Greetings!
I almost knocked down an elderly woman this week.

On Tuesday, I went to the gym around 6:45am. As I walked in, I was looking down at my phone to find the gym app to check in. I found it just as I heard a gentle voice say “excuse me.” I looked up and I was a split second away from plowing over a petite woman using a walker. I apologized and moved on.
Ironically, this happened as I’ve been reading The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World, a book about how we have lost connections with people around us as we spend too much time on our devices.

Author Andy Crouch reflects on the sad irony of our loneliness in the era of unlimited technological connections, citing a recent Surgeon General who wrote: “During my years caring for patients, the most common pathology I saw was not heart disease or diabetes; it was loneliness.”

Crouch encourages us to think of our technology as instruments, which need intentionality to be used well.
With Covid and with our busy lives and with the powerful lure of our screens, it’s becoming common for us to be lonely and disconnected from other humans, even those right around us. Don’t get me wrong, technology is great, but we have to make good choices and use it wisely and well.

Christian faith helps us make good choices, and being an active part of a church community provides much-needed community and relationship.

Jesus began his ministry by calling people together, inviting them to see and do new things. In the first chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus asks two disciples "What are you looking for?" and then he invites them into a new life and a new way of being together saying, “Come and see.”
Since almost knocking down the woman at the gym, I’ve been trying to be more focused on the people around me and to spend less time with my device and screens. This week’s Memory Verse invites us to keep alert and be loving.

So when you’re done with this email, take a break from your screen. Look up, look around, and say hello to someone. I hope to see you in church, or out in the community. Hopefully I will see you and won’t be staring at my phone!
On the journey together,
Charlie
PS--Last Sunday after worship, we had a retirement party for Steve Royalton, who served Covenant for 26 years as Youth Ministries Coordinator. Thank you, Steve! His last day of work was Wednedsay, August 10. Click on the photo to see more photos from the day. And it's not too late to send a card to Steve at the church office.
  • Rev. Tyler Nylen preaching: "When God Accepts Those We Won't" (Isaiah 56:1-8, Acts 8:26-40)
  • Summer School Sharing with Nan Schaefer
  • Music from Ben Welch, along with Nan Schaefer and the Lovell family quartet
  • Children's Time with Marge Resan
  • Kaleidoscope Kids during worship following Children's Time
  • In-Person and Livestream worship at 9:30am (ONE SERVICE)
  • Visit our Worship HQ for everything you need to worship with us online!

If you missed a service or would like to watch a service again, all livestreamed services are saved to our YouTube channel. Or you can give the sermons another listen on our sermon podcast!

Teens, parents and alums of our youth ministry are all welcome. We do have an interim staffing plan and we have ideas for how to get things going in September, which we’ll share at the sessions. Questions? Contact Pastor Charlie or Jo Wiersema.
This week Melissa Hinz reflects on love, sharing: sometimes the choice to love others is hard…really hard

Click on image above to read "A Call for Love."

Midweek Musings is a weekly Covenant blog with a variety of authors and spiritual topics. Feel free to leave a comment as you are moved. We hope that it blesses you this week and the weeks to come.
Interfaith PRIDE service
Thur, Aug 18

First Baptist Church, Madison
  • 5:00 pm Food Truck
  • 6:30 pm Service

Gather together for an interfaith event to celebrate and support the LGBTQIA+ community. Click on the image for more info
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Join our Children's and Youth team to work with Extended Hands to celebrate their back-to-school celebration. We are looking for volunteers of all ages to do a variety of tasks. Any volunteers under 13 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian. We will meet at Covenant at 11:15 to carpool to Northport Apts on 1740 Northport Dr. We’re also looking to collect school supplies by August 15! Supplies can be dropped off in the church office. Please sign up to volunteer or donate in the gathering space or at covenantmadison.org/youth.
With growing concern about climate change, we'll come together to read and discuss the acclaimed book Under the Sky We Make: How to Be Human in a Warming World, by Kimberly Nicholas. Click HERE for more info on this book. Join Pastor Charlie and several folks from Covenant's "Green Team" for this important discussion.