Serena Mills – Page 8

Healthy Church—Easter in Baguio

During Holy Week (also known as Passion Week) the pastoral team of GC Baguio takes time to be especially intentional in the preparation for the worship and liturgy of our gatherings. Traditionally and culturally, in the Philippines, Holy Week is not just a holiday; it is widely observed by Christians. Thus, we are making the most of the celebrations throughout the week. We hope they will be avenues where our members and the visitors of our church get to be immersed in the gospel message of Jesus Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection.

We have three special worship celebrations – Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Easter Sunday. (For Good Friday, we provide a printed devotional of the “Seven Last Words” for our members to use in their personal times of reflection or family gatherings.) These special worship celebrations are anticipated annually. Our worship hall is set up with decorations according to the theme of the service. The songs, prayers, confessions, scripture readings, and sermon are aligned with the Revised Common Lectionary and the worship/liturgical calendar.

It is our prayer as a local congregation that through our expressions of worship and witness, we grow more and more in appreciation of the truth of Jesus being the center of the center of our life and church ministry life.

By Justine Paolo “Jep” Parcasio, Associate Pastor
Baguio, Philippines

Healthy Church—Easter in Bogotá

We began reading about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday in preparation for Holy Week. One of our favorite times of year is Holy Week because we get to spend it with the people we care about. It’s a unique week that always involves deep spiritual reflection in addition to spending time with loved ones and church members.

As part of our holy week celebrations, we read and studied the Gospel stories about Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. We also studied his resurrection, which completely altered the course of human history! On Maundy Thursday, we studied its meaning and prayed together. On Good Friday, we gathered for a very special service. There were conversations and Bible readings that complemented the truth of how Jesus loves us with his divine love. In addition, we celebrated the Lord’s Supper, worshiping and pondering the significance of Jesus’ sacrifice.

There was a special feeling this Holy Week as we prepared the songs with the worship team and other activities in different ministries for each gathering. We love how we were able to connect through the preparations. We also shared a meaningful time praying for those who are struggling because of this world’s challenges. We celebrated Jesus’ resurrection and life.

Greetings from Bogotá, Colombia!

By Juan Carlos “Juanka” Barrero, Hope Avenue Champion
Bogotá, Columbia

Devotional—Expectation of the Ascension

After his resurrection, Jesus spent another forty days preparing the apostles for his ascension and for Pentecost, when they would be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach ²until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. ³After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. ⁴While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; ⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Acts 1:1-5 NRSV

During these forty days of Eastertide, may we focus on the kingdom’s movements in our lives and in the world today. What were Jesus’ instructions to his apostles? Where do you see God’s clear actions in your life through the Holy Spirit?

The Ascension is a crucial step in the incarnation of Jesus! Without the ascension, his incarnation isn’t complete. When he ascended, Jesus took us to the Father’s presence. May 12 is Ascension Sunday — may we spend extra time focusing on Jesus’ teaching to his apostles and the importance of his ascension.

Prayer:
Father, you have received the glorified Jesus into the Godhead as our High Priest, Mediator, and Intercessor. You have seated us in the heavenlies with him. We praise you for such an amazing plan and ask you to increase our understanding of the Ascension. In the name of the ascended Jesus, we pray. Amen.

By Glen A Weber, GCI Central Region Support Team
Aurora, CO, US

New Wine

Dear GCI Family and Friends,

As Jesus was sharing the good news about the kingdom of God with his disciples, he shared the following:

He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’” (Luke 5:36-39 NIV)

What Jesus was saying is simple: you can’t take the arrival of Jesus and his kingdom and simply put it on top of the Jewish Pharisaic system and traditions. It won’t fit.

Something new was happening. There was a new covenant. The old covenant paved the way with sacrificial and ceremonial laws constantly pointing toward the need for a Messiah/Savior. And when Jesus the Messiah/Savior came, he referenced the old, and he accomplished what the symbols can only point toward

His classic teaching is the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus didn’t abolish the law, he said he was the fulfillment of the law. (He alone was perfect and without sin.) He reminded the audience of what they were told in the past under Moses, and that now he was moving beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. The new covenant and law of love that Jesus was bringing couldn’t be absorbed totally by the old. There had to be a new and better agreement – hence the idea of new wine.

By extension, you can’t have Christ and squeeze him into your old life and expect that to work. As the apostle Paul explains, when you are in Christ you become a new creation. You are forgiven of past sins. And by the power of the Spirit, you are being transformed into the image of Jesus, day-by-day. He spells this out for the Corinthian church.

But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV)

Paul is saying you are forgiven, transformed (moving from glory to glory) and made the righteousness of God because you are in Jesus. An old, dried out wineskin cannot contain this. It demands a new, flexible, expandable wineskin.

When GCI (formerly Worldwide Church of God) came to Jesus and the understanding of the new covenant, did we think Jesus could fit into our old containers, our old system and traditions? We certainly tried to retrofit Jesus into the old traditions, especially holding onto our Sabbath-keeping and Old Testament Holy Days.

Thank God that he has enlightened us to adopt the Christian calendar that displays Jesus as the center of the center. As we cycle through the year, we are constantly remembering our center – Jesus.

We worship him for his incarnation; Immanuel, God with us.
We worship him for his endurance through the passion week and his sacrificial death on the cross.
We worship him for his triumphal resurrection on Easter Sunday.
We worship him for ascension to heaven where he continually intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father.
We worship him for his earthly ministry, where he revealed the Father, proclaimed his eternal kingdom, and made the way for the Holy Spirit to be poured out at Pentecost.
We worship him for establishing his church and being the head over the church for all ages. We worship him as we anticipate his glorious return and setting up the eternal kingdom.

See the theme here? We worship Jesus. As washed, set apart disciples of Jesus, we embrace him as the new wine. We remember and receive him every time we gather at the Lord’s Table. And as he said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Take and drink.” May we be the flexible, expandable wineskins who gladly receive Jesus and worship him in all seasons.

Embracing and enjoying the new wine,
Greg Williams

LiLY Women’s Conference

We would love to invite you to celebrate our 20^th year reunion.

2024 REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

20th Annual LiLY Women’s Conference
April 26-28, 2024
Embassy Suites in Independence, Ohio (in person)

“REUNION”

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. Luke 15:20 (NIV)

Registration Fee:
$75 / $85 – Take advantage of our early bird pricing of $75 and register by Friday, April 5, 2024. The registration fee covers the meeting facilities, speakers, conference bag filled with goodies, plus lunch and dinner on Saturday.

Registration for ages 13-17 is at a discounted rate of $50.

Online registration ends on April 14, 2024.

Hotel Reservation/Cost:

Embassy Suites, 5800 Rockside Woods Blvd. Independence, Ohio

Overnight hotel rate is $129 per night, per suite, 4-person room (total with tax is $303.15 for both nights – breakfast & manager’s reception included).

Click here to make your reservation online.

Group Name: LiLY Women’s Conference

Group Code: LWC

Central Reservations Number: 1-866-344-7548

Deadline for hotel reservations at the special rate is Friday, April 5, 2024.

Register today online at gccle.church/lily

If not registering online: Mail your registration fee and make checks payable to:

Grace Communion Cleveland, 4499 Canterbury Road, North Olmsted, Ohio 44070

(Please include your name, address, phone number, emergency contact name & address, and if you are staying for Saturday night dinner)

If you have any questions, please email us at: LiLYwomensministry@gmail.com

Rosa Hulse
Women’s Ministry Leader
Grace Communion Cleveland

Like/Follow us on Facebook at LiLYWomensConference.

Prayer Guide—April 2024

“Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to [inhabit] earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord’s Prayer is about.” ― N.T. Wright

Join us in participating with Father, Son, and Spirit, as they bring the kingdom near. Download our April Prayer Guide and come alongside our congregations worldwide in sharing the gospel of Jesus far and wide.

Never miss a day by receiving this Prayer Guide straight to your email inbox before the first of the month! Sign up here.

Click here or the image below to get the full prayer guide.

GCI Testify

Discover the transformative power of Christ’s love in our new series, GCI Testify. Join us as members from our global fellowship share testimonies of their experiences with Jesus through GCI congregations and ministries. Don’t miss the opportunity to witness firsthand the impact of the Spirit in and through GCI.

Meet Mary Robinson

“Any job that God has given you to do will be a blessing for you and everyone involved. Know that what may seem like a failed event to you is God getting you ready for his future work through you. So just keep working.”

Check out the latest GCI Profile to get to know Mary Robinson, Love Avenue Champion in Ladson, South Carolina. To read her full profile, click here or the image below.

Celebrating Baptisms

Assistant Pastor Tammy Tkach, Pastor Linda Sitterley, member, & Associate Pastor Aleck Thompson

Join us in celebrating the recent baptisms in GCI.

Six people were baptized in Ghana.

Two people were baptized in the Republic of South Africa.

Two people were baptized in the United States — one in GC Woodbine, GA and one in GC River Road, OR. (See image above.)

The Art of Mentoring

We are excited to announce a new resource: The Art of Mentoring.

Join us for this series that is shining a light on the impactful mentoring stories within GCI worldwide! In our first installments, President Greg Williams and Ministry Development Coordinator, Cara Garrity, offer insights into the series. The next video is a compelling story of multi-generational pastoral mentorship in the Philippines.

Ready to be inspired?

Click here to view the first two videos in the series. More videos will be added over the next four months.

Author: Serena Mills