May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This month we are highlighting counseling topics and how they intersect with our life and faith. This last week of May we’ll explore how mindfulness can help relieve our anxiety and stress and strengthen our connection to God.
Anxiety is the most common mental health condition for adults in the U.S. Americans experience higher rates of stress, anxiety, and negative emotions than any other nation. For many of us, work is stressing us out more than ever. The increasing pressure we face at work stems from a new religion that one journalist calls “workism,” a doctrine that promotes work as not only necessary to economic production but also the centerpiece of our identity and purpose.

When work becomes the focus of existence, it beckons us to strive harder and set us up for exhaustion. Days feel like a race to the finish line and even lunch breaks can be tinged with guilt. However, with the increase of work burnout more attention is being given to the physical and mental impact of anxiety and stress. Nowadays, physicians screen for anxiety, stress, and depression during annual physical exams. Mindfulness and relaxation techniques are driving apps like Calm and Headspace to new heights of popularity. And more adults are practicing meditation compared to yoga, massage therapy or acupuncture. Recently, the Journal of the American Medical Association found that mindfulness-based stress reduction is just as effective as Lexapro for anxiety disorders. So, it’s important to consider what is so effective about mindfulness and explore ways to combat our stress and anxiety.

When we inordinately worry about the future, jump to conclusions, and run through worst-case scenarios, our bodies tense up, heart rates increase, and breathing gets rapid. Emotions are just as much in our bodies as they are in our minds, and our nervous system starts to run the show. For many of us this is when panic ensues. But we can’t just think ourselves out of our emotions, so by calming the body we can also calm the mind. Mindfulness is a practice that involves paying attention to our present moment without judgment. It helps us be aware of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surroundings. When we are mindful, we are paying attention to what is real right now in the present moment rather than focusing on the past or future. We observe our thoughts and feelings without getting caught up in them and approach our experiences with an open, curious mind.

Using mindful practices like breathing, grounding, and progressive muscle relaxation, we can gain more control over our negative thought patterns by relaxing our bodies. For example, we take up to 20,000 breaths a day—it’s so natural we don’t even think about it. But shortness of breath is common with stress and anxiety and creates more panic and irrational thoughts. Practicing deep, slow breathing is the quickest way to relax the body and slow down our thoughts. When we calm the body, we calm the mind.

Mindfulness also includes meditation and reflection, which can help us to refocus and reframe our thoughts. One of the earliest forms of mindfulness in the Bible was practiced by King David more than 3,000 years ago.  David knows by observing nature with his senses that the world is vastly bigger than he is, putting things into perspective:  


The Bible offers numerous examples of meditation and mindfulness. Verses like Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God” and Psalm 63:6, “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night” highlight the importance of quieting our minds to recognize and revel in the sovereignty of God. These moments of reflection are not about emptying our minds but filling them with thoughts of God and his promises.

But because our thoughts are not fully reliable (Isaiah 55:8) we must engage in an ongoing “renewing of [our] mind” as Paul exhorts us in Romans 12:2. Being mindful of our connection to Christ strengthens our relationship with God and others:  


Mindfulness encourages us to be fully present with God in our daily lives. When we become more attuned to his presence, we can stay grounded amid stress and anxiety and face life’s challenges with openness, compassion, and strength. If you would like to explore how mindfulness can alleviate your symptoms of stress and anxiety and how to engage your faith through these practices, reach out to us or visit our website for more information about our counseling services. The Barnabas Center exists to equip Christ the King members and our Houston community with counseling and resources to bring understanding and healing in your life, whatever season you find yourself. Thank you for your support during Mental Health Awareness Month!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This month we are highlighting counseling topics and how they intersect with our life and faith. This week we’re exploring what Midlife really means and its impact on our emotional, social, and spiritual well-being. Gone are the days of the term “midlife crisis.” Today, more people are embracing what’s being called a “midlife awakening.” As Carl Jung once said, “Life really begins at 40. Before that, you are just doing research.” So why the shift in language? And what has changed over time to cause us to reframe this oft-quoted expression?

Midlife has often been portrayed as something to fear or resist. It’s typically associated with decline, loss, or regret. But what if we approached this time in our lives—generally between the ages of 40 and 60—with a different mindset?

Midlife is undeniably one of the most challenging seasons. We suddenly find ourselves at or just beyond the halfway point, reflecting on our youth and who we are becoming, while also confronting the realities of aging and uncertainty. Many of us are raising teenagers while also caring for aging parents. Those of us in the so-called "sandwich generation" stumble to find that elusive life balance.

This period is often marked by increased rates of depression, anxiety, and hormonal shifts such as menopause and andropause. Divorce rates peak in midlife, and studies show that roughly 60% of midlifers report loneliness. Father Richard Rohr describes the two halves of life this way:


This is the essence of a midlife awakening—a lens shift, a turning inward. We begin to examine our relationships more intentionally, focusing on what truly matters. We start investing energy into what brings us joy. There’s a growing clarity about what no longer serves us, and with that, a willingness to let go.

If happiness in life follows a U-shaped curve, where it is higher at the beginning and end, how can we prepare our hearts and souls for this space at the bottom? Research shows that meaningful relationships, adaptability, and purpose become the strongest predictors of long-term happiness and the antidote to loneliness. And many of us seek a deeper connection with God the older we get. So how do we embrace a midlife awakening?
With intention and awareness, we may begin to explore new aspects of ourselves that are finally coming into view. We may begin to reinvent. We feel the tick of time. Loss and illness touch those around us, and suddenly, life feels more real. We come to terms with our vulnerability. We may begin to realize we are not invincible. We are deeply human—fallible, fragile, and perhaps for the first time, incredibly present. We relate to King David’s own reflections:


How else do we embrace midlife awakening? We look back at our younger selves with compassion. We forgive past mistakes and hold space for who we were. We soften. We become more reflective, more tender. As author Paula D’Arcy says, “God comes to you disguised as your life.” And we experience this to be so very true.

Maybe this means shifting careers. Maybe it’s returning to school. Maybe it’s simply allowing space for a new way of being in the world. As we face the back half, we do so with a quiet confidence our younger selves could hardly imagine. “For I know the plans I have for you” (Jeremiah 21:11) expands beyond just a Bible verse to something we recognize through life experience.

Midlife doesn’t have to be a crisis. It can be a powerful awakening—a turning point where we begin to live not from expectation, but from an awareness of who we are in our present life and the purpose God has for us in this second half.

The Barnabas Center exists to help Christ the King members and our Houston community explore all parts of our lives, including those of us in midlife and beyond. When we bring our pain, grief, and questions to a relationship, it exponentially lessens the aloneness we feel in those experiences. Don’t struggle alone! Reach out to us by email if you would like to connect with a counselor or visit our website for more information about our counseling services. And stay tuned during the month of May for more counseling resources and encouragement for Mental Health Awareness Month!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This month we are highlighting counseling topics and how they intersect with our life and faith. Let’s explore one of the most important emotional experiences God gives us to process our pain and transform our lives—grief. So, why does grief matter?

Grief is a natural response to pain or loss. It’s a complex set of emotions that includes sadness, anger, regret, guilt, confusion, and fear. However, grief and mourning are different. Grief is what we think and feel inside after a loss while mourning is the expression of our thoughts and feelings on the outside. Many of us mourn after a death or a loss but we don’t acknowledge our grief. And if we don’t allow ourselves to grieve, our unresolved pain can turn into chronic issues like severe depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.  
 
Grief can take on many forms—it can result from a death or losing your job or your home, getting a devastating health diagnosis, or an unmet dream that goes unfulfilled. We assume our life would turn out differently, and feelings of frustration, sadness, and grief take over. Author Nicholas Wolterstorff, who lost his son in a tragic climbing accident, says this: “Grief is a special kind of suffering. It’s intensely wanting what you know cannot be.”
 
What does grief feel like? Grief is like riding an emotional wave. These emotional tides can swallow us up by their intensity. But waves come and go, and they eventually recede. Riding an emotional wave is a practice of surfing your own intense emotions. If we practice accepting the emotions that arise without fighting or suppressing them, we can experience more freedom and control over our feelings. We allow the pain to come to the surface because it is real.
 
Many of us worry that if we let ourselves feel grief, we may never get out of it. Or, that grief will change us—we’ll become more depressed, angry, or cynical. Grief can also be confusing, sometimes we feel fine, other times we want to crawl in a hole. C.S. Lewis famously said after losing his wife, “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” Our fear of what will happen when we grieve can lead us to suppress these important feelings.
 
Some of us resist grief because we feel misunderstood in it. Grief can be seen as an aberration from normal, happy life. Many of us (and our American culture) think of grief as an illness to be cured, and we feel pressure to get out of it as quickly as possible. But the question for us shouldn’t be, “How long will this take?” but instead, “How deeply did you love?”
 
There is no psychological finish line to grief and everyone’s grief is different—like a fingerprint. We will respond differently to our losses because of our own personality traits, environmental triggers, circumstances surrounding the loss, support system, emotional maturity, and faith. For instance, there is nothing wrong with you if the sight of a toothbrush brings tears to your eyes! We must learn to inhabit what hurts because grief is a signal that love has been a part of our lives.  
 
Grief is inevitable for each of us. And your grief will keep trying to get your attention until you give it the attention it deserves. One writer said, “Grief waits on welcome not time.” When we grieve, it doesn’t shrink us or make us less of who we are, but it expands our soul more to the world around us: we grow in how we communicate, make decisions, and live more presently with ourselves. Grievers will take inventory of life, reconsider priorities, deepen connections, and determine directions for what is most important. Author David Kessler writes, “Grief is not just something we go through, but it is something we grow through.”
 
Growing through grief doesn’t happen alone. We have a savior who knows those experiences well: “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus says to us that we are blessed if we mourn and promises we will be comforted. We don’t have to be perfect in our grief though. Pastor Tim Keller says, “God is very patient with us when we are desperate. Pour out your soul to him.” After all, we are promised that “those who go forth weeping, bearing their seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves” (Psalm 126:6). Our grief is never the end of the story.

The Barnabas Center exists to help Christ the King members, and our Houston community explore, understand, and heal from loss and learn how to grieve. And we offer Grieving with Hope, a counseling support group for losses related to death, suicide, and chronic illness. Please reach out to us to connect with a counselor or visit our website to learn more about counseling support groups. We would love to connect you with a counselor or others to support you in your season of grief.

And stay tuned during the month of May for more counseling resources and encouragement for Mental Health Awareness Month!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We hear a lot about mental health on the news, with our family and friends, and even at church. Mental health is everywhere, but what is it and how does it relate to our relationship with God?

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being, and it affects how we think, feel, act, handle stress, make choices, and relate to others. The Bible doesn’t refer to mental health directly but indirectly, relating to our hearts and minds, our brokenness, and finding hope in suffering:


Even though the Bible acknowledges our suffering, mental health struggles can still be a stigmatized subject, and those of us who have depression, chronic anxiety, or a compulsive disorder may feel isolated and misunderstood. Charles Spurgeon once said, “The mind can descend far lower than the body, for in it there are bottomless pits. The flesh can only bear a certain number of wounds and no more, but the soul can bleed in ten thousand ways, and die over and over again each hour.” For many of us, mental health issues may feel like a bottomless pit, but God offers us encouragement to persevere in our struggles and find hope, healing, and connection.
 
Mental illness is not your fault
Mental illness is a result of the fall, but it isn’t a punishment for our sins. Consider the man born blind in John 9:1-3: “As [Jesus] walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.’” Sin can exacerbate mental illness and stir up depression or anxiety.  And our mental health struggles can lead us into sin when we refuse to fight them. But we aren’t defined by our sin or our mental health issues. Bringing our struggles into the light helps to heal them as King David reminds us, “The Lord my God illumines my darkness” (Ps. 18:28). And John Newton reminds us how to draw near to God in our pain in a letter he wrote exhorting a friend to persevere: 
God sees you and is with you
You are not alone in your struggles. God sees you and grieves with you in your pain. Remember in John 11 when Jesus wept with Lazarus’s family even knowing the resurrecting work he was about to do? He grieved alongside a grieving family. God also restores us in our suffering: “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand” (Ps. 40:2). God draws near to us when we are hurting: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Ps. 34:18). And Jesus sends the Holy Spirit as a comforter and a counselor to help us even when we can’t form words, so we aren’t left alone: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Rom. 8:26-27).

When you suffer, you are not alone
God’s people have suffered mentally, emotionally, and physically throughout the Bible. Remember Elijah during his conflict with Jezebel in 1 Kings 19? He flees to the wilderness because he wants to die. Jonah also suffered a depressed state after God spared Ninevah. King David was anxious, Jeremiah was lonely, and Job was so grieved he wished he had never been born. The Bible records Jesus’s own anguish in Matt. 27:46: “My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?”Today, mental illness is extremely common. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that 1 in 5 Americans live with a mental illness. Globally, over 970 million people live with a mental disorder. You are not alone in your struggles. James 4:8 reminds us, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.”

God’s words can bring comfort
The Bible shows us a wide array of emotions. When we read Job or the Psalms of lament, which compose the largest category of the psalms, we hear words like:




It’s important to remember that we have an indelible resource in Scripture to bring comfort, healing, and hope in our mental health struggles. We also need wise counsel in times of trouble too. The Barnabas Center at Christ the King offers Christ-centered counseling to CTK members and friends in the Houston community in whatever season you find yourself, especially if you are struggling with a mental health issue or need support in your current circumstances. Please reach out to us to connect with a counselor or visit our website to learn more about our counseling services. And stay tuned during the month of May for more counseling resources and encouragement for Mental Health Awareness Month!

At Christmas we marvel at the stunning truth that God himself moved into the neighborhood. Far from being a footnote, the incarnation completely transforms our understanding of who the Lord is, how he relates to his people, and the lengths to which he will go to save them.

The incarnation also affirms that our bodies truly matter to God. As Jerram Barrs puts it, “who can imagine a more remarkable affirmation of the physical than this, that the everlasting God entered our world and joined the human race?”.

This has huge implications for how we think about a life of worship, because, when it comes to discipleship, we have a tendency to live as though our minds are all that matter.
As Christians, we often live as though sanctification simply means knowing more things and getting more information inside of our heads. But this mindset distorts God’s intentions for his people, and it minimizes the gift of the church body physically gathering to worship on Sundays.

As James K. Smith puts it in You Are What You Love, every week we “rehearse the story of redemption” through embodied worship. These physical practices matter a great deal because our liturgy, being “suffused by the biblical story,” “inscribes that story into our hearts”' (Smith). As we are called into worship, as we sing, as we kneel in confession and are assured of pardon, as we pass the peace to our neighbors, as we hear the Word of God read and taught, as we hold out our hands to receive the bread and the wine, as we take and eat, and as we are sent out through the benediction to make Christ known in the corners of Houston where the Lord has placed us, we are enacting the story of redemption. This is no small thing. Rather, embodied worship forms us deeply because we are, by God’s good design, embodied beings, and what we do with our bodies affects our hearts. We are what we love, and our loves have everything to do with the story out of which we are living. And so, week after week, we are invited to live into a true and better story: the story of redemption, a story that ends with the Immanuel– the God who moved into the neighborhood, died, has risen, and is coming again– physically dwelling with his people forever in the new heavens and the new earth.

Mary Catherine Montgomery
Christ the King Student Ministry Coordinator

Several weeks ago, I was talking with a fellow church member who had just purchased a new car. As we were talking about makes and models and how they decided what to buy, he said a profound thing to me: “We narrowed the search to several cars with a wide price range...and then we started thinking about how Christ the King will probably be doing a capital campaign at some point, and we want to be able to give to needs at the church, and ultimately, that made the decision really easy to go with the cheaper option.”

I nodded enthusiastically and probably said something to appear spiritual and supportive, but deep down, his comment left me wondering: Would I have made the same decision? Am I making financial choices through the lens of my tithe? I mean, after all, a car is a big purchase! And I want the sunroof and the nice sound system, and of course, better safety features and good mileage…and ok, I admit, it’d be great to get a knowing nod from the more discerning car enthusiasts the first time I drive into a parking lot…How can these decisions be “really easy”?

The conversation has stuck with me and felt particularly relevant as I listened to Gill Dolan’s stewardship update two Sundays ago. Clearly, I needed that reminder about how tithing is an opportunity, not an obligation. God has made tithing an act of worship. The same way we sing praises, or read scripture together, or participate in prayer, tithing reminds us that we are in relationship with the Creator of the universe and everything in it. It’s all His!

Listening to Gill, I was struck by God’s amazing faithfulness to Christ the King—from our staff to our beautiful building to our incredible ministries—all of it is made possible by our community giving generously and consistently to our church. It creates this incredible sense of joy that we get to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Every Sunday we experience firsthand what an incredible blessing—and privilege—it is to participate in the life of our church in such a meaningful way.

We have just a few weeks left until CTK’s fiscal year end, and a little over $1 million left to raise to meet our budget needs. I encourage you to consider how you and your family will join with fellow members to help make our church vision and mission possible. 

Ryan Dolibois
Christ the King Elder

This year I have spent time reflecting on our church’s focus of Life of Worship. What typically first comes to mind is the act of gathered worship during Sunday services. As I have reflected on it more, however, I have seen that there are so many ways we can live a Life of Worship. For some this may look like actively singing and worshipping the Lord and for others this may look like dedicated quiet times to reflect on all the Lord has done and is doing.

This can also look like enjoying all the wonderful things the Lord has provided for us. This can be anything from enjoying delicious food from your favorite restaurant to taking your family on a walk to enjoy His creation. In all these ways, we acknowledge that He is the Creator that is worthy of our praise.

One way we live a Life of Worship here at Christ the King is by reaching others who may not know about Jesus and inviting them to join in and see all the things the Lord has created for us to enjoy. I have had the wonderful experience of getting to see this firsthand at our church through the Silber Road Soccer League.

Some of you may not know this, but for the past five years we have opened our fields to over 200 young adults in Houston for a bi-annual soccer league. The Lord has used what originally started as a fun way of getting young adults at the church together and turned it into a missional outreach that welcomes people from all different backgrounds onto our church campus. He has created a place where people feel welcomed and included and get to enjoy His creation while also being poured into by members of our church. He truly is worthy of our praise!

Be on the lookout in the new year for news and information on the Silber Road Soccer League if you are interested at all in volunteering or participating!

Jared Daniels
Christ the King Member

Birds are everywhere; singing outside your window, sitting on a power line, flying overhead, hopping across a sidewalk. Perhaps you don’t notice them in the busyness of your day, but an incredible diversity of birds share your world; over 600 species of birds can be observed in the Lone Star State.

Ever since God spoke our feathered friends into existence, he’s been using them to connect with people. God sent a dove with an olive leaf in its beak to communicate to Noah that the waters had receded from the Earth. God provided quail to feed the Israelites in the wilderness and used ravens to deliver food to Elijah when he was hiding in a ravine.
 
The Bible uses imagery about birds to convey how greatly the Lord cares for us. In Matthew and Luke, Jesus chastises Jerusalem by saying, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing”. The picture of a hen gathering her brood under her wings is especially powerful to me as I reflect on a behind the scenes tour of the Houston Zoo where I discovered that domestic hens are entrusted with incubating and raising many species of birds that aren’t chickens. Hens are so dedicated to the eggs placed in their care, they will continue to raise those birds as their own, even if that species of bird is much larger than a chicken. Zoo hens have raised critically endangered grouse, curassows, and even a crane. It’s comforting to know that the Lord is eager to care for his children. Psalm 91:4 reads, “He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge…”

In Matthew, Jesus encourages his disciples by saying, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you of not more value than they?” (6:26) Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one will fall to the ground apart from your Father. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (10:29, 31) 

As you go about your day, be observant and look and listen for birds around you. When you hear a wren singing outside your window, see a pigeon on a power line, a hawk soaring overhead or a sparrow on a sidewalk, take a moment to give praise to the Creator. From the tiny hummingbird to the mighty ostrich, God created an incredible array of birds and he cares for them deeply, but he cares for you even more and yearns to gather you under his wings.

Vicki Stittleburg
Christ the King Member

In the church where I grew up, there was a rack of pamphlets at the back of the sanctuary. Among the topics covered in them, one in particular was memorable to me. It described what every denomination (but our own) got wrong; there was a chart and everything! I remember that under “Presbyterian," it said “rote, repetitive worship”.

When I first began coming to Christ the King, the liturgical worship did take some time to adjust to; when to stand, whether the bold words were mine or the leader’s (I still get this wrong sometimes, for at least a syllable or two). But as I’ve spent most of my adult life in a Presbyterian context, one thing about that pamphlet was absolutely true: our worship is repetitive. And I couldn’t be more thankful for it. Particularly when it comes to the Lord’s Table.

Regardless of how my week has gone, what the car ride to church was like, or where my heart is relative to Jesus on any given Sunday, I know that I will be brought to His table, to eat His body and drink His blood. And if my life is in the complete opposite place the next week, the next month, the next year, the same meal will be offered. It’s not about what’s in my heart or mind, not how put together my family and I look, but it’s about Jesus and how he instituted this meal 2000 years ago as a nourishment for his people.

During the Last Supper, Jesus’s “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17 speaks directly to us, here today in Houston in 2023. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,” Jesus prayed. How amazing that the bread and wine shared around that table in Jerusalem are offered to us each week. If that prayer is true, then each time we repeat that meal, we are sharing it not only with each other on Silber Road, but with all Christians, past and future, and around the world. There’s nothing “rote” about that.

As you meet with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, to feast and remember, be reminded of this:

Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ WILL come again!

The gifts of God are for the people of God.

Therefore, let us keep the feast!

Rob Hays
Christ the King Elder

This year, those of us at Christ the King are being called to a more vibrant life of worship, a life of worship that spills out and can even be shared with others. I don’t know about you, but often that seems like a hard thing to me. The great news is that we are about to enter a season that comes with an opportunity to openly worship with our friends and neighbors!

An old journal reminds me of a scene from our front yard a few years ago – “It is the first Sunday afternoon in December. I watch three small kings wandering around my front yard. A drummer boy beats on his drum. The baby Jesus gnaws away on a gold ball that one of the kings has handed him. Two shepherds are jousting with their crooks. A cluster of little angels stand by sipping hot chocolate and looking adorable. Mary just looks around at everything - it's like she is pondering these things - to store up in her heart. Our Fifth Annual Front Yard Christmas Pageant is about to begin.”
 
Why did we have a Christmas Pageant in our front yard? Maybe it is because Luke 2 is my favorite part of the whole Bible, with the glory of all those angels announcing the birth of the Messiah. Or maybe God just put it on our hearts to have a simple little Christmas pageant right in our very own front yard. I'm not sure why we decided to have a Front Yard Christmas Pageant. I'm just glad we did.
 
So how does it work? Does it take a lot of energy? Is it expensive? A Front Yard Christmas Pageant is about the least expensive and easiest Christmas party you could ever want to throw. Email – or Paperless Post – your friends. Procure costumes for the primary characters from Party City or online. (Actually, inexpensive towels with a rope belt work fine.) Stick flyers in your neighbors' mailboxes. Invite the children to come as angels, shepherds or livestock.
 
The pageant itself is as simple as it gets. The children stand around the stable. The baby Jesus is in his manger between Mary and Joseph. The kings carry bags with gold (ping pong balls wrapped in gold foil), frankincense (perfume) and myrrh (a bottle of lotion). One person reads Luke 2:1-20. Another plays the guitar and leads everyone in "Away in the Manger," "O Come, All Ye Faithful" and "Silent Night." Just two verses each. The whole thing takes seven minutes.
 
When the pageant is over, the party begins. Over the years our party grew from 50 to almost 150 people. We get a big Jesus’ Birthday Cake from Costco, add hot apple cider and accept all offers of food from friends.
 
Within an hour or so, the party is over. You will feel tired but satisfied. You have given glory to God. You will have woven true worship into your neighborhood. How fabulous would it be to see front yard pageants popping up all over Houston? What a witness for Christ our King!

We Dollingers would love to share our details and maybe even help with a stable!

Jan Dollinger
Christ the King Member

I first learned about David Thomas and Sissy Goff when I started listening to their podcast called Raising Boys and Girls. At the time, they were doing their first podcast series on the different ages and stages for boys and girls. Once I finished the podcast series, I wanted to dive a little deeper ino the stages discussed so I ordered David’s book “Wild Things.” As a mom of three boys, I was drawn to how David addresses the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects of boys in his books and podcasts. This past spring, Women’s ministries did a book study, and I had the opportunity to read another book written by David. “Raising Emotionally Strong Boys,” points us to Christ as the model for masculinity and not tradition or culture. David encourages the reader to help boys recognize and regulate their emotions. At the same time, moms of girls had the opportunity to read one of Sissy’s books, “Raising Worry Free Girls,” This book talks about the growing anxiety in young girls and provides strategies for girls and their parents. Moms walked away knowing that there is hope that we can raise our daughters to recognize their bravery, strength, and smarts.

David and Sissy’s work is practical and applicable to the lives we live here in Houston today. Whether you have a toddler or teenager, their tools are easy to implement at any stage of parenting. In Sissy’s new book, “The Worry-Free Parent,” she recognizes the need for parents to evaluate and address their own struggles with anxiety and how it can contribute to the emotional well-being of their children.

We are so excited for to host David Thomas and Sissy Goff here at Christ the King. We would love for you to join us for our parenting conference with them on January 19 and 20, 2024. David and Sissy are counselors at Daystar Counseling Center in Nashville, hosts of the podcast Raising Boys & Girls and authors of numerous parenting books. More information on registration for the conference coming soon.

Jessica Gray
Fields & Sports Coordinator

Sunday mornings are not for the faint of heart! Everything is going to go wrong on a Sunday morning– car batteries die, the marathon blocks your route to church, shoes go missing, or worse, on your way out the door you find your toddler eating old birthday cake out of the trash can covered in cake and icing (a true Holland family story). On top of the unexpected adventures, we are often exhausted from whatever we did on Saturday night, making it easier to hit snooze too many times or wake up grumpy. The list of Sunday morning distractions is endless and made up of scenarios so crazy we can’t make them up! If we make it to church despite the challenges, there are often tears on our kids’ faces, grudges in our hearts, or hunger in our bellies from the breakfast we didn’t have time to eat. We can easily create a pattern of coming into corporate worship week after week frazzled and weighed down with life rather than ready to worship with all our heart, mind and strength.

In Children’s Worship at Christ the King each week, the kids use their loud voices to shout, “HAPPY LORD’S DAY!!” The sad reality is that for many of us Sundays feel anything but “happy.” Praise be to God that he meets us in our weakness. He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love (Psalm 86:15). Even when we are distracted, he draws near to us in worship with his special presence found in the scriptures, the gathering of believers, corporate prayer, the preaching of God’s word, and the sacraments.

Over the years, when Sunday mornings have been repeatedly stressful, I have found it convicting and telling to ponder if I have added to the burdens on Sunday morning by my lack of forethought and preparation. Have I ordered my family’s weekdays and weekends in such a way as to prioritize corporate worship on Sunday? Do my kids feel excitement or dread about the upcoming Lord’s Day? Could I have gathered outfits Saturday night to save time on Sunday mornings or thought through how to handle the Saturday night sleepover or Sunday sporting events so that they didn’t interfere with worship? Have I talked through expectations for Sunday with my family?

All of us carefully orchestrate our school days and nights to help our children thrive at school because we value their education. Do we value their spiritual growth and corporate worship in the same way? Prioritizing worship and the details that go into being present with an engaged mind and a heart that is excited about glorifying the Lord takes the same careful orchestration. Ironically, the planning for worship is itself an act of worship!

To help you prepare your hearts and the hearts of your kids for Sunday worship, Christ the King posts the orders of worship for Sunday on the website by Fridays. I encourage you to access them and read the sermon passage out loud to your kids before worship or listen to the hymns that we will sing in worship on Spotify while driving your kids around on the weekends. Get creative and have fun thinking about how to prioritize the upcoming Sunday with the goal of saying with your kids, “HAPPY LORD’S DAY!” and meaning it.

Shannon Holland
Director of Children's Ministry

My oldest child has pointed out that I keep a large number of tabs open on my devices. He will kindly swipe them closed for me, but not without counting how many are simultaneously occupying the space. Turns out iPhones can hold open a triple digit number of tabs!

It may come as no surprise for me to admit I am bogged down by “open tabs” both on my phone and in my brain. Perhaps you can relate to these types of tabs---the unresolved pages of our lives that take up a great deal of storage. They tend to tally-up in our thoughts and present in the form of worries.

I have often viewed worries as a roadblock to worshipping God. They assume the space where we are meant to trust Him. There is not a simple “swiping up” feature in our brains to release the accumulated anxiety. Yet God invites us to release our worries up to Him.

The word worry comes from an Old English word, wrygen, meaning, “to strangle”. When we worry about our lives, we are, in a sense, “over-gripping” our thoughts. The posture in worry is one in which hands are closed, gripped tightly to the uncertainties in our midst.

The word worship comes from the Old English combination of the words, “worth” and “ship”. When we worship God, we are focused on His worthiness. Our posture in worshipping God is one in which hands are open, praising Him out of the certainty of who He is.

We experience worries as a roadblock to worship because they expose our worship of things other than God. When we over-grip our thoughts through worry, we have taken matters into our own hands. But no matter how tightly we grip, our hands are too weak. The Apostle Peter (who knew a thing or two about worries) invites us to “Humble ourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God.” (1 Peter 5:6) Upon acknowledging our need for God’s strong hands, we “cast all our anxieties on him, because he cares for us.” (1 Peter 5:7)

Could our worries, then, be more than a roadblock to worshipping God? What if instead, they are a pathway where we humbly walk away from the worries and toward worship? What if worries are an opportunity to loosen our grasp on our thought tabs and trust the strength of our Father?

His hands are strong. His hands shaped us and His hands keep us. His hands saved us when they were nailed to the cross on our behalf, freeing us to lift our hands and our worries to the God, who is worthy of our praise.

Chrissy Trapp
CHRIST THE KING MEMBER

Living our whole lives as an act of worship probably looks absurd to the unbeliever and yet seems perfectly natural to those who know the redemption of Christ.

Believers know the free gift of eternal life and are free from bondage to the things of this earth. This makes us strangers in our own city and sojourners in this world. We look “different” because we are marked by God as belonging to him! The opportunities this provides us are innumerable in a city filled with people “passing through” or living here temporarily. In a city like Houston, so culturally and religiously inclusive, we are the different ones. 

We can love our neighbors, colleagues, coaches, sales clerks, teachers, and fellow Houstonians through small, intentional acts of service that show love and allow people to feel seen. Take someone a meal from our Made with Love ministry or sign up to make those meals so others can take them. Invite someone you know isn’t from here to join you for an activity at the church: Bible Studies, Men’s Breakfasts, Sacred Studio, etc. Have people over for cake and coffee. Give some of the Christian picture books your kids have outgrown to a new mom on your street. When we love God with our whole lives it pours out of us into a fallen world. 

Worship is so often associated with music and singing. Are our lives an irresistible tune that other people want to know the words to? God will transform this world one day. As we patiently endure, remember that kindness done in our Savior's name can make a difference in the lives of our neighbors as God uses us to extend his Kingdom!

Michelle Hon
CHRIST THE KING MEMBER

The current war in Israel and Palestine is another horrific reminder that at any moment, life as we know it can be turned upside down. There have been many such reminders in our world lately. Jesus tells us in John that we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free. But do we really feel free in Christ’s love and care? If one of our children had been kidnapped by terrorists, does knowing Jesus still set us free? The question isn’t if tragedy makes us question our faith, but rather does the truth that Jesus is Lord change us moment by moment in every circumstance? From Genesis to the final battle in Revelation, not one person in Scripture glides seamlessly through life. From beginning to end, the Bible is full of examples of God’s people facing life-changing circumstances. Will we worship God in the face of life’s toughest challenges?

As we think about what worshippers do, they seek to be in the presence and order their lives around the object of worship, even while going about the everyday busyness of life. Moses leads a busy life. After God sends him back to Egypt to lead the Israelites out of slavery, this octogenarian has a budding nation under his charge. Laws to teach, wars to fight, building projects, and disputes to settle are just a few of Moses’s everyday tasks, aside from caring for his own family. But we see in the text that being with Yahweh is the nourishment Moses cannot live without. Moses chooses Yahweh because Yahweh chose Moses. In Exodus 33:14, God promises Moses both His presence and His rest. Moses’s response is that if God does not accompany the Israelites, Moses does not want to go either.

Moses is far from a perfect leader. His resume includes murder, fear, doubt, disobedience, and anger issues side by side with the good stuff. Moses’s ‘secret’ was that he knew God was with him. We are also far from perfect. But as believers, we also have the assurance that God is with us. The cure for Christians in an anxious world is to believe Who we say we believe, the God whose grace abounds. Jesus Christ is in total control over every circumstance we face every minute of every day. Jesus’s own words from John 8:31-32 summarize all we need to know, “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Like the father of the boy who was healed in Mark 9, our only cry should be, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Ashley Clark
CHRIST THE KING MEMBER

How incredible that God reveals himself to us through his written word so that we can know him, glorify him and enjoy him forever! And that he created our minds with the ability to read -- now we just need to learn how!

Observing children racing around the tricycle path at The Preschool is reminiscent of the classic Dr. Seuss, “Go, Dog ,Go!” Some are going fast, some are going slow…., big kids on little bikes, little kids on big bikes…some kids are using the pedals, some kids are using their feet…. All are biking and “…going around again!” and the method for moving, pedaling vs. “Fred Flintstone” style, doesn’t seem to matter, for now.

Learning to use the pedals on a tricycle requires patience, determination, and muscle memory. Each push of the pedal takes concentration and effort. But once their pedaling feet are effectively in place, we see children experience not just more speed but a greater enjoyment of the experience – over the bridge and through the tunnel with a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Learning to read requires many of the same traits… patience, determination, concentration, effort, and as research is showing more and more, strong “muscle memory” (or neuropathways) in our brain that connect the letters we see on the page to the sounds we hear in words. Science shows that when we take time to build a strong foundation of phonetical awareness, we build stronger readers for life. When the “muscle memory” is more firmly in place, readers not only engage more easily with the content, but also enjoy reading more.

Each Tuesday morning in Chapel, The Preschool children remind us that man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever (Westminster Shorter Catechism #1). There are so many ways to enjoy God, but one place is in His Word where He has revealed who He is completely and specifically so that His children can know their Father and where they fit into His story. How fascinating that God chose to reveal Himself in letters and words and sentences and sounds! And that he gave us a body and mind and the Holy Spirit that work together so that we can experience our Creator through His written Word. 

So let’s read, and let’s teach children to read and read well – as an act of worship to the One who loved us enough to write Himself down for us. Let’s build strong little readers who can engage in God’s word; delight in His word and desire His word because they know His book is dedicated to them. With hope that when our young readers close the book, they will want to “go around again”!

To learn more about the science behind how a child learns to read and resources for parents of children at all ages and stages of pre-reading and reading, please join us at “Read with Me” on October 16. Details and registration link below.

Michelle Hays
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, THE PRESCHOOL AT CHRIST THE KING

In the allegory of long spoons, there are two rooms, each with people seated around a round table, plenty of food, and long spoons. Why would one room of people be hungry and miserable while the other is full and happy? Well, the spoons are too long to feed oneself, so the room filled with self-seekers is hungry, while the room filled with people who sought to serve each other was full and happy.

As I have considered what a life of worship means, I have also considered what it means for me to help others consider a life of worship. And what better place to start than with the children in our church! Children are naturally curious and want to know more about the world around them. This presents a great opportunity to teach them about how all of us and all of creation was made for God’s glory (Children’s Catechism, #3). They can certainly learn about worshipping God at church. But I can also lay on the trampoline with my sons, looking at the light through the trees, and say, “Wow, can you believe that the God who made light and trees is also the God who loves you dearly?” Everyday actions from doing chores and homework, to participating in sports, dance, or gymnastics, to even using manners at the dinner table (yes, please!) can all be done for God’s glory!

But this doesn’t have to stop with helping our children see worship in all of life. When your friend at work, your roommate or spouse shares good news from their day, why not say (or if you’re feeling bold, sing!) the first line of the doxology? "Praise God from whom all blessings flow!" Or in sharing the worries of the day, offer to pray for them and/or read a few verses from the Psalms with them (Psalm 34:4-10 and Psalm 121 are two of my favorites).

And when we serve, not only are we seeking another person’s benefit, but we ourselves are participating in a worshipful act. We can take joy that we are being conformed to Christ who “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

So, in our focus on a Life of Worship, perhaps our prayer should be this: would God give us eyes and hearts to serve others. And while we do this, would others see in us an image of Christ that would cause them to worship our great savior who reigns forever! Amen.

Will McKee
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF CHILDREN'S MINISTRY & CODE 45 COORDINATOR

Since 2017, Christ the King has had the honor of welcoming a staggering number of visitors into our building by way of The Playground at Christ the King. This year has proven to be another big year with a remarkable number of kids coming through the doors. Since January 1,336 children have visited the playground! More than 96% of those who came to play are not members or regular attenders. What a wonderful opportunity we all have to be hospitable by coming to the playground and building relationships with some of the thousands of visitors who walk through our doors every year. Are you looking for a place to minister with your kids and to be a blessing to others? Well, the mission field comes to us every week! We would love to encourage our congregation to come make new friends on The Playground at Christ the King!

The Playground is open most Mondays and Fridays from 9:00 am - 1:00 pm. Visit our website to learn more and invite your friends and neighbors to join you in a unique missional opportunity!

Teresa Garcia
WELCOME DESK ADMINISTRATOR

WAIT! Maybe diapers aren’t a part of your life, but what if I replaced diapers with expense reports or conference calls or consulting with a client as an act of worship? The list could go on. How do we worship within acts such as these? If we were made to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, where does this leave us when our days are defined by the mundane, the tedious, or the seemingly inconsequential? I’m going to borrow words from someone who says it better than me. In "A Liturgy for Changing Diapers 1", from Every Moment Holy, Douglas McKelvey writes: “So take this unremarkable act of necessary service, O Christ, and in your economy let it be multiplied in that greater outworking of worship and of faith, a true investment in the incremental advance of your kingdom across generations.” This feels like a very fancy take on the simple act of diaper changing—unremarkable yet necessary (this much is true), but can we really call it an advance of His kingdom across generations? The answer really is yes.

Our culture tells us that the tedious acts of daily life are something to trudge through until we can get to more exciting things. Our culture tells us that something only has worth if it benefits us. Fortunately, we have a Savior who showed us another way. He lived his life in worship of the Father all day every day. Jesus was constantly pulled in a hundred directions; he dealt with even grosser things than diapers (hello leprosy); he had to play referee over silly arguments (sound familiar, parents?) Jesus graciously did all of this and more out of his deep love for us and for the desire to draw us nearer to God the Father—to live out our call to worship Him every day. He showed us that when our hearts are postured in obedience to God and love toward others then even the most mundane, tedious, and inconsequential acts are serving a greater purpose—the advancement of His kingdom. The dirty diapers, the endless expense reports and spread sheets, the difficult coworkers, or clients—every act of drudgery is an opportunity to glorify God. We are made to work, and how we accomplish that work matters—it matters to my daughters, and it matters to God. To sum it up I’ll close with more words from McKelvey…
“Let me not be frustrated by the constant repetition of this necessary act on behalf of a child. Rather, let the daily doing of this be a reminder to me, of the constant cleansing and covering of my own sin, that I—helpless as this babe and more often in need—enjoy in the active mercies of Christ. Amen”

Meredith Harwood
VBS COORDINATOR

As Christians, we are called to worship God in every aspect of our lives. This includes how we approach our relationships, work, hobbies, and even our daily routines. As our church began to focus on living into A Life of Worship, I began to reflect on the role of creativity and order in my daily life. As a creative person, I feel like all of life is meant to be spontaneous, a beautiful mess. I have a tendency to resist order and routine. I have always thought that using my creativity to bring beauty to the world, is the way in which I best reflect the creativity of my Creator. However, I have come to realize that I am also a wonderful reflection of God when I maintain order and structure in my life, because he is a God of order. He is perfectly creative and orderly at the same time. Therefore, I can live in the freedom of knowing that when I am both creative and orderly, I am honoring and glorifying him each day. Whether it's through art, music, or even the way we organize our daily to-do list, we can worship God through both creativity and order. They are not mutually exclusive, as I once thought.

As I ponder these thoughts of creativity and order as a means of worship, I think of music. There is nothing quite like music to bring creativity and order together to create something magical. Out of the chaos of discordant notes, the measures of a song can bring us to tears, vividly recall a memory, and calm us like nothing else. At some of the darkest moments in our lives, often the only thing we can call to mind are the hymns that we have sung over and over. Those beautiful lines of poetry and scripture put to music that stick with us, bring us comfort, and remind us of God’s majesty.

My college friend, Caroline Cobb, just released an album of music based on the Psalms. She says “Every song is a sword…joy is resistance.” As a self-professed rebel and mom of a Star Wars fan, I like the idea of my joy and my singing being an act of resistance against the brokenness and darkness of this world. When Jesus returns and creation is brought back into order, even the trees will sing for joy! They will be singing, along with us, that Jesus Christ is Lord! He who conquered sin, brokenness, chaos, rebellion, and death is worthy of our worship.

As we consider how to live a life of worship, I encourage you to be both creative and orderly and to take part in acts of joyful resistance as you sing praises to the King!

Jaime Coffey
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATION

“It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor, Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor? –Mr. Rogers

Anyone who grew up watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood can hear the tune in their heads as their mind replays Mr. Rogers walking into his home and changing into his sweater and tennis shoes. While singing into the camera, he was preparing himself to go out into his neighborhood and learn the names and stories of those around him.

Last year at Christ the King we launched The Traveling Table, an initiative where we, like Mr. Rogers, went into our neighborhood to meet our neighbors, learn their names, and hear their stories. Several teams of people from Christ the King shared meals monthly with our neighbors to the north and south of 1201 Silber Road.

During these Traveling Table meals, I realized how scary and intimidating, yet rewarding and life-changing it is to live out Matthew 22:39: “to love your neighbor as yourself.” As I watched my sons seamlessly speak the language of soccer with the neighborhood children, my daughter welcome everyone as she handed out pizza, and the many others on our team laugh, talk, eat, and listen to our neighbor’s joys, struggles, worries, and fears, God reminded me why we worship a triune God. We were made to live in community.

As we continue The Traveling Table ministry this fall we encourage you to grab some friends and SIGN UP TODAY to be on a team this year. We need YOU to join us as we learn what it means to live out the Greatest Commandment. As Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon state in their book, The Art of Neighboring, “By becoming good neighbors, we become who we’re supposed to be. As a result, our communities become the places that God intended them to be.”

Mr. Rogers would end his opening song with “Won't you please, won't you please? Please, won't you be my neighbor?” God calls us to love (agapao - an action verb) because he first loved us. It is out of that love that we can, through faith, go out into our neighborhood and love those around us. What an awesome opportunity to share the incredible gospel message of a God who desires us to be in community with each other and, most importantly, with Him!

Kim Dolibois
MISSION & MERCY COORDINATOR

As our church focuses on the theme of “Life of Worship” this year, I have found myself reflecting on prayer as worship—specifically, considering what my prayers reveal about my worship of God. Much of my prayer life is sprinkled throughout each day as things come to mind that I want to bring to the Lord in prayer. Bringing our concerns and requests to the Lord constantly in prayer is a good thing; Scripture tells us to do this (Rom. 12:12), and time and time again we see Jesus making requests of the Father through prayer. As we bring our petitions to the Lord in prayer, we worship him by acknowledging both his sovereign rule over all things and our helpless dependence on him. 

I have noticed, however, that I am less likely to set aside time simply to enjoy God through prayer—and even less likely to prioritize this. Yet the prayer life of Jesus not only expressed his humanity and dependence on the Father, it also reflected his relationship with his Father: he wanted to spend time with the one he loved. We also see that, as Tim Keller points out, Paul never views prayer only as a way to bring requests to the Lord, but as a way to get more of God himself. How different my prayer life, and thus my worship, would look if I regularly prioritized time spent in prayer not only for the purpose of bringing needs to the Lord, but also because I simply want more of him.    

In a fast-paced culture like that of Houston, this can be a challenge. Work schedules, school schedules, social lives, and countless other things continually vie for our time and attention; but as someone once gently reminded me, “when something is important to us, we make time for it.” I have kept coming back to those words as I think about worship through prayer, and I want to invite you, too, to consider how you can prioritize prayer in your life. In an effort to help one another in this, I am excited to share that beginning September 6 our church will gather for Midweek Prayer on most Wednesdays at noon. Led by our pastors, we will not only take time to pray with and for one another, but also simply to enjoy God as we seek more of him through prayer. I hope you will join us as together we cultivate lives of worship.

Catherine Duffin
DIRECTOR OF SPIRITUAL CARE

We are taking this year at Christ the King to focus on the theme of a “Life of Worship.” One of my seminary professors, Sinclair Ferguson, once described worship in a way I had never considered. He said: “Worship is, essentially, the reverse of sin." Sin began (and begins) when we succumb to the temptation, ‘You shall be as gods.’ We make ourselves the center of the universe and dethrone God. By contrast, worship is giving God His true worth; it is acknowledging Him to be the Lord of all things and the Lord of everything in our lives. He is, indeed, the Most High God!”

At Christ the King, we want to be intentional about this life of worship we are living. We believe that the greatest joy is found in worshipping our God and Father, and His Son Jesus Christ in the power of His Holy Spirit. We believe mankind was made “to glorify God and to enjoy him forever" — which is another way of saying we were made to worship.

We also believe that worship is not a neutral exercise — we become ruled by whatever we worship. When we worship our schedules, our days become frantic and filled with one activity after the other. We become ruled by our schedule. When we worship our jobs, we feel chained to our smartphones, unable to be off the clock. We become ruled by our jobs. When we worship Jesus, we find that His rule is one of grace, joy, life-giving sacrifice, and eternal hope. He tells us in His Word that, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30) He is a good ruler. A ruler worthy of our worship.

All of the ministries of Christ the King are giving consideration to this annual focus—to what it means for us to live a life worship. I hope that you will find ways to get plugged into the life of our church this year, so that we may worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ together, and so that as we worship Him we may experience His life, His grace, and our hope in Him.

John Trapp
SENIOR PASTOR

The upcoming new ministry year launch marks a fresh opportunity for each of us, individually and as families, to discern where the Lord may be calling us to serve.

Christ the King believes that serving is an outpouring of our worship. Every act of service, every moment of reaching out to others, becomes a form of worship, an offering to the One who gave us life. We are not just a church; we are a movement of worshippers who extend love and compassion beyond our walls.

There are a myriad of ways to serve with our Mission Partners across the city. Whether it's through our own church initiatives such as the Traveling Table, which gathers neighbors around a table for fellowship and food, the Made With Love Meals Ministry that spreads nourishment and care, or through tutoring and mentoring at Housman Elementary that shapes young minds, there is a place for everyone to make a meaningful impact.

This year, we encourage you to ask yourself, "Where will I show up to love my neighbor?" Our city is waiting, our neighbors are longing, and together, we can create ripples of change. If you want to get connected, please reach out to me or Kim Dolibois, our local mission coordinator.

Thank you for your dedication, your love, and your commitment. May this year be filled with countless opportunities to worship through service, to love through action, and to shine the light of Christ in every corner of our lives.

Mary Elizabeth Heard
DIRECTOR OF MISSION & OUTREACH

Every time I read the Psalms, I am struck with the intense level of emotion in the language used. Per modern western standards, David can come across a bit melodramatic. However, I wonder if that raw, unfiltered emotion is not just a reflection of David’s heart for God, but a model of how the Church can and should worship God honestly. If you, like me, feel exposed or too vulnerable in expressing emotion (both positive and negative), I invite you to challenge yourself to be a more holistic worshipper, letting the liturgy and songs creep past the cerebral level and reach your heart at an emotional level.

Throughout our sermon series on the Psalms, we have seen David display a wide variety of emotions in different ways. So how do we become more honest worshippers and give others permission to be honest in their worship, able to freely feel inwardly and outwardly? For Presbyterians, it is an uphill battle; it is easy to cling to a tradition in which emotionalism is pushed aside in favor of a more stoic, “reverent” approach to worship. Although we should not be completely guided by our emotions, they are a vital to our being and should be a part of our worship. I encourage you to let not only the lyrics cause you to think more deeply, but to let each word and note move you at an emotional level. This can be through loud singing but can also be through silence; it can be standing with hands lifted or seated with head bowed in defeat; it can be in anger towards a God who seems silent or joy in life’s simple gifts. Our God invites us into worship and approaches us in any state we find ourselves. As a congregation, we should also model that approach, eager to celebrate with those in our community who are on a mountaintop; however, we must be equally as interested in drawing near to the person experiencing depression and anxiety, no matter how uncomfortable it is to sit with those feeling overwhelmed and hurt. God created us as emotional beings and we live and worship more completely when we express our emotions before God and each other.

Daniel Campbell
DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP AND ARTS