Elders Updates

The Elders would like to invite some people from the congregation to have supper with us Thursday November 13th from 5:00-6:30p.m. in the condo. Pizza, salad and soft drinks will be offered. If you would like to come please contact Kate Znoj in the office by Tuesday November 11th

The new Christ Church Condo office space in completed. We hope you had a chance to stop by during the Open House in October. If not stop by some time and meet some of the Staff

Herb Frost our Senior Executive Pastor is settling in Rhode Island. He is moving into his new home on Thursday November 6th. He has been hard at work trying to assimilate the structure of Christ Church and how best to move us forward effectively.

The Shepherding Team continues to evaluate ways to better care for the Christ Church community and others who depend on us. The Furniture Connection continues to bring quality used furniture to families who have the need, volunteers are always welcomed to help. Please contact Dave Reid. The coat drive was very successful, passing out over 500 coats to those in need in Providence.

The Management Team has worked on the Giving Policy for the church and we hope to have it disseminated the week of November 18th
I am sorry to report that sale of the State land is delayed due to issues beyond our control. The Elders will continue to explore ways to expand without the adjoining land being part of the plan. Herb Frost, the Senior Executive Pastor has been charged with establishing 2 teams to help evaluate our next steps. One team will be tasked with evaluating a building expansion project and the other will be to evaluate the possibility of a Multi-site ministry location.

Our new Spiritual Formation program has been launched this fall. Take a look in the new brochure at all that is being offered. We desire to promote your spiritual growth. Take advantage of some of the wonderful ways to continue your journey closer to Him.

The Elders are offering our Quarterly Time of Prayer November 22nd from 4-7p.m. Please come and join with those who desire to intercede for the needs of the world, our nation, our State, our church and our personal needs.

In His Love,
Robert Messore
For the Elders

Meditation on John

A “New” Look At The Cross

In the Fourth Gospel Jesus' death is a free laying down of life for those whom he loves, and in this consummate act of love Jesus offers liberation from the slavery of sin. It is love rather than sin which is the dominant power leading to Jesus' death:

No-one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you serv­ants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father (15: 13-15 NRSV).

The liberation Jesus offers is only possible to those who recognize who Jesus is, and the Father whom he makes known. "The Jews, "who are described in this narrative as those children of Abraham who are slaves to sin (8:34) and children of the devil (8:44), do not recognize Jesus and his word finds no room in them (8:37). The disciples, by contrast, are those in whom Jesus' words abide (15:7), who abide in Jesus' love (15:9, 10) and Jesus' love means they are no longer slaves (15:15). The disciple recognizes the Father in Jesus (14: 10) and is called to live as a son/daugh­ter of this Father by doing the same works as Jesus, the son (14: 12).
In his entire life Jesus was God's gift to the world, given in love for salvation (3: 16). God's love, expressed in Jesus, achieves what Israel's sacrificial system could never achieve, a way of being one with God. No longer does humanity need to do cultic acts to remove the barrier which sin creates between humanity and God. For love of humanity God has crossed the barrier (3: 16). God has come to the world through the incar­nate Son (1: 14). In the Son, those who choose to believe this gift of love have a way of access to the Father (14:6). The way of the Son is utter gift from God, and not a human cultic action. In the Hour, the fullness of this gift of love is revealed as Jesus gives himself over to death as a new Pass­over lamb, whose death creates a new household/Temple of God, and whose blood is the sign of those belonging to this household. In belong­ing to the household of God, the believer is freed from the household of slavery, the dominion of sin. The "doing" now required of the believer is to do as Jesus, the Son, did (13: 15), to love "as I have loved" (15: 12). Liv­ing in a communion of love is the way of manifesting the ongoing pres­ence of God in the world (17:23), the only way of being a free son/daughter of the household/Temple of God (8:35; 14:23).

Introduction To Christianity
J. Radzinger