we had an enjoyable visit with family and friends over a wonderful lunch. Edwina provided a lot of historical information from early church newsletters, some current church members looked quite different 35 years ago in pictures provided! Also, Becky and Craig did a great job decorating the church for the event, thanks to all for their help in making this such a successful event!
Have a blessed week!
Ron
