August 21, 2009

“Grace grows best in winter.” Those words
were written to Lady Culross by Samuel Ruther-
ford, who had recently lost his young wife and two
children and was in prison in Scotland for preaching
the faith of the Reformation. Rutherford wrote
many letters from prison, and many of his most
memorable phrases were included in Anne Cousin’s
wonderful hymn, “The Sands of Time are Sinking.”
We all go through “winters” at various times in our
lives, yet the ironic and unintuitive truth is that God
delights to work in tremendous ways during these
times – though we may not realize it until the win-
ter is over. Preaching through a book like Habakkuk
would probably always be fitting, but it seems that
we are providentially in this book at just the right
time for many of us. I have been at the hospital
more in the last month than in the previous 21
months combined! I pray, and I ask you to pray,
that God would continue to bless my study and
meditation upon His word as I prepare to preach to
you. I encourage you to come back on Sunday eve-
nings as well, for we are growing closer to our Sav-
ior as we study His life through the gospel of Mark.
It is through the foolishness of preaching that sin-
ners are converted, conformed to Christ’s image,
and comforted, so bring your friends to hear God’s
transforming word of grace!
——————-
Beginning in September, several things will be
changing. We’ll be starting up new Sunday school
classes, as well as new adult small groups and our
children’s catechism program. You can find more
information on these in this newsletter. We’ll also
be changing the way we do our monthly fellowship
meals. We have been doing church-wide fellowship
meals once a month, usually the second Sunday of
the month. Starting the first Sunday in September,
we will begin meeting by shepherding group; we
have four groups, and each group will meet one
week a month.
Where the group meets can vary, though at Al-
good School or at the church property will be the
most likely spots. Our regular visitors have been
assigned to groups as well, and the meals will always
be open to any visitor that would like to stay – es-
pecially college students! They’ll still be potluck din-
ners, so we won’t lose the element of surprise as to
what we’ll be eating for lunch. Here is the schedule
(the shepherding group list will be sent by email):
1st Sunday – Darryl Richards; 2nd Sunday – Dennis
Parker; 3rd Sunday – Robert Row; 4th Sunday – Brad
Bleasdale. The fifth Sundays will be special visitor
lunches, open to any visitor who would like to come.
Our hope as a Session is that the smaller group
size will lend itself to more intimate fellowship
among us, enabling us to get to know one another
better so that we might be better equipped to minis-
ter to one another. Many of you know that an elder
is assigned to have primary responsibility to caring
for your soul; you probably don’t know that there
are two deacons assigned to each group, or who the
other members are that make up the shepherding
group. Hopefully by meeting together monthly you
will learn these things, and your love for the church
will continue to grow. I exhort you to continue to
grow in your fellowship, exercising hospitality to
strangers, sharing meals and life with one another,
serving one another, encouraging one another. May
God continue to make us to be a body committed to
growing together in love and unity.
——————-
One last note – I have, much to my own sur-
prise, begun a blog. For those of you unfamiliar with
the term, it is essentially an online diary. Don’t
worry, I won’t be writing my deepest darkest se-
crets. Rather, I will be recording (as time allows) my
meditations upon the word of God, good quotes,
things I run across on the internet, and thoughts
about other things that interest me: gardening, eco-
nomics, Robert’s Rules of Order, GTD, history,
mathematics, woodworking, etc. The web address is
www.calebcangelosi.wordpress.com. I invite you to
visit, read, even comment – but don’t feel too bad if I
don’t comment back! One of my fears about blogging
is that I will fail to redeem the time; I will waste the
short time that God has given me in this life. Pray
that I will have wisdom as to when/what/why I blog.
My desire is that the Lord would use this as a way to
bring glory to Himself, edify His people, convert the
lost, sharpen my writing skills, and pass on thing that
He is teaching me. No one may care what I have to
say, but you are willing to listen to me week in and
week out, so maybe you’ll find this interesting as
well.
Your Pastor, Caleb