NOTE FROM PASTOR JR FOR PALM/PASSION SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 2023            This Sunday is “Palm/Passion Sunday” known as such because many traditions observe both Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the Passion of Christ on this day.  Since at Covenant we observe with special services The Passion of Christ with Maundy Thursday and Good...

NOTE FROM PASTOR J R FOR COVENANT 42ND  ANNIVERSARY  SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023          This Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday. It is also Covenant’s 42nd Anniversary as an “Inclusive community of Faith – Offering Hope + Showing Faithfulness + Sharing Joy.”  How fortuitous that Transfiguration Sunday and Covenant’s Anniversary coincide on the same...

Sunday is the Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany.  Assigned scriptures for this liturgical season strive to help us have an “epiphany” (see the light) of God’s love.  It also seeks to help us to see the light of hope in troubling and challenging situations.    We see this in the assigned Gospel text for...

NOTE FROM PASTOR JR FOR SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2023  This Sunday is the “Third Sunday after the Epiphany.”  In the assigned gospel text of Matthew 4, Jesus tells two of His first prospective disciples to “Follow Me.”  It is a call and challenge for them in “changing directions.”  “Changing directions” for those first disciples meant leaving their...

NOTE FROM PASTOR J R FOR SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2023            This second Sunday of the year is when we observe the Baptism of Jesus.  It always follows January 6, observed at the Epiphany of Our Lord.  The assigned text for Baptism of our Lord Sunday ends in Matthew 3:17 right after Jesus...

NOTE FROM PASTOR J R FOR SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2022            This Sunday is the Fourth Sunday of Advent.  The theme is LOVE.  In Matthew 1:23, from the assigned gospel text, the angel Gabriel repeats to Joseph in a dream the promise of God found from Isaiah 7:14, “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a...

NOTE FROM PASTOR J R FOR SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2022           We will observe this Sunday as the Second Sunday of Advent.  We will light the Second candle on the Advent wreath to represent the theme of “PEACE.”  The assigned gospel text from Matthew 3 for this “Peace Sunday,” is John the Baptist...

NOTE FOR PASTOR JR FOR SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2022           This Sunday we begin a new liturgical year in Western Christianity with the First Sunday of Advent.  It has become commonplace to mold the seasons of Advent and Christmas into one; but they are two different seasons.  The Season of Advent begins on...

NOTE FROM PASTOR J R FOR EPIPHANY SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022  This Sunday is the first Sunday of a New Year.  We at Covenant will observe it as “The Epiphany of Our Lord Sunday.”  Epiphany is a Christian festival held on January 6th in honor of the coming of the Magi to visit...

This year, this Sunday is both the Sunday before Thanksgiving and also “Christ The King Sunday”. It is the last Sunday of the year … the liturgical year that is. This is set aside to celebrate and commemorate Christ as the King. Cyril of Alexandria said we celebrate “Christ has...