Sunday, April 27th

From Jena:

This week we're remembering Caleb's story, found in
Numbers 13. When he was faced with a challenge, he
trusted in God's power and stepped forward, unlike
most of the Israelites.

When faced with a challenge, I often think too much
about myself, and too little about God. Can I
accomplish the task alone? When the answer is "no," I
need to remember that God is greater than my
insufficiencies.

When has God taken you past your perceived limitations
to accomplish His work? Or is God calling you right
now into a situation that requires you to trust Him,
and step out in faith? Let us hear your stories!

The Lord's Prayer

If you could use a smile today, watch this video.

Sunday, April 20th

From Paula:

This week, Bruce will be telling the story of Rahab from the book of Joshua. We will be focusing on choosing sides and keeping promises. One of my favorite verses has always been Joshua 24:15. A lot of my faith has been formed by making a choice for God and sticking with it. I don't always walk it out perfectly, but I never walk away. I have made my choice about who I will serve and I intend to stick by it. My faith definitely has its peaks and valleys, but I always have the ability to choose who I will serve.

Can you remember a time when you've had to make a choice for God? Was there a risk involved? How did you stick to your choice even when it was difficult?

I'm looking forward to worshiping with you all on Sunday and celebrating the choice to live faithful lives!

Sunday, April 6th

From Shelley:

This Sunday, Bruce will be focusing on the story of Esther, and how she
allowed God to use her and her unique situation to augment his work and
plan. Don't you love it when God lets us see how he placed us in just the
right time and place to do something good -- to make a difference? Those
in the world may call it a coincidence. I call it God!

I'm just now reminded of a time in my life a few years ago. One evening,
I stopped for gas on my way home and saw a woman re-fueling next to me.
She looked very familiar and we struck up a conversation. I don't
remember her exact story now, but her loneliness and sadness were quite
evident. Somehow, I just felt moved to invite her home to dinner (we were
having leftovers, no less!) She accepted, followed me home, and we had a
lovely time of sharing and fellowship. I praised God later for prodding
me to talk to this stranger and share what I had with her (not waiting for
the "right" time or a special dinner, as is my usual mode of operation).
What a life lesson!

Well, I've shared my story; I would love to hear yours. I'll bet you can
remember an incident where God used a "chance" encounter or circumstance
in your life to bless others. Won't you share?

Good Friday Services

We encourage you to attend a Good Friday service as part of your Easter celebrations this year. The following is a list of some of the area congregations who will be offering a Good Friday service:

Wabash Presbyterian Church
3/21 7:00 PM Good Friday Service
18325 SE 384th
Auburn (253) 939-1330

Trinity Lutheran Church
3/21 7:00 PM Good Friday Service
1535 Washington Ave.
Enumclaw (360) 825-6561

Calvary Presbyterian
3/21 7-9 PM Good Friday Individual Reflection Time
1725 Porter St.
Enumclaw (360) 825-3820


We'll see you at 9:30 Sunday morning at ECC for a time of joyful celebration! Keep in mind that there will be no class on Easter Sunday, and we will have an extended worship time together.

Sunday, March 16th

This week Bruce will conclude our recent series, "What Kind of Church?" This Sunday we will consider how we can each contribute to the life of the ECC family, helping us become the kind of church God wants us to be. In Ephesians 3:21-22, Paul writes this prayer:

I pray that Christ Jesus and the church will forever bring praise to God. His power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine. Amen.

What are you "daring to ask or imagine" for ECC? How will you -- your passions, your gifts -- fit into the picture?

for the worship ministry,
Robyn

Sunday, March 9th

From Eric Pritchard:

This week we are continuing our examination of the Church and what God intends for us to be as a body. Ephesians 2: 8-10 states “God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

I grew up in a church family that seemed to understand the New Covenant as if it were given in the same format and with the same purpose as the Old. It was very hard to understand grace while trying to earn it. It was not until I accepted God’s mercy as a “free” gift that I began to respond with a gratitude that is far more motivating than fear of hell.

When I ask you “What do you believe God wants ECC to be?” I don’t mean “What do you want to experience on Sunday mornings?” or “What kind of facilities does God want us to enjoy?” I mean what kind of good things do you think He prepared for us to do?

Sunday, February 24th

From Paula:

This week, as we continue in our series called "What Kind of Church?," the title of the sermon will be "Are you growing spiritually?" We will be looking at 2nd Peter 1:2-11 which reads:

"Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

How much responsibility do you think we have for our personal spiritual growth? According to this passage, it seems to me that there is a lot of effort expected from us in order to live the kind of life God desires for us to live.

Are there any particular spiritual disciplines that have been helpful to you on your journey of spiritual growth so far? How do you exercise your spirit? Or, what are some spiritual disciplines you haven't tried before, but would like to? Something that you have done before but need to re-introduce into your daily life?

Sunday, February 17th

Sometimes I find it difficult to answer the question: "What would Jesus do?" Too often I find myself looking for some specific example of Jesus' actions that I can use to convince myself that being proud, self centered, or rude is really my best course of action at the time. Jesus got angry. Jesus put those who were wrong in their place. But Jesus was also perfect. Even in his anger he did not sin, and he never took it upon himself to humble those who were already down.
So for me the challenge is to stop trying to prove my point, and start pointing to God.

"...even Christ didn't please himself..."
-Romans 15:3

Even the Son of the Most High, who was there "in the beginning," did not look to please himself. His aim was always to serve his father, and to serve his body, the church. This should also be our aim.

So how do you do that? How do you put yourself third, behind God and everyone else? Would you say you are "at peace" with Christ and his church?

Looking forward to Sunday,
John

Sunday, February 10th

This coming Sunday, we will be focusing on God's heart for the lost, and His compassion for all people. The main scripture will be Luke chapter 15, which includes the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. I would suggest that everyone read the chapter sometime this week, to help prepare for a focused worship time on Sunday morning.

My question for our church family to think about and discuss is this: who are the lost? And what do you think about the idea that there may be degrees of "lostness"? I have often struggled with the related concept of degrees of sin… you know the way that we humans like to add a convenient layer of relativity to the concept of sin. One illustration would be the different ways we might think of a liar versus a murderer, or a jealous person versus a lesbian.

What are your thoughts? This is a great place to share!


On behalf of the Worship Team,
Jena Akers

Sunday, January 20th

From Robyn:

Revelation 22
Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near. Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.”


"Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm . . ." What?? Stand by and let sin continue? Don't get out there and tell those miserable sinners the consequences of their sin? (Remember Bullhorn Guy?) Then I just "continue to live righteously . . . continue to be holy (set apart)"? But who will fix all the wrong and clean up all the mess?

“Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

Oh.

Sorry.

I forgot again. You're God -- I'm not.

Thank God!

This is why we pursue holiness -- we respond to a holy God. How is your pursuit going?

Sunday, January 6th

From Danette:


Happy New Year! As we start 2008, we'll be focusing our lessons on the
church and what God wants it to be. This Sunday's main scriptures will
be Matthew 28:18-20 and Galatians 6:9-10. The body of Christ clearly has
been given a direction in which to go - a clear and distinct mission
which includes telling others of Christ. In fact, not just telling
others about Him but doing it in a thoughtful way that hopefully leads to
their salvation.

What do you think about all this?

Time to Reflect

From Paula:

Can you believe it's Christmas Eve already? Time really does seem to fly faster with each passing year!

This entry is a little outside of our normal format. We usually try to post something before the upcoming service to help us prepare. I thought we could use a chance to reflect a little on our service yesterday as well as the 3 prior weeks.

Was there anything that especially touched you? Something that helped to bring a little of the true meaning of Christmas into your holiday hustle and bustle? A message that really got through to your heart? A song or other part of the worship service that you especially enjoyed? A scripture that hit you differently this year than it ever had before?

Let us know how God has made himself known to you in this special season...

Sunday, December 9th

From John:

From the 3rd chapter of Matthew:
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the
wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, "Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven has come near." This is the one of
whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
'Prepare the way of the Lord, Make his paths
straight.'"

This passage introduces two of the themes for this
Sunday: repentance and preparation, or anticipation.
In this context, I believe that repentance may have
less to do with being sorry and more to do with
turning toward Jesus. Not only must we turn our
hearts, minds, and actions toward the Living God, but
we must do so quckly! God longs to use us now, but He
cannot use us to our fullest potential if we hesitate
to make corrections in the direction of our everyday
lives, when needed.
Anticipation. Christmas is a very tangible example of
anticipation. Most of us not only look forward to the
day, but also spend a great deal of time, money, and
effort in preparation for it. May it also be said of
us when it comes to the kingdom of God.
This Sunday, purpose to water the seeds of
anticipation your heart, that you may be completely
turned toward our Savior in all that you are.

Elder's Corner

From George Trivelas:

Connected

A couple of months ago I looked around on a Sunday morning – it was one of those weeks when attendance was low- only about 40 people. It bothered me, not so much the low number, but I noticed not very many people were sitting together. It struck me and made me ask, “Why aren’t people sitting together?” When my family goes to see a movie, we don’t all sit in different rows, we sit together. We laugh, we whisper, we share popcorn. We talk about it afterwards. When we share a meal together, we all crowd around the table, we share highs and lows, we hang on each other, hug on each other, encourage one another. Isn’t that what families do? Aren’t we a family? Shouldn’t it be the same?
When I was growing up, family time was not always happy. Spending time together usually consisted of some kind of argument or fighting between my parents or between me and my brother, or both. It was not something I looked forward to or a safe environment for sharing. Perhaps you also have wounds and apprehension because of past experiences, but take a step into today. We are now part of God’s family, and it’s a safe, loving place where we can:

Spend time together and ENJOY it!
Confide in one another, share struggles and joys.
Look for ways to encourage and uplift one another.
Speak honestly with each another.

We all need to assess ourselves and our families from time to time, and ask some hard questions. It is the same way with our church family.
Are we connected with the rest of the family?
Do we share and confide in one another?
Do we encourage one another regularly?
I have been asking myself these questions and to be honest I find myself not being the example I would like to be. Let’s pray that we all would strive towards that ideal where we connect like a family, share and confide in one another, uplift and encourage one another regularly and enjoy being together!

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:34-35.

Sunday, November 18th

"And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things and because of Your will they existed, and were created." -- Revelation 4:9-11

This Sunday the 18th we will have the opportunity to experience together the presence of the One who lives forever. Come ready to listen to the words of John's vision as if for the first time. What do you hear? What do you feel? Fear? Anticipation? Dread? Jubilation? Open your imagination (God created that, too!) to the images and descriptions as John struggles to put human words to an ethereal, unexplainable experience. Will you be ready to bow before the throne?

for the worship team --
Robyn

Sunday, Novermber 4th

From Paula:

This Sunday, Bruce will be preaching out of 1 Corinthians 11:1-16. I have found it helpful this week to read this passage in The Message, as well as several other translations. You can do this easily by visiting Biblegateway.com. Here is what it says in The Message:

1-2 It pleases me that you continue to remember and honor me by keeping up the traditions of the faith I taught you. All actual authority stems from Christ. 3-9 In a marriage relationship, there is authority from Christ to husband, and from husband to wife. The authority of Christ is the authority of God. Any man who speaks with God or about God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of Christ, dishonors Christ. In the same way, a wife who speaks with God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of her husband, dishonors her husband. Worse, she dishonors herself—an ugly sight, like a woman with her head shaved. This is basically the origin of these customs we have of women wearing head coverings in worship, while men take their hats off. By these symbolic acts, men and women, who far too often butt heads with each other, submit their "heads" to the Head: God.
10-12 Don't, by the way, read too much into the differences here between men and women. Neither man nor woman can go it alone or claim priority. Man was created first, as a beautiful shining reflection of God—that is true. But the head on a woman's body clearly outshines in beauty the head of her "head," her husband. The first woman came from man, true—but ever since then, every man comes from a woman! And since virtually everything comes from God anyway, let's quit going through these "who's first" routines.

After reading this passage, I thought it would be interesting for us to use this forum to discuss some of the ways in which our culture affects our behavior in worship. For example, I have heard Jim mention our casual culture several times in reference to the way it influences our interactions with God. What are some other cultural things that infuence us as a church? How do you think they affect our worship?

Have a wonderful week!

Elders' Corner

From Jim Winkelman

As I began growing in my Christian faith, and discovering the difference between the law and the covenant of grace, I became very aware of the small number of “commands” in the New Testament. Oh, don’t mistake my words – there are plenty. But the focus is so narrow. Matthew 22 and Matthew 28 sum it up nicely. Matthew 22:
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

There are two. Love God and love each other. And the big one, Matthew 28:
18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

I want to talk about this one. How is your personal evangelism? Do you excel or struggle at sharing your faith? Peter says in Romans 1, “16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”
Why would anyone be ashamed of the gospel?
What has made you ashamed to share your faith?
What is the hardest thing about sharing your faith?
Why did Paul call the gospel “ powerful”?

Over the next few articles I will provide, I would like to share some Personal Evangelism Training I received from Jeff Walling. We will talk a little about S.W.A.T. – Start, Witness, Ask, Tell.
Start = Romans 1:16 - How to Begin a Conversation about Jesus
Witness = Mark 5:19 - Sharing What God has Done for You
Ask = 1 Peter 3:15 - Learning to Listen as You Share with Your Friends
Tell = Acts 8:35 - Presenting the Good News in a Good Way!

Lets us learn together how to best share the “good news” with all who cross our path.

Sunday, October 28th

Hi All!

We're going to be looking at I Corinthians 14:26 on Sunday. Here's the
gist of it--"Let all things be done for edification."

Here are some questions: Why are you planning to worship with the
saints Sunday morning? Do you have in mind how you can help build up His
body? What condition should your heart be in to receive edification?
Why does He want us to be intentional about what we're doing together?

Hopefully these questions will spark some desire in you for conversation
about this prior to Sunday - all in the hopes that we are encouraging
each other and preparing our hearts and others for our time together
before God.

May He continue to make you (and me) aware of His blessings in Christ.

For the worship team,
Danette Feight

Bruce's Blog

Hey everybody,

Bruce has posted the text from yesterday's sermon on his personal blog.

Check it out here:

bt-graceandpeace.blogspot.com

Hope you're having a great week!