Last year, I gave Mary a book of love poems for Christmas. This was one of my favorites:
Roses are red,
Bacon is too
Poetry is hard,
I love bacon and you.
It was a hit, but a lot of work. This year I gave her gift cards.
Our goal as a congregation in 2019 is that we would just love. Love our families, love our neighbors, love our co-workers, love our teachers and classmates. Just love one another. Love requires attention to grow and to keep growing.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Sunflowers are yellow,
Daffodils are, too.
You were expecting something romantic, but instead I give you gardening facts to remind us that love is nurtured like a garden. Love flourishes and grows with devotion. What specific investment will we make in the new year to grow love? Will we invest time with one another? Encouraging words? A listening ear? Care and support?
Roses are red,
SpongeBob is square.
We are called,
To love everyone, everywhere.
To love is risky business and so I guess our goal for 2019 calls us to risk. I pray that God’s spirit will empower us to take
the leap so that we love one another really well!
The Lord be with you,
Pastor Kent
P.S. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. “To love is to be vulnerable” ~ C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves.
Invite your friends, family and neighbors to something new for 2019 – Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace! Updated videos and materials along with small group discussions will help you learn how to achieve financial peace! Free class preview on Sunday, January 6th at 9:30am OR 12 pm (right after each worship service). See how this class is changing lives: 
Sunday, Jan 13, 3-5:30 PM, our congregation is invited to an Active Shooter Readiness training, provided by the Linn County Sheriff’s office.
Year-end gifts fund our mission of transformation. Every dollar given brings transformation in the corridor and beyond. Pray for large, generous hearts to help us finish 2018 with a surplus of resources to be used for more transformation.
This Sunday we will welcome the largest class of new members in Cedar Hills history (at least that we are aware of!). Congrats to all of our new members – and welcome to the Cedar Hills family. This group has communicated a clear faith in Christ after meeting with our elders, and is ready to stand before the congregation and announce their faith.