Sunday is Coming and Total Victory is Here!
*I'm sending this out early to remind you that there is no Community Night tonight (3/27), but we do have a special Maundy Thursday service tomorrow evening (2/28). Read on to prepare your hearts for Easter!
Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
--Matthew 28:9-10, 16-20
Consider those final words of Jesus in Matthew's Gospel, spoken after his victorious resurrection.
There's a theme here:
- All Authority
- All Nations
- All I have commanded you
- I am with you Always, to the very end of the age
That last phrase is can be word-for-word translated "I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age"
Notice the running theme is completion, totality, "ALL"
'ALL' saturates the Bible from start to finish. It is the heart of the Gospel.
In Genesis 1, God says All that he made was 'Very Good'
When God calls Abraham and makes a Covenant with him, he says – "all nations on earth will be blessed through him."
At the end of the Bible, in Revelation 21:5, God says "I am making all things new."
And to summarize, in I Corinthians 15:26-28, Paul identifies God as the "all in all."
'Totality' is a word that may be on your minds, since we have a Total Solar Eclipse coming up very soon, on April 8.
32 million people live in the path of totality. Here in Shippensburg, we will be at about 85%-90% totality… is it worth it to travel to the path of totality? I've been told that it is worth the drive.
There is something inspirational about Totality and Completeness. And yet, completion can be so far out of reach sometimes also – the chores are never done. Junk mail keeps coming. The rivers run ever into the sea, and yet the sea is never filled (as King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes).
We don't know how to comprehend completion or wholeness because we live in world that is still broken and disconnected.
Are you feeling incomplete today? Broken? Like you don't have enough? Do you feel pulled in too many different directions? Experiencing tension? Are you burdened by the divisions and conflicts in the world?
I can say these things are true for me, and I'm sure many of you might feel the same.
But on this Easter, let us consider that the Resurrection of Jesus was the starting point of God's work to restore His Good Creation to wholeness and completion – the fullness of God's light may have been temporarily 'eclipsed' by the darkness of sin, but the Bible tells us that Jesus' victory over death is causing all things to be restored again!
We hope you can join us in person or online to celebrate New Life together on Easter Sunday!
This Sunday
Our service times will not change for Easter Sunday
8:30 –We will celebrate the Risen King:
Christ Arose #357
Christ the Lord is Risen Today #367
Because He Lives #358
We will also have some special choir numbers, and the service will end with a quartet presenting the Hallelujah Chorus.
11:00 –We will Glorify God by declaring the victorious resurrection of Jesus:
He Lives
Your Grace is Enough
Overcome
Glorius Day
**Got any song requests?
Feel free to reply to this email with songs that you love, and our worship leaders will consider adding those to an upcoming worship time!
Check out our Spotify playlist featuring a variety of songs we sing on Sundays at 11:00:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7E8YRF1NCIGbFoMNYNPn9K?si=ZivXqX5MRWe3nIDG1nx_qw&pi=u-Y90v2ygGSTKK
Easter Opportunities
o March 27 – No Community Night
o March 28 – Maundy Thursday Service Communion and Feetwashing worship service at 6:30pm in the Sanctuary
o March 29 – Good Friday Busch Trust Luncheon for ages 60+ at 12:00 noon in Crossroads Station (registration is full)
o March 31 – Resurrection Sunday (normal worship times- 8:30am & 11:00am, special Easter activities for kids during Sunday School and 11:00)
Upcoming Opportunities
- Next Sunday, April 7, at 9:45 we will be holding our next Get Connected class. We provide this class once a month to help you learn more about the various small groups, ministries, and classes that we offer. It's a great way to learn more about Shippensburg First Church of God.
- April is our final month of our Wednesday evening Community Night programs, and it's not too late to begin participating in these activities. There's something for every age group. We will have a closing program on Wednesday, April 24.
- In May, our Youth Group will continue to meet on Wednesday evenings for some special activities (mostly off-sight). Youth Families, watch for updates from our Youth Ministry via text. If you'd like to learn more or sign up to receive the youth group text communications, please respond to this email.
- Also on Wednesday evenings in May, we will be holding a special seminar to help you discover your SHAPE! SHAPE is an acronym for Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences. This special 4-part class will help participants learn how God has uniquely designed each of us to serve the world for his purposes! Stay tuned for more info!
Communications Update!
Our weekly and monthly communication methods are being updated!
We will soon be returning to a weekly bulletin that lists the worship songs for both services each Sunday, some helpful information to help you stay connected, and brief announcements for the week.
The "FYI Newsletter" has been a weekly printed publication, but we will be switching this to a monthly format and expanding it slightly. The first monthly edition will be for April, and it will be available this weekend.
If you have information you would like to communicate, communication request forms are available from the church office or in the Gathering Place.
Look for both of these resources at the Welcome Desk or in the center section of the Sanctuary. The weekly bulletin will also be available online.
- We are now on Instagram! Follow us @ShipFirstChurchofGod
Let us celebrate the Complete Victory we have through Jesus, who has made a way for all people to be reunited with our Heavenly Father!
Pastor Rodney Bistline
Shippensburg First Church of God
seniorpastorbistline@shipfcog.org
Helpful Links:
Website (shipfcog.org)
SFCOG Facebook
Online Messages (shipfcog.org)
Online Giving (shipfcog.org)
Care Groups & Sunday School Classes
Weekly Order of Worship and FYI Newsletter (updated over the weekend)
shipfcog.net/site/shipfcog/shipnews/index.html
