Weekly Update December 30

On Christmas Day in 1521 Andreas Karlstadt administered the Lord's Supper to 2,000 people in Wittenburg, Germany. What was so special about this? The people in attendance had never heard the Lord's Supper administered to them in German before. According to the Roman Catholic Church, the Lord's Supper was only to be administered in Latin. The people in attendance had never been allowed to handle the bread for themselves, only the priests, less the common people should profane the body of Christ. The people in attendance had also never partaken of the cup, only the bread. The Roman Catholic Church taught that only priests could receive the cup since the common man might accidentally spill a drop of Christ's precious blood on the ground in their clumsiness.
One historian writes of this momentous event: "For the first time in their lives 2,000 assembled people heard in their own tongue the words, 'this is the cup of my blood of the new and eternal testament, spirit and secret of the faith, shed for you to the remission of sins.' One of the communicants so trembled that he dropped the bread. Carlstadt told him to pick it up; but he who had the courage to come forward and take the sacred morsel into his own hand from the plate, when he saw it desecrated on the floor was so overcome by all the terror of sacrilege to the body of God that he could not bring himself to touch it again."

This account may seem foreign to us, but it illustrates well the light that the Protestant Reformation brought into the life of a dark and cold Church. This account also reveals for us something that we severely lack. What would our churches look like today if we recognized the weight of the eternal things we were dealing with just like this man who couldn't even bring himself to touch the bread because he thought himself unworthy? It would be a good testimony to an unbelieving world if our actions showed that we believed the truths so often on our lips.

This Sunday we will continue our Family Sunday School Class at 10am
on the bottom floor of the fellowship hall building (the gym) and Refuge Hangout will continue this Sunday night from 6:00-7:30pm.

On Friday, January 10th, all first-rotation Hyfi volunteers are invited to the Tucker's house at 6:00pm for dinner
(117 Bluebell Ridge Ln, Weaverville). This will be a time to thank our volunteers, a time of fellowship, and also a time to reorganize and prepare for the relaunch of Hyfi on the 15th. We will continue with our rotation-one volunteers through the end of January. Beginning February 5th, we will start a new six-week rotation with the rotation-two volunteers. An updated calendar showing the exact rotations until the end of the school year can be found here. Right now the last week of Wednesday night ministries is scheduled for June 11th.

Beginning Saturday, January 18th, from 7am to 8am we will be launching a men's Bible study on the book "Home Reformation"
(location tbd). Once a month for the next year we will be considering what it means to have and lead a biblical household. At our first meeting, we will be covering chapters 1-2. If you would like to attend or are interested, please let me know so that I can get you a copy of the book ahead of time.

It's time to start thinking about camp, and about registering your children for camp. We have two upcoming camps for kids and students.  Registration for both camps will begin on November 1st, and go through January 28th. There are limited spots for each, especially for Snowbird, so all available spots will be first come, first serve. Please see me or call me (980-219-1876) if you have questions or wish to register your children. A deposit of $50 per child is required to register and hold a spot for your child. The remaining balance of $100 will be due by January 28th (the total cost of each camp is $150). Our goal is that any child who wants to attend camp is able to attend camp. If your family is not financially able to send your kid(s) to camp, please reach out to me, so that a solution can be reached for your kid(s) to attend camp.

May the Lord bless and keep you and your family over the upcoming week,

Matt Tucker out!!!

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