CONGREGATIONAL CELEBRATION– Sunday, November 12 at the end of each service we will review next year’s budget, elect new board members and celebrate what God is doing at Cedar Hills!
We will also be installing Steve Poole and Leah Carolan as new ordained pastors in the Alliance of Reformed Churches.
And there will be cake!
NEW SHELTER DEDICATION – Please join us Sunday, October 22, around 9:30am (immediately after the 1st service) to dedicate the wonderful new shelter that was built out by the Matthew 25 garden area.
This shelter will be so appreciated by the families that grow their produce in the gardens. It will also be a great place for anyone who would like to come and get to know some of these families during the growing season.
CONGREGATIONAL CELEBRATION– Sunday, November 12 at the end of each worship service, approximately 9:15am and 10:45am.
Each year, we gather to vote on new consistory members (Consistory is our name for the elders and deacons that make up the church board.) We will also look at the potential budget for 2024 and vote to approve it and hear stories of the work God is doing at Cedar Hills.
This meeting will take place at the end of each service. Services will be slightly shorter to accommodate the meeting time. We will still have regular Sunday classes at 9:45am.
NOAH’S ARK PRESCHOOL FUNDRAISER – Wednesday, October 11, support our preschool by ordering from Papa Murphy’s (location on Edgewood Rd). Remember to mention Noah’s Ark Preschool when you order, and Noah’s Ark will get 20% of the proceeds! (We need 20 people to hit the “Commit” button by today to get this fundraiser rolling! https://www.groupraise.com/events/257426)
MY FAVORITE THINGS – October 26 at 6pm join us for Women in Fellowship & Faith event at the home of Lindsey Steinkamp (2093 49th St; Marion, IA 52302). Bring two of your “favorite things” to the party. They should be two of the same item, no more than $10 each (they may cost less and be something homemade or handmade). Plan for small bites and fellowship, followed by favorite things exchange. See the Facebook event for more info or text Lindsey at 319-640-9147.
Did you know we have 25 families, most originally from Africa, who have gardens at our church where they grow produce for their families?
We have been intentional this year to get to know these families and invite you to join us for a Harvest Potluck Saturday, October 21, 1pm in the Gathering Space.
Celebrate with a taste of some wonderful African dishes and enjoy cultural Christian music in local languages.
Please bring a favorite traditional food to share. Drinks and tableware provided.
This past Sunday I mentioned that one path into prayer might be bird watching. This thought emerged from Jesus’ suggestion to watch ravens and sparrows. “Consider the birds: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!” (Luke 12:24).
I’d like to say I landed on this idea without any help but – as with almost every good idea – it came when someone interrupted my train of thought. The guy’s name was Sam Bush who wrote an essay with this intriguing title: The Greatest Things in Life are Pointless.
If that doesn’t make you want to read on, I don’t know what will. So I read on.
I imagined various birds winging their way into my backyard. Like the chatty sparrows who cluster at the feeder then swoop in mass to disappear in the pine tree when I arrive. Like the robins queued up for a bath – taking turns – one at a time. Like the goldfinch hanging upside down on a sunflower. Or my favorite, the owl who spins his head to see me and then floats away in silence.
Then, without warning, I’m thinking about God’s watchful eye following the birds. And God watching me. How much more valuable am I than the birds? And I pray, “Wow!”
Sam Bush draws this conclusion: Thus, the greatest things in life are pointless. They will not help you find yourself, but, rather, help you forget about yourself altogether. It is in losing yourself – in the wonder of creation, in riding an endless wave, in the learning and recognition of a bird’s call – where you become a new creation. No calendars, willpower or expertise needed.
Kent Landhuis
Pastor of Teaching & Leadership
After I preached on meeting God in creation, wilderness, and nature someone recommended the book, I Saw God Wash The World, by William Stidger. It is a book of nature and faith poetry. I have enjoyed it so far and I really appreciate the perspective Dr. Stidger gives on prayer. So, since our emphasis this year is prayer, I thought I might share it with you all, too.
I THINK I KNOW WHAT PRAYER MAY BE
I think I know what prayer may be
In all its great simplicity;
I saw its deeper meaning gleam
Out of the wonder of a dream.
I was a god myself, with power
To answer prayer for just one hour.
It was a little world, it’s true,
But all its simple laws I knew.
Each of its laws I could command
With mind, and will, and heart and hand.
Then, walking through this world I know
I chanced upon a scene of woe:
A bird and bee caught in a room
Condemned to almost certain doom;
Till I came by, with sympathy
And saw their plight, and set them free.
I have no doubt that bird and bee
Believed it some great mystery;
An intervention, filled with awe
To baffle truth and time and law.
It did not seem so strange to me
To liberate that bird and bee.
I broke no laws, performed no feat
I could not any day repeat.
Thus it must be with Him who cares
To hear and answer human prayers;
A simple, loving thing to do;
Within His laws and Nature – true.
He has the strength, He has the way;
He knows the higher laws that play
Their simple parts in such affairs.
That is the way God answers prayers.
I love how simply this poem puts the wonder of an omnipotent God. His ways, understanding and resources are so much beyond my comprehension! To Him, answering my prayer is as simple as shooing a bird and bee from my house would be for me. The picture painted in this poem helps me visually how easy it is for God to miraculously answer my prayers. It helps me trust in His good timing and providence. I hope it encourages you too.
Steve Poole
Pastor of Youth & Young Adults
Do you ever get a verse stuck on the mind that you haven’t thought about in months (or maybe more) and wonder why you suddenly are pondering/singing that verse on repeat?
“Because He himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” – Hebrews 3:18
That’s the song playing over and over in my mind today and I haven’t thought about this verse in a long time. (I looked in my records and it looks like I set it to music in early 2022).
So I had to stop and ask God, “Why are you highlighting this verse??!!” because I believe this is one of the awesome ways the Holy Spirit works in us as we put the scriptures in our hearts and minds.
When I started asking questions, it was like God began to highlight parts of this verse that I had previously skimmed over. It wasn’t just that Jesus was tempted as we are tempted and we can have victory because He had victory… but that He suffered when tempted. That’s the new part God highlighted for me that I’ve never noticed before—being tempted comes with agony and suffering. He deeply felt the burden of the temptation itself. Isn’t that fascinating??
I hope I’m not reading too much into the text, but I am now seeing that Jesus, as fully human, felt that agony of temptation in ways that we feel it. It wasn’t like it was an easy streak for Him just because He was also fully God.
Somehow this epiphany brings me great comfort in my struggles. IT WAS HARD FOR JESUS, too.
And I can see this now, all because God brought a verse to mind. When this happens, I’m going to be quicker to ask, “Why this verse, God?”
Leah Carolan
Pastor of Worship & Media
AN ACTIVE FAITH – a gathering for men and boys (fathers/grandpas welcome), age 2nd Grade (reading age) through 6th Grade.
Meets twice a month on the 2nd and 4th, Wednesdays, 6-8pm at the Ungs Home: 105 Stoney Point Rd NW (corner of 1st Ave and Stoney Point Rd). Plan for an “active” time learning truths about God with three-legged races, building fires, washing out structures with water and more!