Looking for a good bowl of chili

"Next to music there is nothing that lifts the spirits and strengthens the soul more than a good bowl of chili." -Harry James

I’m looking forward to our chili cook-off this coming Sunday! This is always such a fun and light-hearted time together, enjoying and celebrating God’s goodness in basic ways. We’ll provide drinks and dessert, along with face-painting for kids. What we need, of course, is chili! Bring your entry in a crockpot to keep warm and plan to drop it off before service begins. Secret judges will be scoring and ranking the winners before we eat. If you can’t bring chili please bring condiments (Fritos, cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips) or sides (cornbread!). Finally, if you have a yard game you’d like bring (corn-hole, washers, etc) we hope to have some set up on the patio. Also, bring a friend to share in the goodness as well! 

Coming up next week, on Wednesday the 11th, we are holding a membership class: an opportunity to learn more about COTC and what belonging in the community looks like. We’ll gather at the Parish House from 6:30pm to talk about the theology, vision, and values of the church. This will be the first of two membership gatherings. To secure your place please RSVP here. If you’re interested in finding out more about the church and/or becoming member we’d love to have you there! 

In Christ,

Peter+ 

Ps. With the beginning of a new church year we’ve made some changes to the lectionary (the schedule of readings) we follow in worship. We’ve switched from what is known as the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) to a new Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) lectionary that is a part of the new Book of Common Prayer. Following this three-year cycle means we will be tracking with the majority of the churches in our province. In many instances the readings are the same as those found in the RCL but perhaps longer or shorter. 

A second change we’re making is shifting from using the English Stand Version (ESV) to the New International Version (NIV). The NIV is what is called more “functionally equivalent” as a translation making it a little more contemporary as a translation, and it also uses gender neutral language. There are a multitude of really wonderful translations out there, and we may not use the NIV permanently (translations are updated frequently), but for these reasons were making this shift for now.