Weekly News | 12.5.25

…It has a lot of ingredients!

First up - Chili Cook Off is Sunday! If you attend the 9, plan to circle back around 12:35 for a time together should be savored. If you attend the 11, bring your chili, fixin’s or desserts with you! St. Nick will be in attendance…

Second, I want to share with you a brief word from our Treasurer, Jason Rottinger!

As we enter the Advent season and approach the close of 2025, we give thanks for the many ways God has blessed our parish and sustained our ministries.

We also celebrate the generosity of our parish through its faithful contributions to the Thanks Be To God (TBTG) campaign, which has allowed us to own and continue to build a permanent church home. And as the campaign comes to a close at the end of the year, we invite you to prayerfully consider a year-end contribution, supporting the work God has entrusted to us.

Your generosity strengthens our common life together and enables us to share the love and hope of Jesus with our community.

Year-end gifts (whether to the TBTG campaign or general fund) help our church continue its mission of worship, service, and compassionate outreach in Christ’s name. Gifts other than cash (e.g., stocks, bonds, annuities and other assets) may also be contributed.  Please reach out me or Parish Council with any questions.

Third (and speaking of generosity), I want to highlight an article penned by our own Director of Children’s Formation, Briana Hayes, for our diocesan newsletter. Here’s an excerpt for you: “The event was more than a fundraiser—it was a formative experience. Children learned what it means to give generously, heard from our partners in their classes about what it can look like to live ‘on mission,’ and saw their creativity as a reflection of God’s own image.”

Finally, our beloved Steve Teng will be rotating off the Parish Council in the next week. I am thankful for all who have served on Parish Council, and those who served while we were without a rector - well, let’s just say we count that year like we count dog years! It was more than a single year of labor and time and love and prayer. Here’s a note from Steve:

Dear CotC Community,

I am writing to share that, alongside church leadership, I have been discerning what I sense is an invitation to step away from my role as a member of the Parish Council.

It has been nearly four years since our family joined CotC. Through shared meals, opportunities to serve, our children’s baptisms, and worship together, our family has grown more deeply in love with Jesus and with this community. My time serving on the Parish Council has been a meaningful part of that journey.

As I step away, I do so with deep gratitude—for a community led, governed, and served by faithful women and men, and for all who have served on the Parish Council, past and present.

Our family looks forward to all that the Lord will continue to do at CotC in the season ahead, and to the fresh ways we may be invited to participate with you.

Peace of Christ,
Steve

I am so deeply appreciative of the Teng family, and the ways they love their community in word and deed. Please join me in thanking Steve for serving on the Parish Council!

See you Sunday,

Sarah+