Tomorrow, SSB will be a polling site.  Please refrain from visiting church other than to vote.  Do vote tomorrow.  Rarely do we get to vote for what we might consider righteous candidates anymore.   But, yet, we can still vote for those who align more closely with righteousness.   Notice particularly how the flashpoints of sanctity of life, gender issues, and marriage were each foundational elements of the first chapters of Genesis.  Each of these is on the ballot every time these days.   Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people (Prov. 14:34).



We came to the table of Communion yesterday morning singing of the blood of Christ, our Good Father, and what an amazing God we have.   It was a special day in many ways.  Ron Miller also encouraged us, as we consider the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of the month, to be handing out tracts.   There are several available for you to distribute.   Take several.   This can be as simple as asking someone how they celebrate Thanksgiving.... and then saying "this tells the story of the first Thanksgiving - here take one."  

The communion message was from Ephesians 4:17–24.   As we came, we remembered that communion is for those who have been made alive in Christ and who are seeking to walk in the new life He has given them.  Our passage called us to examine our hearts, guarding against darkened understanding, spiritual alienation, and hardness of heart. But this examination is not an invitation to earn God’s favor through better behavior. The bread and cup remind us of Christ’s finished work and the astonishing grace by which we have been saved. That same grace now transforms us.   We worked through a real-life scenario  of a painful conflict with another believer, to see how putting off bitterness, gossip, and self-justification must be accompanied by renewed thinking shaped by the truth of Christ, followed by putting on forgiveness, reconciliation, and love. Like Paul in Galatians 2:20, we recognize that the old self must die and that Christ now lives in us. Our growth in righteousness and holiness is not a self-improvement project but the continuing work of God's grace, which deserves praise for both the progress He produces and the work He has yet to complete.  How sweet the grace of Christ!  


I (Pastor Ken W) will be gone for just over two weeks.  I'm leaving this Saturday, November 7th, early in the morning.  I'll have no access to email or my phone for the majority of that time.   I leave you in the good and very capable hands of our fantastic elders.  I am blessed to have them!  You are as well.  


A few of our folks are going to Columbia in January on a mission's exposure trip.  Be in prayer for them especially as they prepare (passport, finances, time off, training, and spiritually).  You may also give to them personally if you'd like to.  Ask Pastor Ken or Jaime for details.