Zion E-News (12-16-2021)

The Christmas season can be filled with so much joy and delight. For many people, the season is filled with family get-togethers, parties with friends, presents and great food. But for many people, this time of year is filled with an odd jumble of emotions. The joy of Christmas. Grief for the loved ones who are not with us this Christmas. Pain from family estrangements or tensions barely contained. Sorrow at the inability to be with family and friends due to distance or health. Pressure to make it to all the parties, buy all the presents, get Christmas clothes, prepare the food, pay the bills, earn a little extra money to cover said bills and so much more. Sometimes a season that should be filled with wonder and hope can begin to weigh heavily on our hearts.

If this is where you are this year, it is OK. Sometimes we don’t have the Christmas cheer. Sometimes we don’t have the energy to get all the to-do list checked off. Sometimes life throws us a curve and we can’t afford a big Christmas. It’s OK.

The first Christmas was not picture perfect either. Mary was likely exhausted, sore, and just plain worn outface giving birth. Joseph was probably tired and overwhelmed after a long journey and now becoming a new dad. The Shepherds who came were likely young teen boys and girls and may have been more noisy than helpful to these new parents. Though we like to paint idyllic scenes of the first Christmas, if was probably noisy, tense, and exhausting as well.

The joy of Christmas does not come from the perfect parties and presents and people, but from the presence of the God who came to live among us. The joy in your Christmas will come this year from presence as well. The presence of God in your life and your presence with whomever you may be sharing the holiday. Your presence is enough. You matter more than the parties or presents or pastries.

In the midst of the busyness of this season, may you experience the peace of Christ who through his life reveals date great love of God for the imperfect, broken, confused, and weary people that we are.

– Greg

Connect to God
This Sunday we will gather for worship at 9:30 am. The service will be live-streamed at 9:30 and replayed again at 11. This weeks service will be at zionreformed.online.church and streaming on our YouTube channel. We will also rebroadcast a version of the service on WCET at noon on Friday and 4pm next Sunday.

Join us this Advent season as we consider the importance of prepositions in our spiritual lives. This year we celebrate the God who has not called us to live under, over, for, or from God, but in Jesus came to be with us. At Christmas, we remember again God loves us so much he came to be like us and with us. Unfortunately, we can often unintentionally live for God, finding out worth more in what we can do to serve God, than we do dwelling in the love and presence of God.

We want to invite you to join us to celebrate the birth of Jesus this Christmas on either Friday, December 24 at 6:30 pm or Sunday, December 26 at 9:30 am. Both services will be very similar (think almost identical) and will point us to the hope we have in our God who has come to dwell among us in the person of Jesus.

Grow in Community
Nursery will be available for kids ages 0-3yr. at our Christmas Eve service, and we will have “Christmas Eve Activity bags” available for kids attending the service with their family.

Our youth are collecting recyclable cans and change to raise money for their Alaskan Mission Trip. Any money raised though change or cans donated prior to January 9 will be matched dollar for dollar up to $3,000. You can drop off any $.10 recyclables at Zion’s garage on Sunday mornings. The door will be opened. Thank you fro your generous support of our youth financially, through words of encouragements and in your prayers.

Following Kent County Health Department guidelines, we will no longer be requiring children to wear masks in Zion Kids beginning January 2, 2022.

Our Zion Kids did a great job leading us in worship on Sunday. If you missed their singing and program fro any reason, you can watch them all in our YouTube channel.
Pre-school Songs
Elementary Songs
Zion Kids Christmas Program

Serve the World
Troy and Jill Austin and I (Pastor Greg) had a very productive meeting with the principal and a social worker from Grandville High School about how Threads and other Zion ministries can be a support to them in the schools. They were quite impressed by the shopping experience at Threads and the obvious commitment of our congregation to be a blessing to our local community. Please join me in praying that our partnership with schools may grow and bring much glory to God as we love our community in his name.

If you need help, either with food, personal care items, help grocery shopping, or with financial needs, please contact Jerrod Holzgen, our chair of deacons, and he can help connect you with the appropriate resources at Zion. His e-mail is Jholzgen@yahoo.com and his phone number is 616-520-1771.

Administration
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.

Fiscal Year 2021/22 Budget:  $313,887.56
Fiscal Year 2021/22 Contributions: $237,249.51
Giving Last Week: $8,983.50