July 1, 2026
Beloved of God,
Covenant means to be a certain kind of church: Bible-based, Spirit-driven and Christ-centered.
To be Christ-centered means to be devotedly seeking to know Him better and better, and to be devotedly seeking to help others know Him better (or come to know Him for the very first time).
Who do we believe He is? Standing in the tradition of classic Christian orthodoxy, we believe He is, as the Nicene Creed puts it, the “one Lord, Jesus Christ, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father”. That is who He is; and what He did to save us was leave heaven, become truly human, die for us, rise from the grave for us and return to heaven where He prays for us, with the promise to come again in glory to judge everyone and to establish God’s reign.
That is who Jesus is theologically. Experientially He is for many of us the visible heart of God and the perfect Companion who never leaves our side. He is stability in the chaos, light in the darkness, strength for the weak, and hope for the discouraged and despairing. He is for us life itself and the way forward through all our days. He’s the best gift of God, and the best gift we can share with anyone.
So let us, this summer, burn hot with a passionate zeal to deepen our own closeness to Christ and to broaden our outreach, that through us He might introduce Himself to others.
This will not happen by our straining and striving, but by our residing in Him as a branch resides in a vine, receiving His life force, and relying on His power to work its wonders through us.
That’s why Christ, the night before His crucifixion, told His disciples, “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t fear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant.” (John 15:4-5b, in The Message paraphrase)
To a fruitful Summer harvest centered in Christ!
Warmly in Christ,
Rob & Adele
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