In our epistle reading this week, we will hear Paul's exhortation that we are to present ourselves to God as living sacrifices. To put a slightly different spin on this familiar passage, Paul is saying that those who have received the mercy of God can now present themselves to God as living, holy, and pleasing sacrifices. Such sacrifices, those that are living, holy, and pleasing, constitute "true and proper worship" (Romans 12:1, NIV).

The question of "true and proper worship" has weighed heavily on Jay and I during these past months. Because we have not been able to meet in person, we have wrestled with what it means to be the church when we cannot gather together around Word and Table. While Paul's words do not negate the central place of weekly worship, they are an important reminder that worship is certainly more expansive than our weekly meeting. How we live our lives as a community, how we present ourselves to God, and how we use our various gifts to build each other up are also at the heart of true and proper worship. Let that be an encouragement and a challenge to each of us, even as we begin to slowly regather.

As a quick reminder, we are meeting again on Sunday evenings by registration only. At this point the service is limited to 50 people, so if you would like to come, please register HERE.

If you aren't able to come or are not yet comfortable coming, we understand. You can still join us online for our live stream. We post the link on our website every Sunday right at 5pm.

If you can't catch the live stream, each week's service is available on our YouTube channel. And we still post the sermons on our podcast.

Please also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and/or Twitter.

The live-stream and bulletin will be available via THIS LINK on Sunday afternoon at 5pm.