Worship Companion – April 3 2022
Last week was the first of a two part series focused on life in the community of a local church. We focused exclusively on money and giving last week, mostly because it is a difficult subject to talk about in churches. This week, we are expanding our focus to include all the elements of our UTMC membership covenant, which is based on the guidelines laid out by our denomination, the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada.

The Harvesters, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Worship Companion – March 27 2022
The month of March is passed and so is the “Story of Israel” series. Wow. I had an awesome time reviewing our family history with you all, and seeing how the story all points toward Jesus filled me with hope for what God is doing and will still do in the world.

Spring Crocuses – Pastor Nate’s house
Worship Companion – February 20 2022
What can we say happened to Solomon? He possessed more wisdom than you or I had. He could assess a situation, see the various outcomes, and perceive the path of wisdom… yet he did not choose the path of wisdom at the most important moment. What happened? Did he abandon wisdom? Or was wisdom not enough?

Title: The Idolatry of King Solomon
Artist:
Lucas van Leyden
Date:
1514
Location:
Not on display
Century:
16th Century AD
Worship Companion – February 6 2022

Moses sees the Promised Land
Welcome to our third week in the “Story of Israel” series!
Someone might ask, “Why this series on Israel?” My short answer is that the Bible tells us one continues story of God’s work in the world, and while the climax of that story takes place in the New Testament, the majority of the action is set in the Old Testament. Why then, don’t we take more time to know it? Well, our time is short – weekly services don’t give us nearly enough time to lean all there is to discover about Jesus Christ, so understandably we do what we can and focus on Christ. This leads me to a challenge for you all this week. We have adult Sunday school, and we’ll be having another adult bible study in the near future. Consider taking some more time in your week to learn more about our faith and our story in these options as they become available. Want to know about other options, get in touch with me (Pastor Nate) any time!
Worship Companion – January 30 2022
“Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain…” Exodus 19:3a
Take a moment to imagine this mountain surrounded by think clouds and black smoke. Can you her the thunder shaking the mounting? The LORD came down upon this mountain and met with Moses. We sometimes relegate these historical events to the place in our imagination where we store fairy tales. This was not a fairy tale, though perhaps accessing that same part of our imagination is, indeed, the only way to bring the awesome reality of these events to life in our minds.

Title: Mount Horeb, Sinai
Date: 1858
Artist: Frith, Francis
Building: J. Paul Getty Museum
Object/Function: Photograph
Worship Companion – January 23 2022
I’m very excited to begin a new series with you all this week entitled “The Story of Israel.” Multiple times over the past months I have found myself in conversations with people and finding that to go to a deeper level of understanding the gospel people first need a clearer picture of the Old Testament. So often we reference or preach from the Old Testament in our services, but without a simple timeline and a clear understanding of the key events the message contains only a fraction of the power that it would have if people were more confident with the Old Testament and it’s trajectory. Read more
Worship Companion – Christmas 2021
Merry Christmas!
This week the Worship Companion is full of resources to enrich you and your family this week as you worship, watch, and pray together.

“Journey to Bethlehem” – Mexico – Cut Paper – No Date