Zion E-News (4-16-2020)

I received a call recently from someone struggling with their own emotional response to other people’s behavior during the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” orders. In a culture than increasingly looks at every issue through a partisan lens, sees every person through the tribalism of us v. them, it can be difficult to not feel angry and judgmental toward those who do not share our particular views or behaviors.

As I was watching the news coverage of the long line of cars trying to get to the capital on Wednesday, I was struck by the anger of the people protesting. In scrolling through the responses to the protests on social media, I was struck by the anger there, too. It is easy to jump to being angry when we are tired, stressed, and worn out.

Anger, though, is what therapists call a masking emotion. It is the emotion we show to hide the deeper emotion we feel. It does not take long to imagine the emotions people are feeling on both sides of the debate about how and/or when to reopen our local economy. People are afraid. They are afraid of catching a disease they cannot see and that has taken thousands of Michiganders. Others are afraid of losing their business if they can’t reopen. Others are afraid of losing a home or not having enough money to pay their bills or not finding work again or even all of the above. Most of us are feeling out of control. We don’t know when these orders will change. We feel trapped and isolated. We feel anxious, tired, alone, and overwhelmed.

Some people respond to these feeling by looking for someone to blame: Governor Whitmer, President Trump, WHO, China, or their neighbor who is having friends over. It can feel like if there is someone to blame, then we have regained some control because we know who to punish and we can stop them from ding whatever it is we think they did to cause all this anxiety. This blame often comes out in angry outbursts.

Others retreat into themselves and hide from the world, hide from their friends and family, and sink into depression. Their feelings often get turned inward and hurt themselves rather than others.

However people are handling this situation, they don’t need our anger. Life is hard for many people right now. Rather than judgment, they need support. Rather than condemnation, they need compassion. Rather than being attacked, they need to be heard.

During my devotions on Tuesday morning, I heard an old Rich Mullins song  on Spotify entitled “We are Not as Strong as We Think We Are.” The chorus says this:

We are frail, we are fearfully and wonderfully made
Forged in the fires of human passion
Choking on the fumes of selfish rage
And with these our hells and our heavens
So few inches apart
We must be awfully small
And not as strong as we think we are

We are pretty frail and faced with that frailty, we get scared. Our God may be strong, but we are not. Let’s be kind to one another and trust our God to get us through this all.

Connect to God
This Sunday we will once again gather for worship online. You can join the service at zionreformed.online.church or from the top banner of our website at www.zionreformed.org. The stream will begin at 9:15 with some worship songs prior to the service starting at 9:30. I would like to thank all the people who participated in our service this week: Rick VanderWall, Chip Harkes, Cindi Thompson, Shanda VandePol, Jeremy Zoet, Olivia Zoet, Sarah and Sean McAnally, and Ethan Brower.

This week we begin a new sermon series entitled Made for More. Many of us have been raised in a church culture that told us, however unintentionally, that our role was to come to worship, volunteer in something, give a little money and then let the professionals do the ministry. But what if we were made for more than holding down a seat or filling a volunteer slot. What if we truly are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do? What if we were made for mission, to both be a disciple and make disciples, as well as filling a unique role in God’s kingdom to show God’s love and care for this world. What if we were made for a life overflowing in the life of Jesus and guided in mission by his Spirit? What might God do with a church that committed to grabbing hold of the abundantly life of Jesus with all we’ve got? Join us over the next 7 weeks as we seek the More God offers us in Jesus.

You are also invited to join us for a coffee hour after church via a zoom call. The link will be shared during the service in the chat box. Last week, we had about 8 families join us for a brief talk in response to the sermon and just to catch up. You can learn more about how to use Zoom at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9isp3qPeQ0E

Grow in Community
Connected to our new sermon series, we will also be engaging in a 30-Day devotional as a congregation. The devotionals will walk us through the book of Ephesians as we together consider  how we are Made for More. the devotionals can be downloaded here.

Rachel Brower is sending information out to parents and Children’s Ministry volunteers each week for at-home Sunday school. She is also holding a weekly Bible story reading time with younger kids and a on-line game time fro older students. If you would like to receive this information as well, please email Rachel and she will add you to her list.

If you have a Middle or High School student who has not attended any of the youth meetings this week via Zoom, please contact Pastor Jeremyand he can send you the appropriate links and information.

Serve the World
We continue accepting donations of personal care items and food on Wednesdays from 1-3 pm at church. A huge thank you to both Kelly Osterink and Tom and Robbi Boeve for bring both food and personal care items to Sunrise Ministries in Jenison this week.

If you need help, either with food, personal care items, help grocery shopping, or with financial needs, please contact Shanda VandePol our chair of deacons and she can help connect you with the appropriate resources at Zion. Her e-mail is shandavandepol@yahoo.com and her phone number is 616-308-0700.

Administration
Our annual Congregational Meeting is scheduled for May 3 following our morning worship. If we are not able to meet physically by May 3, we will hold our Congregational Meeting via a Zoom conference call. At this meeting, we will be approving our slate of Elders and Deacons and then selecting our new Elders and Deacons via lot. We will also receive a report on the state of our church and approve the budget for our fiscal year 2020/21 which begins on June 1.

I know many people may not yet be familiar with Zoom or may feel uncomfortable in this type of setting. Recognizing these challenges, we will hold a Zoom orientation meeting on Thursday, April 30 at 8 pm. At this meeting, we will help you learn too some basic tasks like muting and unmuting yourself as well as practicing voting via polls for during our meeting on Sunday. Thank you in advance for your flexibility in trying new things during this time of physical distancing.

The proposed budget will be made available soon through the E-news and our weekly announcements.

We continue to thank God for his provision of all of our needs and for the generous support of our congregation with their time, talent, and treasures. We are especially grateful this week for all those who have adjusted their means of giving to give online, through the mail, and via text. Zion’s members continue to strongly support the ministries of Zion during this time of uncertainty.

Year to Date Budget: $510,223.72
Year to Date Contribution: $493,930.83
Giving Last Week: $19,834.38
Cash on Hand: $115,586.57