Bostwick Lake Congregational UCC Newsletter January 2025

Our Commitment Statement

Our church family will provide meaningful opportunities for learning, worshipping, fellowship and service. We live our faith guided by God’s love, welcoming all and helping everyone thrive personally and spiritually, so that together we can make a positive difference. This is our calling as a church of Jesus Christ.

January’s Mission for the Month

For the month of January the church family will continue to collect items for the Elderly Care Closet at Pine Rest and the Tim Cole Ministries. The following items are needed:

• Elderly Care Closet – gently used, soft shirts, sweaters, sweatshirts (shirts with hoods cannot be used), PJ pants and pull on pants.
• Tim Cole Ministries – needs paper products and personal care items.

We collected $245.00 for the UCC Christmas Fund in December!

Thank you for your support!

A Word from the Pastor

Epiphany is quite lengthy this year because Ash Wednesday doesn’t come until the first week in March. Our biblical readings for the season will be selected from the Revised Common Lectionary and the sermons will be developed from Dr. Jacob Needleman’s, What is God? I first encountered Needleman when my friend Dr. Steven Rowe, then chair of the Grand Valley State University Department of Philosophy, recommended Lost Christianity. Needleman made a compelling argument about the need to understand the primitive origins of Christianity to grasp its transformational power. The book is wonderful.

“Jerry” Needleman was the author of several acclaimed books, including Why Can’t We Be Good?, The American Soul, and Money and the Meaning of Life. He was a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University and the director of the Center for the Study of New Religions at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.

When he passed away at age 88 in 2022, one of his colleagues wrote, “In more than twenty books, spanning from 1970 to 2016, Jerry, as he was known to friends, defined the interior life of the mind, emotions, and body…and the individual’s fitful ability to see, to relate to life in fleeting ways that affirmed the human striving, and warranted belief in, the presence of a greater dimension of existence.”

In What is God? Needleman argues that it is necessary for every human to ask this question. He writes, “To think about God is to the human soul what breathing is to the human body. I say to think about God, not necessarily to believe in God – that may or may not come later.” He explores this thesis in a profound yet deeply personal inquiry. I hope you are moved by the sermon series.

May you be richly blessed, Jon

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Devotions

Hope is the theme for January. Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes. Hope is the power to believe that anything is possible – a fresh start, a second chance, or to wish upon a miracle.

The Biblical definition of hope is an expectation and anticipation that rests in what we believe. For the child of God, hope can be as strong as what we have learned about God’s goodness and faithfulness. Just as important, it can show the presence of the Spirit of God in our lives.

TO have hope is to want an outcome that makes your life better in some way. It not only can help make a tough present situation more bearable but also can eventually improve our lives because envisioning a better future motivates you to take the steps to make it happen.

Because January is seen as a new beginning, the Spiritual Life Team is suggesting you give some thought to what your personal hopes are for 2025, what your hopes are for BLUCC, our community and what your hopes are for the World.

Hoping you thrive spiritually in 2025, Your Spiritual Life Team – Gary Davis, Kathy Earle, Jenni Kotarski & Kathy Majewski

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January Verses

1/5/2025: Psalm 147:12-20, John 1: (1-9), 10-18 - Another Road

1/12/2025: Isaiah 62:1-5, Luke 3:16-17, 21-22 - Affirmed by Love

1/19/2025: Isaiah 62:1-5, John 2:1-11 - Extravagant Sign

1/26:2025: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 8-10, Luke 4:14-21 - Good News, Good Ways

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Business Team Notes

The church’s annual meeting is Sunday, January 12 following the morning service. New Team Leaders and other items will be discussed. The information and agenda will be emailed to everyone. More information in the February newsletter.

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“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”
(Jeremiah 29:11)

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
(1 Peter 1:3)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”
(Hebrews 11:1)

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope
(Romans 15:13)