November 2017

Jottings...

The next two months are chock full of ways to keep busy. We all know how demanding it can be from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day with family events, end of year work responsibilities, shopping, decorating and church. We will start off our church focus with All Saints Day and remembering TD Little and Ronnie Elliott. I am excited about our Advent series – Darkness to Light.

On November 6 and 13 we have meetings scheduled in Eargle Hall at 7:00 pm for all who are serving at Cole. Not just the committee heads but our committee members in any capacity. The Reverend Angela Hollar from the conference will be with us to lead us through some reflection on where we are as a church and where we want to go. She serves in the Western North Carolina Conference Church Legacy Initiative.

The beginning of November marks a completion of my first 3 years as your pastor here at Cole. We are moving ahead into my 4th year. Some of you count your time at Cole in decades! That’s not a comment on anyone’s age but a reflection on your and God’s faithfulness.

When I came to Cole I did not believe we were simply marking time as a church until we could no longer function. I still do not believe that. Who we are in Christ and the spiritual gifts he has given us and where we are located as a church I believe offer us a chance to continue doing what we do well and to explore new opportunities as well. That means taking care of one another as the congregation we are and reaching out to a hurt and lost group of people all around us in Derita.

As is often the case: scripture can make this same point even better than my feeble words. From Colossians1: 9,10 (God’s Word for Today translation):

9 For this reason we have not stopped praying for you since the day we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through every kind of spiritual wisdom and insight. 10 We ask this so that you will live the kind of lives that prove you belong to the Lord. Then you will want to please him in every way as you grow in producing every kind of good work by this knowledge about God.

- Pastor Brian