Dear CCOV Family,

Prayers for a blessed, faith-enriching Holy Week. I look forward to seeing you all Easter Sunday when the sanctuary will be fragrant with Easter flowers and filled with the beautiful music of John Good and our own Larry Loeber! This Sunday’s sermon title is The Miracle of Resurrection, and the scripture readings are John 20:1-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:12-22. The resurrection is the culmination of Jesus’ seven miracles (or signs) in John’s Gospel that I have been preaching through for our Lenten theme. All of the other miracles have been pointing to and leading up to this one. On Sunday you will hear all about how the resurrection is cosmic in its scope, the centerpiece of Christianity, and the focus of our hope in both this life and beyond.

As is our recent tradition at CCOV, the Sunday after Easter, April 23, is Holy Humor Sunday, so please get your (clean) jokes ready to share during worship. We enjoy this thanks to a 1988 a group called the “Fellowship of Merry Christians,” who resurrected an ancient custom of celebrating the Sunday after Easter with joy, laughter, parties, picnics, singing, dancing, and playing jokes upon one another. They engaged in such joking because they thought God had played a practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead: For this very reason, early church theologians like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom called the resurrection “Risus paschalis” or “Easter laugh.” We typically have some very good laughs together on Holy Humor Sunday!

See you in Church!
Grace and Peace,
Rev. Sandi

Dear CCOV Family,
Spring has long since sprung across the Valley and is now underway up here in Prescott. My peach tree is in glorious pink bloom, and I awake to quail calls each morning. Except for all the pollen, it’s a great time of year!

I especially love the energy in worship that this season affords. On Sunday we celebrate our special relationship with Boy Scout troop 649, and you can expect to see these impressive young men involved in our service. Jenn Newman will enrich our worship with her incredible voice and will feature some songs of Jerome Kern. I am preaching on Jesus’ miracle of raising Lazarus, and you can read ahead in John 11:1-45. After the service, the Boy Scouts will treat us to a pancake breakfast!

Then can you believe that Palm Sunday and Easter come next? Be sure to put in your order for Easter flowers now so that the sanctuary is filled to overflowing with color and sweet fragrance. Spring flowers are such a fitting way to celebrate that great day of resurrection, when Jesus rises from the tomb in triumph. John Good will return as our Easter guest soloist. How about inviting a friend to church that day, because something as good as the Easter story must be shared!

I look forward to seeing you in church.
Rev. Sandi

Dear CCOV Family,

It’s hard to believe that we are nearly half way through the church season of Lent, which this year goes from Ash Wednesday, March 1 until dawn on Easter Sunday, April 16!   Lent is traditionally described as lasting for forty days, in commemoration of the forty days Jesus spent fasting in the desert, before he began his public ministry.  The English word “Lent” is a shortened form of the Old English word “Lenten,” which meant “spring season.”  The word may contain a reference to the lengthening of days characteristic of spring.

Appropriately, we are approaching the midpoint of the Lenten sermon series on the Miracles/Signs of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of John.  Rev. Len Silvester will be with you this Sunday, March 19 preaching on Jesus’ Feeding of the 5000, found in John 6:5-14.  His sermon title is “Here’s to the Leftovers!”  On Sunday, March 26, I have decided to preach on Jesus’ restoring sight to a man blind from birth instead of the sign of him walking on water, as I had announced previously.  You may want to read the entirety of John Chapter 9 in preparation, though I am going to focus on the first 12 verses.  Always read John’s Gospel with an awareness that much is going on just beneath the surface.  I will keep unpacking the deep meanings for you as we finish the series.

I bid you grace and peace as you continue your Lenten journey.

Rev. Sandi

Dear CCOV Family,
Can you believe that the season of Lent is already upon us? March 1 is Ash Wednesday! Ash Wednesday heralds a journey that takes Christians through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and on to the celebration of Easter Sunday. One way you might observe Lent this year is by following a special devotional guide—options are plentiful if you check a book store or on line. I bought one on Amazon a few weeks ago called The Miracles of Jesus: Meditation and Prayers for Lent by Wessel Bentley. For each day of Lent, I have a scripture reading followed by a brief meditation, reflection, focus, and a prayer. The idea is to engage in something that will, in a disciplined way, encourage personal and spiritual transformation.

For a Lenten preaching theme this year, I am responding to a request to focus on selected miracles (or signs) of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of John. Here is a forecast for each Sunday so that you can read ahead in your Bibles:

March 5: Water into Wine, John 2:1-12
March 12: Healing the Paralytic at Bethesda, John 5:1-15
March 19: Feeding the Five Thousand, John 6:5-14 (Rev. Len Silvester will be preaching!)
March 26: Jesus Walking on Water, John 6:16-24
April 2: The Raising of Lazarus, John 11:1-45 (Boy Scout Sunday!)
On April 9 (Palm Sunday) and April 16 (Easter), I will use traditional texts, which I will announce later.

John records seven signs, which have deep significance in this most theological of gospels. I will unpack most of these signs in the coming weeks by explaining how these complex events challenged people’s attitudes and beliefs as well as touched people through healing, multiplication, and ultimately resurrection. I look forward to a special Lenten season with all of you!
Peace,
Rev. Sandi

Dear CCOV Family,

It was so fun catching up with you all last Sunday during the well-attended potluck!  Again, I am reminded of what fabulous cooks we have at CCOV, and it was great to see Hayden Hall so full of friendly faces.  I want to give you a forecast of my sermon topics through the end of February as well as for the season of Lent.  The lectionary places us in the gospel of Matthew, and for the next few weeks I will continue preaching through significant portions of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Last week I focused on the Beatitudes.  On Feb. 5 I will preach on being salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13-20), Feb. 12 on choosing a good life (Matthew 5:21-27), and Feb. 19 on breaking the cycle (Matthew 5:38-48).  Feel free to read ahead! For the season of Lent, my theme will be the Miracles of Jesus, and I will unpack a miracle each week.  Jesus’ miracles were complex events that challenged attitudes and beliefs through healing, multiplication, and resurrection; but ultimately, they restored a person to community and liberated him or her for service in God’s kingdom.  Together our biblical literacy is really going to increase in the coming months!  Always remember that I am here for your pastoral needs—I’m just a phone call away and can be in the Valley in just a few hours.

Grace and Peace,

Rev. Sandi

Greetings CCOV Family,

I have to say that these winter months are my favorite times of the year at CCOV!  Our seasonal members return, energy builds during worship, and our annual meeting gives us an opportunity to look back over the past year and forward to the year before us.  Looking backward and forward during the month of January is a fairly traditional practice.  Janus, the god of ancient Roman religion and myth with which the month of January is associated, has two faces—one to look backward and one to look forward.  While I certainly don’t believe in him, I appreciate the poetic symbolism of Janus’ association with beginnings, gates, time, doorways, and transition at this time of year.

 As I look back over 2016, I can say that I feel good about the successful year of transition just behind us.  Some of our former members have returned, our budget is stable, and we are hopeful that we can continue to be a beacon of hope in our community.  In many ways, we reinvented ourselves in 2016.  We went to a different meeting format through the summer with Bible study, fellowship breakfasts, and mission planning.  We explored and decided upon mission projects that a congregation of our size and age can accomplish.  I solicited congregational input for our worship format and made the suggested changes to the bulletin with good effect.  Responding to preaching requests, I took us through Philippians in the spring and Romans in the fall, as well as addressed particular topics you have always wanted to hear about.  Our music program continues to be spectacular.  What’s more, it seems that we have a better sense of who we are as a congregation:  We are not so much a community of activists as we are caregivers: we care for our community through our mission projects and we care for one another. 

Looking forward to 2017, we have much hope!  We have hope of growing in our faith, adding new members, accomplishing our mission goals, and making the needed repairs to our buildings.  Of course, hope only becomes reality when we pledge our commitment, presence, service, and money.  I have faith that all of us will continue to step up and move CCOV UCC well into the future!

Blessings,

Rev. Sandi        

Dear CCOV Family,

Happy New Year to all of you!  Clint and I came back refreshed after a truly educational, eye-opening cruise to Mexico and Central and South America.  In Peru we were struck by the poverty and rambling shanty towns: humble homes behind gates, iron bars, concertina wire, and even electric fences.  We always hear how good we have it in this country (especially in our part of Scottsdale), but the reality of poverty in so many corners of the world truly hits home when you see it stretching on endlessly with your own eyes. Some parts of Mexico, Peru, and Nicaragua that we saw were especially poor.  Helping the poor is a consistent theme in scripture, and we will have many new and on-going opportunities to do so as a church in 2017, so stay tuned.   

It was good to return just in time for our annual Christmas Eve service featuring lessons and carols and the lovely music of our own Larry Loeber and visiting soloist, Jen Newman.  The sanctuary looked stunning with all of its Christmas decorations.  Unfortunately, what goes up must also come down.  I hope some of you can stay after church on January 8^th and start taking down the decorations and/or stop by during the week (after 1/8) to complete the task.  Speaking of Sunday, January 8^th, our conference minister, Rev. Dr. Bill Lyons, will be preaching and leading an Epiphany-themed worship.  Clint and I are flying to Pennsylvania for the weekend to celebrate his dad’s surprise 75^th birthday, but after that, I’ll be in the pulpit more consistently! 

I look forward to a great year with you all at CCOV, fulfilling our mission of “sharing Jesus’ message of love, hope, peace, and joy with all persons.”  As always, please let me know if you are need of support, prayer, etc.  You are all very dear to me. 

Blessings,

Rev. Sandi

I keep wondering what Christmas preparations will look like in Mexico and Central and South America.  Weather and seasons, it seems, are so tied in to our celebration of holidays.  Do they send Currier and Ives Christmas cards in Peru, I wonder?  As I pack my suitcase for our trip, I question if I should take my snowflake pin and matching earrings that I like to wear this time of year—or will they be out of place as I cross the Equator?  I started thinking about seasonal associations with religious holidays a few years ago when a seminary friend asked how differently Easter would be celebrated in southern parts of the world, where it was fall in March or April.  The Easter season in the Southern Hemisphere would not support the association we Northern Hemisphere folk make with resurrection, renewal, and new life—you know, with all those eggs and crocuses and baby bunnies.  And so I am curious to note the differences in Christmas preparation traditions as we sail far to the south, all the way to Chile, where it will be summer.

I remind myself that Easter or Christmas associations tied in with the natural order are not the matters of real significance.  What’s important to reflect on this time of year is that the Word became Flesh:  God became one of us.  We need no association with snowflakes, cold weather, Currier and Ives, parties, sleds or sleighs (as much as I like all of these things).  In fact, the coming of the babe in a manger wasn’t dependent on any season.  He came, rather, in the “fullness of time.”

As I meet other Christians in Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru, and Chile, I will ask about and observe their traditions.  I will remember first, however, what truly unites us all: the greatest story ever told.  You know—the story of a God who came to earth, showed us what God is like, performed miracles, died for sin, and then rose three days later.  I invite you to prepare your hearts during the rest of Advent, this season of reflection, and contemplate how Jesus came in all humility to serve and suffer so that we might truly live.  I’ll see you Christmas Eve!

Rev. Sandi

It’s as if we’ve barely wiped the Halloween makeup off our faces, and now it’s time to pick out our Christmas trees!  The Thanksgiving turkey is taking up room in the refrigerator, and already Advent is upon us!  Advent, derived from the Latin adventus, means “coming” or “arrival.” Advent is the beginning of the liturgical church year for most churches in the Western tradition. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve.  Advent’s liturgical color is purple, a color associated with royalty and power.  In ancient times purple was the most costly dye.  Jesus came to be the royal king of the universe, and that is why you will see a rich purple cloth on communion tables and ministers wearing purple, liturgical stoles.  Advent is a season that I love, not just because of the joyous expectation of preparation for Christmas, but also for the deep spiritual significance of waiting for the light to flood the dark—God’s miraculous “in-breaking” into this world.  I look forward to celebrating the first Sunday in Advent with you, and my sermon will focus on hope even in the face of negativity.  Rev. Len Silvester will celebrate the next three Sundays of Advent with you, as Clint and I are going on a long-planned trip to Central and South America!  Advent will be a meaningful time at CCOV and sure to enrich your spiritual journey.  See you on Sunday and then again on Christmas Eve!

Grace and Peace,

Rev. Sandi    

Our Sunday morning journey through Romans finds us aptly at Romans 13:1-7, a scripture in which the Apostle Paul addresses Christians and the state.  His message is that we must respect it!  I will talk about the entire context of the passage in church on Sunday and hope you will find insight and encouragement.  However you are feeling regarding the outcome of this election, and I know that our opinions are varied at CCOV UCC, I want to remind you that we are not defined by the outcome of this election—but by the God whom we follow.  God’s reign is the only one that is ultimate and eternal.  We are called to live in unity in a governed community, to appreciate the good that we have, and to be agents of change when we see oppression around us.

Rev. Sandi