“Converting the Conversation” Continues Wednesday Night

Jesus in Middle-Earth PosterFr. Looker’s Bible study Converting the Conversation continues this Wednesday night, February 4th, with a study of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series of movies.  Converting the Conversation has taken several of the highest grossing movies of all time and discussed how to reshape conversations about those movies into conversations about Jesus Christ.  We have already discussed Frozen as well as the Star Wars and Marvel Cinematic Universe franchises, all of which happen to be owned by Disney.  On February 4th, we will be discussing The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (#8 and #18 respectively).  If you know Fr. Looker, you know Tolkien is one of his passions, so this session of this Bible study should be one of the highlights of the entire series!   Converting the Conversation equips those who attend to better witness to their families, friends, and co-workers using conversations about wildly popular movies as springboards to begin conversations about the Gospel.

The services begin at seven o’clock each night and childcare is provided.  We promise to finish by 8:30 every night so that everyone can be home in time to prepare for work and get their little ones ready for school the next morning.  These services are open to everyone so be sure to invite your friends.  We look forward to seeing everyone together this Wednesday night!

“Wild About You” Women’s Ministry Brunch This Saturday

WP_20150128_011This Saturday, February 7th, at 10 o’clock, Church of the Messiah’s Women’s Ministry will hold their “Wild About You Brunch.”  The brunch will be at the home of Cathie (and Earl) Shimp (click HERE for a map).  Ladies, be sure to wear a wild, animal print, and bring your favorite love Scripture.  The brunch will include wonderful food, fellowship, music, vision, and ministry!  For more information, call the parish office at 904-721-4199 or Cathie Shimp at 904-610-2599.

“Converting the Conversation” Continues Tonight!

Avengers and Jesus PosterFr. Looker’s Bible study Converting the Conversation will continue this Wednesday night, January 28th.  This series takes seven of the highest grossing movies of all time and discusses how to reshape conversations about those movies into conversations about Jesus Christ.  We have already discussed Disney’s Frozen and the Star Wars franchise.  Tonight we discuss The Avengers and Iron Man 3, both of which made over a billion dollars, as well as other movies in the “Marvel Cinematic Universe.”  This series equips those who attend to better witness to their families, friends, and co-workers using conversations about wildly popular movies as springboards to begin conversations about the Gospel.

The services begin at seven o’clock each night and childcare is provided.  We promised to finish by 8:30 every night so that everyone can be home in time to prepare for work and get their little ones ready for school the next morning.  These services are open to everyone so be sure to invite your friends and childcare is provided.  We look forward to seeing everyone together this Wednesday nights!

Wednesday Night Mid-Week Services Resume January 14th with Converting the Conversation

Converting The ConversationThis Wednesday night, January 14th, Church of the Messiah is pleased to re-start our Wednesday Night Mid-Week Services.  We will begin with a special teaching series led by Fr. Scott Looker entitled Converting the Conversation.  This series will take several of the highest grossing movies of all time, all of which have made over a billion dollars, and discuss how to reshape conversations about those movies into conversations about Jesus Christ.  This series will equip those who attend to better witness to their families, friends, and co-workers using conversations about wildly popular movies as springboards to begin conversations about the Gospel.  The five-part series begins with a discussion of the most successful Disney movie of all time Frozen.  The services begin at seven o’clock each night and childcare is provided.  We promised to finish by 8:30 every night so that everyone can be home in time to prepare for work and get their little ones ready for school the next morning.  These services are open to everyone so be sure to invite your friends.  We look forward to seeing everyone together on Wednesday nights again!

Celebrate Epiphany with Us This Wednesday

Epiphany BannerFollowing the Christmas Holy Days, Church of the Messiah will be resuming its Wednesday night services beginning with the Feast of the Epiphany on January 7th.  The Epiphany, or more fully, The Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, celebrates the revelation of Jesus to all nations as the Magi came from afar, bearing gifts, and worshiped Jesus and King, Priest, and Sacrifice.  Not only is it an incredibly important moment in the life of Christ, but it is also the official end of the Twelve Days of Christmas as well.  This service will be an Eucharistic service.  Childcare will be provided and we will be doing our very best to have everyone out by 8:30 so that everyone can prepare for work and school the next morning.  We look forward to seeing everyone Wednesday night as we celebrate the Wise Men coming and adoring Our Lord and Savior.

Celebrate Christ’s Birth with Church of the Messiah on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

christmas-banner-20121Church of the Messiah extends a warm and heartfelt invitation for everyone to join us in celebrating the birth of Christ this Christmas.  We will have two services to commemorate this most glorious event this year.  On Christmas Eve, beginning at 7 pm we will have our Family Service with a special presentation from the children of our parish, a children’s sermon, and special musical offering.  The family service concludes with singing Christmas Carols by candlelight.

On Christmas morning, beginning at 10 o’clock, we will have the first mass of Christmas day.  This is a special service which allows worshipers to celebrate the birth of Our Lord while getting back to the other obligations of the day quickly.  The service is a said mass with a brief homily so the service itself lasts around 45 minutes ending with Holy Communion.

At Church of the Messiah, we wish everyone a blessed Christmas.  We hope to see everyone tonight and tomorrow morning and pray God’s abundant blessings be upon you all.

Thanksgiving Eve Eucharist Wednesday Night

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As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, let’s not forget to give thanks to God because “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”  If you are giving thanks this year, it is because the Lord has blessed you.  What better way to begin the Thanksgiving holiday than with The Great Thanksgiving, the Holy Eucharist.  Church of the Messiah’s annual Thanksgiving Eve Eucharist is this Wednesday night, November 26th, beginning at 7 o’clock.  Everyone is welcome and we encourage everyone to join us as we thank God for all of our many blessings and cap off this wonderful year.

Men’s Breakfast This Saturday

mbAll of the men of Church of the Messiah are invited to come together this Saturday morning, November 22, for a special breakfast.  We will be having a bacon and eggs and all the wonderful breakfast “fixings” that make for a great manly meal as well as a great time of fellowship with the other men of the parish.   After the meal we will spend time discussing ideas for future events for Men’s Ministry and what we would like to do together both for fellowship and ministry outreach.  Bring your appetites and good ideas.  Please RSVP to the event either by contacting John Cunningham or by going to the event page at Church of the Messiah’s Facebook page clicking that you will be going.  There is no cost for the meal, however we will accept donations to offset the cost of the meal.  If there is any money left over after expense have been covered, leftover money will go into the men’s ministry fund for future events.

Church of the Messiah is Hosting a Rethreaded Party Tuesday Night

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Tuesday night, November 11th, Church of the Messiah will be hosting a Rethreaded Party.  As we draw near the holidays, there are always dozens of parties that are hosted this time of year, but Rethreaded is different!  Rethreaded’s vision is to “unravel the effects of the sex trade by fighting business with business on a global and local level.”  Rethreaded is not just selling high-quality jewelry, scarves, and men’s and women’s accessories, they are helping to remove women from the sex trade and end sex trafficking altogether.  This is a cause that everyone case get behind.  The Rethreaded Party begins at 7 o’clock in the evening and will include an informational presentation about the work Rethreaded is doing as well as an opportunity to support this wonderful ministry by buying their products.

Do to the nature of the presentation, this event is for women only.  Childcare will be provided.  For more information, contact Lizz Looker at 424-8622, visit Rethreaded’s web-site or look at the diagram below.

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This Sunday is All Saints’ Day!

missionoffering3This Sunday Church of the Messiah will observe All Saints’ Day.  Historically, this is when the Church takes time to commemorate that countless numbers of saints who have gone before us whose names are known only to the Lord; saints about whom no one writes books or icons, carves statues or dedicates churches, but whose lives were lived dedicated to the Lord nonetheless.  It is a day we reaffirm our own Baptismal Vows and often welcome new believers into the Kingdom of God.

In recent years, the ICCEC has taken up an annual offering on All Saints’ Day to support our developing churches in Africa.  Each year 20% of the money collected goes to mercy missions and to establishing sources of clean water in the local environments to prevent the spread of the disease.  The other 80% goes to establishing self-sustaining micro-businesses in order to ensure that our local parishes in these countries can become self-sufficient and self-supporting and no longer relying on outside support and aid.  For more information about this project, visit the web-site of the ICCEC.

This Sunday, November 2, as we give thanks for the great cloud of witnesses who has gone before us, let us remember those saints, our brothers and sisters who will have already risen early on the first day of the week to praise the Risen Lord, and let us do what we can to uphold and support our those saints who are worshiping with us in Africa.