Our study of the Design for Discipleship Series has started. It is held on Wednesdays at 5:30 PM at the church.
NOTE: There will be no class on Feb. 5th.
All are welcome
How should we handle the text today?
You can preach against alcohol abuse, but I think that’s missing the central point. If you do, you should also consider including the goods of wine as a drink to bring and typify rest, when well used—this is part of the reason we drink wine together each Sunday at the Lord’s table.
The grand story of the snake and the woman is lurking in the background again, which begs for telling (and applying!). You can also speak of authority (which is a good thing even if often misused) and submission (which when given to good authority is a virtue), as well as how usurpation is not the way to respond to even the worst abuses of authority (think of David in the cave with Saul). God does not bless usurpers.
https://nuakh.uk/2023/12/18/noah-and-the-curse-of-ham/
Joyfully,
A note from Ann and Bill Clemmer through Court Street Baptist Church:
It seems like yesterday when we were with you….and much has transpired since our return to Congo a week and a half ago.
We’re writing from Rwanda, where we had to evacuate from the border town of Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo where thousands of militia soldiers overpowered the UN and government forces overnight and have taken the town amidst constant gunfire and great uncertainty.
We are in constant contact with colleagues at the HEAL Africa Hospital this morning (which is currently without fuel, electricity, or water) and the Sunday School and Tuungane School and EBA (Street Children center) next door to the hospital where Ann works. The Hospital CEO sent us a WhatsApp message earlier this morning saying that they are in the direct path of constant gunfire, “unimaginable” he exclaimed! Ann also received a message that soldiers have scaled the wall and entered the school where a number of her teachers have taken shelter. They threatened them and stole their phones and other items. Street children have been running in from the street to take shelter after hovering outside in fear all night. The teachers initially put the children in classrooms on the top floor of the Sunday School building, but after bullets pierced the ceiling and windows, the teachers moved them into an overnight shelter that Ann built last year with gifts from our ABC churches. The gunfire is lessening , and the children are sleeping in beds and even on the floor, wherever they can find space. We would be amiss to not share this news and pictures with you.
Ann and I have had our share of evacuations in our 33 years as missionaries: Haiti during the blockade in 1994, Zaire following a coup in 1997, Congo during a civil war in 1998, Goma in 2022 when the volcano erupted leaving behind over 50,000 burned homes. We have remained during other crises where we felt our presence was needed; Cholera in Haiti, Ebola in Congo, ethnic war in South Sudan and even relief efforts in Somalia. We’ve been working in the town of Goma in the DRC (Congo) for nine years and have become accustomed to the challenges, adept at meeting needs, and very attached to the people. This is our most difficult evacuation yet.
We are well, though it is hard to find rest, even in a small hotel room with all the chaos and worry just across the border. We know however that God is in control, and He has given us a peace that none of this escapes him, and that He still has a plan and need for us when things are stable. We ask for your prayers for the staff at our Christian hospital (HEAL Africa), schools, and shelter and that the heaviness we feel in our hearts will be filled as God makes clear how and when we can return.
https://www.dw.com/en/congo-rwanda-border-shut-as-m23-rebels-claim-goma-capture/a-71421575