Rejoice!

Good Morning All,

I like to think that Covenant has an ongoing “gratitude journal…” On a daily basis there is so much for which to be grateful. We are truly blessed in so many ways…too numerous to mention them all. But here are a few ways in which we have been most recently blessed:

Yesterday was a great day! I got to meet and hold Charles Warren Linguist, our newest addition to our church family. I was there when he met his 2 big sisters, Lillian & Audrey, and shared in their delight; and to take some family photos.
Rejoice!

It was only 2 weeks ago that I also held Magaina Martha Hamm. Her twin brother, Garrick, needed to remain in the hospital nursery when I was there. And we’re grateful and happy that Garrick and Magaina are now at home together with their older brother and sister, Yavin & Jadzia.
Rejoice!

Just last Saturday, 25 Covenant children and friends met at the NC Food Bank to help sort 3,200#s of pasta that will feed hundreds of families in the area. As a church family we also donated 191# of food for the backpack project, knowing that a lot of children will have nutritious food to eat on the weekends.
Rejoice!

This past Sunday was yet another of those “great getting’ up mornin’s” around here. Marilyn Williams brought a message of “Hope, Trust and Faith,” at the 11am worship; giving us much to think about in our relationship with God and one another as individuals and as a church family. Rejoice!

Immediately following worship, we reconvened the called congregational meeting to consider the call of an Associate Minister. We are pleased to have extended the call to Randy Holste as our Associate Minister with Youth & Children. And we are also pleased that he has accepted this call and look forward to serving with him. :)
Rejoice!

We are so very blessed and there are many reasons for great rejoicing in our own lives and families and in our church family. One of the greatest lessons I have learned about rejoicing comes from a young child in the Christmas Pageant at First Presbyterian Church in High Point , NC :

The young children were dressed as the animals, running down the aisles toward the manger. The little brown cow was a 4 year old boy whose costume was waaaaaay tooooo big for him. He had to hold it up from the bottom so he could run. He tripped and fell and got right back up again and again until he arrived at the manger. He was rushing to the microphone to say his speaking part. He gathered his costume up around him, stood up on his tip-toes and proudly shouted out, “We-joice! We-joice!” :)

Yes, we can rejoice and be exceedingly glad on our own…but I believe it is a much richer and more meaningful experience when we We-joice together! We-joice! God is with us…

Blessings, Joanne