Hi Church,

One of the gifts of this strange season has been the opportunity to engage with Scripture and one another online. Whether it has been the Philippians study, morning or midday prayer, PODs, or our live stream of corporate worship, alongside personal reading, many of us have experienced more exposure to and engagement with the Bible. Over the past weeks I’ve found myself making connections between passages read in these different settings, reflecting on a phrase or clause from a reading, puzzling over questions and mysteries in this singular book, and in general functioning with a more developed “Scriptural imagination.” There’s been a cumulative effect, with that sense of being saturated in God’s word increasing over the weeks. 

Way back in August of last year, we identified transformation as a particular core value to focus on this year. A primary way we are formed in the image of Christ is through the hearing and doing of God’s Word. The doing is always the harder part, but the hearing is where we start. In the midst of this season of great suffering and turmoil perhaps one of the ways God is working to make us more like Jesus is through these opportunities. What might the effect be if we emerged from this time with hearts further saturated in the Word and minds more Scripturally formed? Whether it is with specific COTC events or not, I hope that there are opportunities in this season for you to dip your toes in the life-giving water of God’s word. 

Our Spiritual Formation Cohort, a part of our emphasis on transformation, is meeting online this weekend for the third of its four retreats. Please pray for the fifteen or so COTCers to know God’s presence this weekend and to be formed more in His likeness. 

In Christ, 

Peter+

Ps. Today is Juneteenth, which has taken on particular significance as the United States continues to wrestle with the depth of racial injustice. I was at a rally in St. John’s of black Baptist pastors this past week where the 19th and all its significance were highlighted for this year. In conjunction with this day there are various opportunities to pray online and black Christian writers and creatives are being promoted in various places. I wanted to commend to y’all the children’s book and album Jesus Kids by Shai Linne. As well as this kids' book by Trillia Newbell. These are great tools for rooting children, especially younger ones, in the faith and hope we have in Jesus. Also, this video by the creator of Veggie Tales, has been a prominent and helpful tool for education around racial injustice, I’d encourage you to check it out if you haven’t already done so.

Pps. Our Sunday service will follow the same pattern as this past week. We’ll be pre-recording the service which will go “live” on the website at 10am (if you’re on there a few minutes early be sure to refresh your browser to see when the video is accessible.). Thanks for your patience with this process. The experiment this past week was successful and moved us forward in streaming effectively and consistently. We expect to return to the live-stream of worship in the coming weeks. In the meantime, be sure to send in birthdays and anniversaries to me ASAP. Please also join us for a few minutes at 9:30 on Sunday for time of connecting over zoom, it is great to see your faces!