The Pastor's Desk
Building Renovations
Our building is being renovated! God has provided an opportunity for us to make much needed renovations to the entire interior of our church starting on Monday, Feb. 16 and (Lord willing) finishing by Sunday, April 5. During this time, we will have no ministry events at our facility. For the intervening Sundays (2/22-3/29) God has provided a location which will allow us to continue our Sunday morning ministries, including nursery and Sunday school! We will temporarily gather at Hamilton…
Exploring 1 Thessalonians
This week we are starting our exploration of 1-2 Thessalonians. And as good explorers, we need to get our bearings before we set off! Thessalonica As the names of these books suggest, they were written by Paul to the church in Thessalonica. Thessalonica was a coastal city in what is now northern Greece, but what was then the Roman province of Macedonia. The city has its origins in the world conquest of Alexander the Great, son of Philip of Macedon,…
How to Prepare for the Lord’s Supper
How do you prepare for the Lord’s Supper? Perhaps even that question seems odd and you’ve never even thought of preparing for it. But given the seriousness with which the New Testament presents it (see 1 Cor. 11), we ought to think carefully about preparing for it. Paul goes so far as to tell the Corinthians that their abuse of the Lord’s Supper is the reason some of them have died (1 Cor. 11:30)! The Westminster Larger Catechism (171) and…
A Chorus of Voices on the Lord’s Supper
Last week we saw that weekly communion does not belong to the Roman Catholic church. It predates their church by centuries and at the height of the medieval period, in which many of the accretions the Reformers objected to were introduced, the Roman Catholic church was withdrawing the supper from the church so that many were only partaking once a year. This week I want to step back and simply let us hear some voices from centuries past within the…
Sunday (1/25) Service Cancelled
Dear church, This is now the second week in a row we are having to cancel our worship service due to snow. Lord willing, next week we will be able to gather and worship in person. Our annual business meeting will be on 2/1, with a snow date set for 2/8. Times like these are frustrating, but they also provide us an occasion to reflect, and so I would like to offer a few reflections, encouragements, and exhortations for us…
Is weekly communion a Catholic thing?
Is weekly communion a Catholic thing? That is a question some of you may have, and it is a justified one. After all, for some of you that may be the only context in which you have experienced weekly communion. The contemporary Roman Catholic church does indeed celebrate their mass weekly. But in this brief article I want to make the case that weekly communion is not a Roman Catholic thing. We are not interested in becoming more Roman Catholic…
Who is the Lord’s Supper for?
This week, we will consider the question – who is the Lord’s Supper for? Last week, we saw that the Lord’s Supper is the ordinance or sacrament of ongoing fellowship in the New Covenant assembly, the church. It follows, then, that the Lord’s Supper is for those who have fellowship in the New Covenant, that is, who are members of Christ’s body, the church. The ordinary order then, is baptism (ordinance of entrance into the New Covenant assembly) followed by…
What is the Lord’s Supper?
Simply put, the Lord’s Supper is the ordinance or sacrament of ongoing fellowship in the New Covenant assembly, the church. But what do we mean by sacrament or ordinance? John Calvin helpfully describes a sacrament as “A testimony of divine grace toward us, confirmed by an outward sign, with mutual attestation of our piety toward him.”[1] An ordinance is another term for the same reality, highlighting that it was ordained by Christ during His earthly ministry. Jesus Christ instituted the…
The Lord’s Supper (2026)
Last year, our church celebrated the Lord’s Supper weekly leading up to Easter. As the elders discussed this decision, one key point we kept coming back to was this: the Lord’s Supper is a blessing from Christ for His people. As our Statement of Faith says, “These ordinances [baptism and the Lord’s Supper] are visible signs of the saving work of Christ that God has designed for our spiritual benefit.” We recognize that the New Testament does not prescribe the…
I Sing the Mighty Power of God
I sing the mighty pow’r of God Ps. 21:13; Rom. 1:20 that made the mountains rise, Ps. 65:6; 104:8 that spread the flowing seas abroad Ps. 104:6 and built the lofty skies. Gen. 1:7; Ps. 68:34; Is. 40:22 I sing the wisdom that ordained Ps. 104:24; Prov. 8:27 the sun to rule the day; Gen. 1:16; Ps. 136:8 the moon shines full at his command Ps. 148:5 and all the stars obey. I sing the goodness of the Lord…
Introducing the Psalms
“The Book of Psalms was set forth unto us by the Holy Ghost, to be esteemed as a most precious treasure, wherein all things are contained that appertain to true felicity, as well in this life as in the life to come…If we would know the great and high majesty of God, here we may see the brightness thereof shine most clearly.” Preface to the Psalms, the Geneva Bible We’ve just finished the book of Mark! I have immensely enjoyed…
August 2024 – Call and Benediction
Call to Worship Psalm 113:1-3 Praise the LORD!Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD! 2 Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore!3 From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised! Psalm 113 is a classic hymn of praise. It begins with a call to worship (1-3) followed by a ground in the exalted being of God (4-6) and then the works of God (7-9).…
