Roseberry's Leaderboard

Dear Friends,
A vestry member called me today to make an observation. He said he experienced a problem on Sunday that he had never encountered at Christ Church…at least not in recent years. He couldn’t find a place to park!

I have never had to worry about finding a place to park on Sunday morning (I live really close ☺), but generally, I think this is a good problem to have. It means that our members are taking seriously the call to commit to Worship Christ, Grow in Christ, and Serve as Christ in and from the church. It also means something that we would all suspect: People are looking for deep answers in the wake of the national trauma we have all experienced.

Christ Church is a place to find these kinds of answers…because these answers are found embedded in the Gospel of Christ. I ask for your prayers as I try week by week to preach a gospel of hope and grace. I hope you will continue to commit to attend worship and to invite others to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I want to thank you all for your patience and comments as I have made some changes in the worship life of Christ Church. Things like this take time and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I’ll be visiting with our Vestry about it on Monday night.

And, by the way, those at the 11:00 service last Sunday experienced something wonderful when I asked people to “get out of their neighborhood” and meet others. Let’s be sure we continue to reach the many new people that are attending.

Here are some things I want you to know:

1. MARRIAGE
I had planned on preaching a sermon this weekend entitled “A Biblical Vision of Marriage.” My eyes are bigger than my stomach. When I got into the study and preparation for it, I realized that it was too much to do on a Sunday. I have asked Fr. Jeff Rawn to work with me to find a single evening where I can present this material to the whole church in the Fellowship Hall. I hope to videotape it so that we can present it to couples in our pre-marital sessions and for other uses around the church. Dates for that will be made known soon.

2. LENT
Lent is coming up (Ash Wed is Feb 25) and Christ Church has a great deal to offer our members and friends to deepen their spiritual life. Go deep this year. Here is one event you can look forward to. Complete Lenten details will be on the website soon.

3. CUSSING
I spoke to the men at On Point this week about language, words and cussing. Many men struggle in this area…and sadly, many young students do, too. I showed the men an intriguing website and story of your young boy who decided to challenge his friends to stop cussing. He is doing it. Go to this website: www.nocussingclub.com. Read it over…and gently suggest it to your teenage children.

4. ORDINATION
Finally, there are three people in our church family who have taken the Lord’s call on their lives very seriously and in fact are preparing to be ordained by our bishop: Daniel Adkinson, Susan Freeman and Jason Bowman. Their respective photos are below. You are all invited to the ordination service on February 28 at 10:30 a.m. in our Sanctuary. If you see these three individuals, give a hug or handshake to encourage them in this wonderful new phase of their ministry.

In Christ,
David+