This Sunday at COS:
Before worship: New ESL inquirers and volunteers, join on Sunday 9 am in the Living Room. We’ll show a Bethany video of COS outreach to newcomers, tutors young and senior discuss their experience. Needed for Fall 2024: tutors, substitutes, nursery care (TUE, WED mornings), drivers for folks without personal transport. Come and talk. Donuts and coffee. If you are a 2023-24 tutor, come and bring a friend.
On this Pentecost season Sunday, Rev. Andrew Mead will preach from Jeremiah 1:1-10 and 2 Timothy 1:1-2,5-12 in the Tree of Life service in the large sanctuary. Rev. Darshak Toma will preach from Genesis 21:1-7 in the All Nations Worship Service in Room 4.
During worship, we have the joy of presenting Bibles to our 2nd grade graduates. This Sunday we’re celebrating Samuel Drake, Ruby Dunning, Jude Gebben, Anneke Honig, Marin Mason, Luke Muller, Iris Van Drunen, Peter Van Leeuwen, Maelin Videtich, Matthew Wang and Ezekiel Westrate in the Tree of Life Worship Service and Thereza Mcholeca, Ritha Ongwa, and Shabani Hassani in the All-Nations Worship Service as they prepare to graduate from 2nd Grade and Children’s Worship! This week they’ll spend one last Sunday in Children’s Worship exploring their new Bibles with Ms. Sherri Leahy. Beginning next Sunday, they’ll remain with us in the pew as we worship God together! If you see a 2nd grade after church, ask them to tell you all about their new Bible!
Following worship, we will hold a Children at the Lord’s supper class in the Living Room. This class is for graduating 2nd graders and baptized children of any age who would like to participate in the Lord’s Supper. (read more below)
The 10 am Tree of Life service will also be broadcast via Zoom. Sign up for our Newsletter to receive the Zoom links.
Outreach and Congregational Life
Save the date: The annual Summer Block Party to give away backpacks and meet our neighbors in Camelot Park is Saturday, July 27 from 11:30a-1:30p. More details next month.
Camping – Mark your calendars! After a nearly 30-year hiatus, COS will again be inviting all church members to join us for a COS Camping Trip. We have reserved a block of camp sites and cabins at Wabasis Lake Campground for this coming fall, Sept. 27-29. Details are still being worked out, but if you want to reserve a campsite now, contact Annette (Annette.ediger@coscrc.org) or Ben (Ben.videtich@coscrc.org).
Summer Movie for All Ages: Tuesday, June 18 at 7:00pm, we will be showing Frank Capra’s Academy Award winner for Best Picture in 1939 You Can’t Take It With You. The son (Jimmy Stewart) of a snobbish Wall Street banker (Edward Arnold) becomes engaged to a woman (Jean Arthur) from a good-natured, but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development. But when she invites her snooty prospective in-laws to dinner to give their blessing to the marriage, Alice’s peculiar extended family — including philosophical grandfather Martin Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore), hapless fledgling ballerina sister Essie (Ann Miller), and fireworks enthusiast father, Paul (Samuel S. Hinds) — might be too eccentric for the staid Kirbys. While this is an “old” movie, its themes are still relevant today: housing crisis, accepting and welcoming differences, love for the family you create around you. Suggested donation $1, popcorn and lemonade provided.
Meijer Simply Give: COS is delighted to once again partner with Meijer Simply Give in support of our in-house Food Pantry. Simply Give runs until June 29, 2024. During this time, you may purchase $10 Simply Give cards at the Cascade Meijer, and that money goes to the COS food pantry. The Double Match Day will be June 15. This means that every $10 card purchased on June 15 will result in $30 for the COS food pantry. If you would like COS to purchase the cards on the double match day on your behalf, please drop your donation in the Sunday offering and label your gift “Simply Give.”
Looking for a new recycling opportunity? The COS Creation Care Team will be recycling oral care products through a program established by Crest and Oral B. Bring your toothbrushes, electric toothbrush heads, toothpaste tubes (caps on), dental floss containers, floss string, floss picks and mouthwash containers to the marked collection bin in the cafe area, near the library. These products can be recycled as roofing or insulation materials. For more information, visit their website. Any brand of these products will be accepted. Thanks for participating in our effort to reduce plastic waste. If you have questions, contact Ginny Kuilema.
Council:
Spiritual disciplines as we at COS think about sexuality, gender, and the life of the Church. The eighth paragraph of Our Calling: a Community of Belonging, approved by the COS council in July 2023, states: “We treasure our unity in Christ and love for each other as believers whose views on same-sex marriage and gender nonconformity differ. Believing that such differences do not endanger Christ’s gift of salvation to anyone, ‘we seek to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace’ (Ephesians 4:3).” If you feel tempted toward us/them thinking, then check out these spiritual discipline resources, such as advice from Pastor Church Resources of the Christian Reformed Church in North America; several prayers; and Dale Cooper’s devotional on wisdom from John Wesley.
Stewardship:
The Joy of Giving: Friends, the Finance Committee is sad to report that our giving in April came to $81,228, while our expenses were $99,844. As a result, our balances are a bit low, with just over $12,000 in our general fund. Typically, as the summer months roll around, we collectively all give a little less. Before we all head off for a summer break, it would be a great help if COS could raise our balance a bit. Just as we experience the joy of worshipping together, let us experience the joy of faithful giving as well.
Office and Facilities:
Tomato Cages: Do you have tomato cages you no longer need? If so, we could use them for the COS community garden, the COS fire pit fruit and herb garden, and berry bushes at the Welcome Home. You can put the cages in the wood chip area surrounding the fire pit (behind the church building). Thanks in advance!
Downsizing? COS could use another hose cart for yard work.Contact Hope Bradley, if you have one to donate.
Faith Formation:
Wednesday Night Programming Reminder: Wed. Night Dinners and all our programs for students in grades 2-12 (WNL, WNLX, Wed. Night Hype—formerly known as Boys Club, and Next Generation—formerly known as Girls Club) are on a break until Wednesday, June 19.
Children at the Lord’s Supper Class this Sunday, June 2, 11:45pm-12:45pm
This Sunday we will explore the meaning of the sacraments and how God meets us in the sacraments a class called Taste and See. This class is for children interested in participating in the Lord’s Supper to attend with a parent, grandparent, or caregiver. We will practice how we participate in communion at COS, and we invite the children to join in the feast! Please contact Jo Howe if you and your child(ren) plan to attend so I can send you further details. We plan to welcome children to the table on June 9.
Beginning June 9th Little Lambs & Children’s Worship for Ages 3 through 1st Grade Graduates. Over the summer we keep kids in their current grade level classrooms for Nursery, Little Lambs and Children’s Worship. Waiting until the fall to advance the classes allows us to continue to offer ministry programming with fewer leaders during the vacation season.
Worship:
Preaching Schedule
June 9 ANWS – Mtarambirwa Alexis, TOL – Rev. Len Vander Zee
June 16 ANWS – Rev. Andrew Mead, TOL – Rev. Len Vander Zee
June 23 ANWS – Lucy Gitau, TOL – Rev. Andrew Mead
June 30 ANWS – Makema Lwenge, TOL – Naji Umran
Summer Jam Sessions – Wednesday evening programming is finished for this school year, but the demand for jam sessions continues! If you like to strum, pick, sing, hit, shake, or play folksy/Americana melodies by ear, you are welcome to join these summer jam sessions. Observers and learners are welcome, too! Chords and lyrics will be provided. The jam sessions will be held in the sanctuary from 6:30pm-8:00pm on Wednesdays, June 5, June 26, July 10, and August 7. (Summer Wednesday evening programming will also take place on June 26 and July 10. So come at 5:30 for dinner before jamming.)