Our Heart for God at Cokes Chapel!

In the next three weeks we will grow together in faith through learning, serving, worshiping, praying and being present together. All these activities come out of your heart commitment to Christ.  

We will hear stories of the heart that Cokes Chapel has brought to life in our community.  You will be receiving a list of ministry opportunities and a pledge card by mail. Please prayerfully consider the ways that you will serve Christ at Cokes for the coming year.

On Oct. 2nd we will have a combined worship with both Traditional choir and Praise band, a rousing worship service and a time of commitment, followed by a covered dish meal in the Contemporary Worship Center.  

Trinity Soup Kitchen, September 25th!

We’ll be collecting spaghetti dinner and sandwich ingredients again this year as a group from our church will travel and serve at the kitchen that day.  (See insert.)  (Lunch) packing day has been set for Saturday, September 24th in the Fellowship Hall at 9am.  Mark your calendars!

Following this class, we will have a “Joining Sunday” on September 25 for those who are ready to make a commitment to serving Christ through Cokes. Members are also welcome to sit in and learn too!

 We are LOOKING FOR a few good VOLUNTEERS!

The 11:00 Worship service needs Sound Technicians with experience for stage set-up and running of sound during rehearsal and the church  service, including 

-A knowledge (or willingness to learn) of the mixing/EQ process 

-knowledge of sound equipment (what is needed and how to set up) 

Morning tasks include: 

-pre- check equipment to assure all is working properly before worship & able change out as necessary 

-knowledge of live streaming helpful

Victories Piling Up

By Doug Thrasher

I attended worship at Little River UMC recently to visit with one of our new pastors in the District, Dr. Gale Siebert.

They were serving Holy Communion that day and in her homily Gale spoke to the scripture, “Come to me all you (as opposed to the Southern “all y’all”) who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:29) She also spoke a little regarding the phrase, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:30) I really appreciated her pastoral preaching and truly felt as if I had come to the person, Jesus, in whom I could find rest for my soul. (Yes, DSs have souls.)

But, what arrested me and got me to pondering while Communion was being served was the next verse: “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:31)

I found myself thinking about the yoke. A yoke is usually a wooden instrument that joins two oxen or horses together in order for them to work in tandem to accomplish some task that an animal would not normally do by itself. Here, Jesus says to us to take His yoke upon us, which means to me that Christians are to take the second side of the yoke, Christ being in the other side. It means that we are doing a work in tandem with Jesus, our strength and His strength together, to accomplish a task that we would not normally do by ourselves — make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

But, here’s the kicker. We’re not supposed to do this work by ourselves. We are yoked to Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

I played Church League Basketball for many years. One year, we had two guys who were each 6’7” or taller that joined the church and played for our team. We went undefeated that year. I also learned something — basketball is a different game when you’ve got the big men on your team.

In Jesus Christ we are yoked to the “Big Man.” He makes it easy. He makes the burden light. We simply need to work beside Him, and we’ll see the victories piling up!

Rev. Doug Thrasher is District Superintendent of the Atlanta Roswell District. You may contact him at doug.thrasher@ngumc.net.