January 8 during the 9:45am Sunday classes hour we will be hosting a special speaker from Chains Interrupted, a local organization that fights Human Trafficking. We want to invite all adults to attend this event at 9:45am, in between the two services. All regular adult classes will be attending this event instead of their regular class times. Children’s classes and nursery will still be in session.
One Service Jan. 1, 2023
January 1, 2023 we will have one worship service at 8:30am. Regular services will resume Jan. 8 at 8:30am and 11am, as well as regular nursery care and the 11am Children’s Worship.
Also Jan. 8, we will be hosting a special speaker from Chains Interrupted, a local organization that fights Human Trafficking. We want to invite all adults to attend this event at 9:45am, in between the two services. All regular adult classes will be attending this event instead of their regular class times. Children’s classes and nursery will still be in session.
January 15, all classes resume, as well as some new classes beginning.
NEW CLASS OFFERINGS
- FaithQuest – Sundays at 9:45am for 8th graders – understanding foundations of our faith in the Gray Room. (This class will officially start January 15.)
- Newly Marrieds – Sundays at 9:45am in the Loft Classroom. (This class will officially start January 15.)
- Parenting Together – Sundays 9:45am (This class will resume January 15.)
- Digging in the Old Testament and Finding Jesus – Sundays 9:45am (This class will resume January 15.)
- The Character of God – Sundays 9:45am (This class will begin January 15.)
- Romans – Ladies Bible Study – Tuesday mornings 10am (This class will resume Tuesday, January 3.)
Support a New Global Mission
Support a new global mission we are launching at Cedar Hills as well as grab a few gifts for the whole family–all in one click. If you buy anything from our page at causeteam.com, 40% of the profits will go to our new mission at Cedar Hills.
If you’d like to avoid shipping fees, Beth Larson, a Cedar Hills member will be picking up the items weekly and bringing them back to the church for pickup Beth will be in the Gathering Space to show you some of the fun items that are for sale Dec. 11 & 18.
The Weary World Rejoices
The Weary World Rejoices
Christmas brings waiting. We anticipate family gatherings, giving (and receiving) gifts, colorful light displays, seasonal music, favorite treats – we wait with anticipation for these special seasonal celebrations. (We wait for it all to be over?)
God’s people have a long history of waiting on God. They waited 430 years for deliverance from their Egyptian captivity. They waited another 40 years wandering in the desert. They waited 70 years exiled in Babylon. They waited 400 years longing to hear God speak.
Waiting can be exhausting. “Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old.” (Lamentations 5:20–21) Waiting for God’s intervention can wear us out.
We live in a time of weariness. So many things are not the way we want them to be. They are not the way they ought to be. We long for the day when everything that is wrong will be set right. We look forward to that great day. We wait.
Many Advent readings and songs invite us to wait patiently. The great day we anticipate is worth the wait. The one whose birth we celebrate at Christmas is worth the wait. “He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” (Luke 1:32–33)
When waiting for something really important, we can be worn out in the waiting. Christmas reminds us that the wait is worth it.
One popular Christmas carol reminds us – The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. (If you can name the carol – let me know in the form below!)
The thing you are waiting for is yonder – but it is coming.
Merry Christmas,
Kent Landhuis
Pastor of Teaching & Leadership
Can you name the carol?
Good Tidings in Small Group
Good Tidings in Small Group
In my family small group, full of ladies and gentlemen, we had one of the best conversations we’ve ever had. After more than a year, we are getting to know each other in a way that is allowing for us to be vulnerable with each other. We are using Alisa Childers’ new small group study guide and video called “Another Gospel?”
In our study was an inventory on key Christian doctrines. The first question asks “On a scale from 1-10, how equipped are you to deal with assaults on core Christian doctrines?”
1 – I think I’m a Christian, but please don’t ask me any questions.
5 – I know the answers to some things but not to others.
7 – I enjoy conversations about faith. Even if I don’t have all the answers, I love to be challenged to learn more.
10 – I love it when people ask questions and debate because I think I have good answers.
This was only the first question in a long list. We found ourselves sharing about our beliefs and our honest faith questions. This was truly a great way to spend an evening with merry gentlemen and ladies. Christ is our savior and at times we do go astray. Thank God for a small group to be vulnerable with about my faith questions.
Good Tidings of Joy,
Lindsey Ungs
Connection & Communication Architect
Can you name the carol?
Hate Is Strong and Mocks the Song
Hate Is Strong and Mocks the Song
You don’t have to watch TV, listen to the radio, or surf social media long to understand “hate is strong”. Coverage of the war in Ukraine, hate is strong. Political diatribes villainizing the other party in the aftermath of the midterm elections. Hate is strong! Stories or statistics of human trafficking. Hate is strong. The latest mass shooting in Virginia. Hate is strong. A sign saying, “My neighbor is a Karen.” Hate is strong. Earlier this month Cathy and I went to a fundraiser for Shirley’s House of Hope, a faith based domestic violence shelter. We heard testimonies about how hate was strong in the lives of these women. However, these testimonies all shared hope. The women encountered the hope of Christmas at Shirley’s. The Christmas song goes “for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on Earth, good will to men.” Peace on earth, good will to men. The women told stories of how they found peace in Jesus. Not just peace from the violence in their lives, but “Shalom.”
“The ancient Hebrew concept of peace, rooted in the word “shalom,” meant wholeness, completeness, soundness, health, safety and prosperity, carrying with it the implication of permanence.” (https://jewsforjesus.org/publications/inherit/what-is-shalom-the-true-meaning)
They found wholeness, health, and prosperity in counseling and through relationship with Jesus. This is the peace on earth we celebrate during the advent season. It is a holy peace that we cannot attain on our own, or earn by our good deeds. This Shalom comes from abiding in Jesus, who abides in the Father.
Peace, lasting peace, transcends the situations and flaws of our own personal lives because it doesn’t come from us. It comes from God. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal” (Isaiah 26:3–4). (https://jewsforjesus.org/publications/inherit/what-is-shalom-the-true-meaning)
Trust in the LORD! Trust in Jesus! When Jesus is talking to His disciples on the night of His arrest, He promises the Holy Spirit will come upon them to equip them. Also, He teaches that they are to abide, like vines in the branch. In between these teachings, in John 14:27, Jesus promises His peace to the disciples.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).
So, during this advent season I encourage you to turn off the TV. Unplug from social media. Put away your “Karen” signs. And abide in Jesus. Encounter the prince of peace, who promised to leave His peace with us. Meet Jesus. Talk with Jesus. Seek peace with Jesus.
Steve Poole
Director of Youth & Young Adults
Can you name the carol?
Two Plants
Two Plants
This song is about two plants, both evergreen plants that are traditional Christmas symbols. One represents the Crown of Thorns that the Savior wore during His Passion. This plant has little sharp points all around its edges, much like a thorn, and one can easily prick a finger by touching the leaf carelessly. The berries represent the drops of Blood that Jesus shed. This plant is held by tradition to be of the same plant that the wood of the Cross was said to come from.
The other plant is so perennially green, that it symbolizes fidelity and immortality or eternal life in Christ. In addition, it clings to its support as it grows, which symbolizes Christian’s attachment and undying affection for our merciful Savior.
Gary Sager
Ambassador of Care
Can you name the carol?
Salvation Army Ring Days
On Saturday, December 10, Cedar Hills will be manning the Salvation Army Red Kettles at the Johnson Ave Hy-Vee and 16th Avenue Fareway.
We will fill 1-hr time slots from 10am-7pm at both locations.
Contact Scott Drzycimski for information or to inquire about available spots below.
God is Not Dead Nor Doth He Sleep
“God is Not Dead, Nor Doth He Sleep”
At the end of the Old Testament, between the book of Malachi and Matthew is a period known in Protestant circles as the “400 years of silence” from God: no new prophets were raised up and God said nothing new to the Jewish people.
Malachi ends with, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.” And then the New Testament opens with John the Baptist—the fulfillment of this prophecy. He came in the spirit of Elijah, proclaiming that the Messiah was coming. And He did! Within John’s lifetime! In fact, the pregnancies John’s mother and Jesus’ mother overlapped by 3 months.
Suddenly Israel went from no Word from God to two major voices on the scene speaking loud and clear.
I wonder if in those 400 years until then people had thought, “Is Yahweh dead? Is He sleeping?”
So much time had passed, that the Jewish leaders didn’t recognize God when He and began to speak. Though they knew what the scriptures said about the Messiah, it was as if blinders were over their eyes to be able to see the fulfillment in front of them.
And yet we know outsiders also knew the Jewish Word and responded, looking for the “King of the Jews” when the recorded Star appeared in the sky. The knowledge was OUT there, but not all could see.
Faith in Jesus today is also described in Scripture as an ‘opening of the eyes of our hearts’, to suddenly see and understand what the Word is saying. But when the blinders are still on, perhaps it feels like God is dead or sleeping to those who don’t know Him yet. It’s actually one of my favorite prayers to pray for unsaved friends and family. “Lord, open their eyes.”
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep” is from a carol that uses unique Christmas imagery to describe all of this! Can you name the carol? Let me know in the form below!
Leah Carolan
Director of Worship & Media
Can you name the carol?
From Ankles To Belonging
From Ankles To Belonging
Small groups are restarting now at Cedar Hills, as we begin our Walk Like Jesus series, and I would like to encourage us all to join a group. Not because it’s easy. In fact, small groups take time and work to be successful. Don’t join a small group because it will solve all your problems because some days it will seem like your small group has created new problems. Don’t join a small group if you feel like everyone will agree with you and always get along easily. All of these are unrealistic expectations of small groups. They all over sell the benefits and minimize the fact that when you meet with other broken people, it won’t always be easy to love them (or for them to love you), and sometimes you will be offended. That’s just life. However, there are many benefits to opening up your lives to others.
It helps me identify my own selfishness and pride. When I meet with others, I must wrestle with caring for other people. Do I care enough to listen well to you? Do I care enough to inconvenience myself to help you when you need it? Will I swallow my pride enough to admit when I need help? If I ‘go it alone,’ as a ‘lone ranger’ Christian, I never have to deal with these issues. However, when your son ends up in the hospital where do you turn for support? Well, for my family, that is my wife’s small group. These women watched our children and made us meals.
I hate to be an inconvenience to others. I despise being dependent on others for help. But I believe the humble call of Jesus is to be a part of His Body and to find a place to belong. The brain needs the blood vessels and heart. The feet need the leg muscles to function properly. I recently rolled my ankle. My right ankle is healing, but now my left leg muscles and back are sore. Why? Because all the parts of my body are connected. While my right ankle is hurting, my left leg is working overtime to help compensate as I limp. Just like all the parts of my body are interdependent, God made us to belong to each other as part of His body. I think one of the best ways to find a place to belong at Cedar Hills is to join a small group. It won’t be easy. It may drive you crazy at times. However, belonging is worth it.
Steve Poole
Director of Youth & Young Adults