February is often a challenging month, with the cold and the dark. It’s even more challenging now, with Covid and ongoing political, economic, and racial issues.

Call a friend or family member and share your struggles. They will probably be struggling as well, and you can support each other. Professional help is available too.

Dane County 24-hour Crisis Line at 608-280-2600

United Way 211 Anonymous Resource and Referral Line--Dial 211

TEXT the Center for Suicide Awareness: "HOPELINE" to 741741

CALL The National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Covenant Presbyterian Church 608-233-6297

In our DISCIPLE Bible study, we’ve been reading the gospels, and I’m struck by how Jesus and John the Baptist call people to “repent.”

Traditionally we’ve understood repentance to be about turning away from bad things, but it’s also a change of mind or a change of direction--things which could help us get unstuck.

Now, in our challenging days as we approach the season of Lent, is a good time to be thinking about a change of mind or a change of direction. I invite you to consider a small change—which might be something like this:

Please don’t try to do all of these at once. Pick one, and ask God for strength to repent—to change direction and to welcome some light and love and new life.

I’ve been feeling a bit weary lately myself, so I’m writing for myself as much as anyone.

I miss being with people at church. The Session made the hard but appropriate decision last week to continue with online-only Sunday worship at least through the end of May because of Covid. So while that’s the right decision, it makes me sad.

And I’m sad for my kids. One is at college in St Louis, spending 90% of his time by himself in a dorm room, and the other is spending 90% of his high school senior year in his bedroom.

I’m sad as I miss going to restaurants and movie theaters. I miss having friends over for board games and meals. I miss shaking hands. I miss bringing reusable cloth bags to the supermarket.

I’m sad for our divided country, and I’m sad that those divisions have impacted our church. Some people are unhappy that we haven’t been outspoken enough on the issues of the day, and other folks think we’re being too political. As a result, some families are considering leaving Covenant.

As I was out shoveling last night, even though it was very cold, I looked at our house and smiled—grateful for my family and grateful that we haven’t taken down or turned out the holiday lights.

Then this morning I read our DISCIPLE assignment for today which included Jesus saying, “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12)

I’m grateful for that light, and even when things are rough, I know the light still shines. On the cloudiest day, the sun is still shining; we just can’t see it until the clouds pass.

It’s dark and cold and sad these days, but as the gospel tells us: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5).

This is good news! God is still with us. We are not alone. So we continue forward in hope. And at our house, we're going to keep our holiday lights on for a while.

On the journey together,

Charlie

PS--Last Sunday in our Zoom gathering for Adult Education, our focus was birds, with Covenant member Rosemary Jones sharing her photos and her wisdom. Click the photos above to see the whole album. Thank you Rosemary!

We’re looking for 28 people to each take one chapter of Matthew to write out by hand and add any appropriate underlining, bolding, drawings, comments, questions, etc. Click HERE to learn more and sign up!

Covenant will be hosting a blood drive on February 11 from 1:00-6:00 pm. See page 5 of the latest Caravan for instructions on reserving your time slot.

Click HERE to read Covenant's 2020 Narrative Annual Report. It is also available on our website (see the "Resources" section of the homepage), with hard copies available for pick-up at the church office. The Financial Report is not yet available, but will be added to CONNECTIONS next week and to the same place on the website as the narrative report.

We are grateful for the COVID vaccine and we're compiling a photo album of Covenant members getting their vaccines to celebrate!

Pastors Charlie and Jeff both got their first vaccines this week. Click on bluc box below to their pix along with several other new additions, or to add yours. Or email Lexie Ofe and she will add it for you!). For the safety of your personal information, please do not add or submit a photo of your vaccination card. (Or hide the personal info.) Thank you!

Have you been keeping up with the "Words of Wisdom, Words of Faith" congregational devotional? We'd love for you to read this special devotional with us--it ends on Feb. 14!

The Lussier Center sent us this special thank you for our sponsorships of their annual Christmas gift-giving program! 

The church building is closed, but Sunday School continues at your home with one Church Carry Out bag filled with six lessons journeying through Lent and Easter.

●The lessons are for 3-year-old through 5^th grade children

●Order your FREE family take out bag online HERE

●Place your order soon so we know how many bags to prepare!

Due to the extremely cold weather, we will not be gathering in the courtyard Saturday evening as planned. Instead, we’ll have the Super Saturday Super Zoom! This will happen at 6:30 Saturday evening.

Middle School Youth Connection will have their own Super Saturday Super Zoom on Saturday at 4:00. Youth Ministries Coordinator Steve Royalton has sent out the links to families.

Soul Sisters will gather remotely again on Sunday, February 14^th; the Zoom chat begins at 7:00pm each second Sunday of the month.

The Bible Project Character of God Series

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83189424277

Bill and Helen Birkemeier celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on February 3rd! Helen was the organist at Covenant from approximately 1960 to 1990. Bill built the church’s first pipe organ! Covenant joins with them in celebrating their love.

Hey Covenant, another friendly reminder to be cautious when opening emails! No staff from Covenant will ever solicit gift cards or money from you--especially not in an email riddled with grammatical errors and sketchy requests! Double-check senders' email addresses to make sure they're correct and trusted!