News

Sonoma Springs Covenant Church will be moving to a new church management system called SUBSPLASH as of February 26, 2023. SUBSPLASH will be taking the place of all the ways we communicated with each other previously on Faithlife Equip.  Faithlife is discontinuing their Equip platform.

Subsplash is a wonderful company that will meet our needs with all of you in mind.  We hope by February 26, 2023, that our new church app will be ready for download through Google Play Store or The Apple Store. When it's ready, you will look for the Sonoma Springs Covenant Church App.

On SUBSPLASH, you will be able to:

• View our sermons online with your phone or your TV
• Visit our website
• Interact with our staff
• Join a Connect Group or Ministry Team
• Find valuable forms
• View upcoming events
• Continue giving.  See the announcement below

ACTION NEEDED: MOVING TO OUR NEW GIVING SOLUTION

As we move from the FAITHLIFE giving platform to the SUBSPLASH giving platform, giving will be easier than ever and the church will save money. We are turning off the Faithlife giving portal soon. If  you have established a recurring gift, please cancel your account with FAITHLIFE GIVING  and sign up for SUBSPLASH Giving to renew your recurring gift. What you need to do now:

• Turn off your recurring giving in FAITHLIFE: www.faithlife.com/giving
• Sign up for Subsplash Giving and set up a recurring gift:  https://secure.subsplash.com/ui/access/V9BS9G

We are so thankful for you and your continued participation and support of Sonoma Springs Covenant Church.  If you have any questions, contact our treasurer Sheila Johnson at treasurer@sonomasprings.org.

When I think of team spirit, I think back on my days of high school and college where I played many team sports such as basketball, volleyball, softball, track and field, badminton, and cross country. I love playing sports and enjoyed my time competing in those early years of my life. One thing that formed my thoughts about life was the concept ingrained into my psyche about unity. The teams I played on floundered in the game and bumbled about when we were not playing together as one team, when we lacked unity. In basketball, chaos would reign when one of our team members hogged the ball. Pride was usually behind that player, for they believed they could do it better on their own. They didn’t trust their team members, their coach, or the crowd telling them to pass the ball! Even if there was a win under these conditions, no one, but the ball hogger felt good. In one situation, some of my team members quit. Their reason? "I’m not needed." Of course our coach addressed the situation and got our important player back. We all understood team unity better when we saw the ugly.

When pride and selfishness creep into our teams, communities, organization, and yes, churches, a climate of chaos ensues. We see ugliness. Unity is broken, love is lost and some quit. On the other-hand, Unity is beautiful, powerful, and miraculous! Unity is our big arsenal against the principalities of darkness!

So as the adults will be hearing a sermon about Unity from Psalm 133, our young ones will also be learning about unity, but from John 17:11. Through scripture reading, bible memorization, unity games and creating a craft stick card stating “STANDING TOGETHER AS ONE,” our kids will be focusing on understanding God’s love unites us, and that as believers we are on Team God!

Jan Wahlstrom

Sesame Street had a fun and challenging segment which began with the lyrics.“One of these things is not like the other. One of these things does not belong.”  This was a fun and memorable part of the popular kid’s TV program. I would sit with my preschooler and we would reason together about which one thing did not belong and why? As an educator, I understood that my students' ability to categorize and sort information helped them to process learning in meaningful ways. This skill or lack of it affected their memory and integration of new material. Developing good categorizing skills also helped them with inferential thinking and synthesizing skills which in turn develops cognitive maturity in lifelong learning.

This week our children will have some fun playing “Which one does not belong?” This fun activity will lead the kids to reflect on their heart as King David did in Psalm 51. Our hearts are full of so many good things like care, love, compassion, empathy, honesty. Our hearts are made to hold God-like qualities.  For it is in His image we are made.  This goodness belongs in our heart.  What does not belong in our heart, what our heart cannot hold is sin.  Our clever ability to rationalize our sinful thoughts and behaviors can make it hard to see which one of them does not belong in our heart. David hid his sin. It ravaged his body. When he acknowledged his sin it restored his joy and his relationship with the Savior. Students will learn that being a child of God requires that we regularly sort out what belongs in our heart and what does not belong there. They will learn that God is a forgiving God, that “I’m sorry” are not scary words, but necessary as we allow God to create in us a pure heart. 

Just like developing good categorizing skills helps us develop cognitive maturity in lifelong learning, developing good categorizing skills within our spiritual life will develop lifelong godly maturity. Do you have some things in your heart that shouldn’t be there?  Maybe it is time for you to play the “One of These Things Does Not Belong” game. Pray for our children as they learn David’s prayer "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

Jan Wahlstrom

Hot, dry, windy, dusty, uphill. A race against the clock. I was in a cross country running race for Cerritos Community College in California. Our course ran us 3 miles through the switch backs of our local foothills. The weather was particularly miserable because the Santa Ana winds were blowing, which means high temperatures and high winds. My sandpaper tongue glued itself to the roof of my mouth. These were the days no one ran with water bottles, no friendly volunteers offering you a paper cup of water along the route. I was thirsty, sooo thirsty. I was dizzy, felt faint, my head hurt, and I was grumpy. I just wanted water. I thought I might die!

This Sunday in Children’s Church, our young ones will be reading Psalm 42, in particular verses 1 and 2: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” We’ll discuss how we feel when we are thirsty, and what makes us thirsty. We’ll talk about forest and desert animals that risk their lives as they expose themselves to predators just to lick the clear, clean river or lake water. There are spiritual parallels here. We all need water to survive in our physical and spiritual world. That is unquestionable. 

The children will learn that our souls also need water to survive, in order that we not grow dizzy, faint, achy, and grumpy. Our soul needs a certain kind of water, the living water only God provides. The psalmist knows he is in need of soul water. He ends verse 2 with, “When can I go and meet with God?” He couldn't wait. He needed to meet with God and soon! How do we meet God? The children will learn that it is through his word to us, through prayer, and through hanging with our Christian friends and family. When we are feeling spiritually dizzy, faint, heart achy, or grumpy maybe we need to lap up some soul water and meet with God. Pray that our little ones will understand their need for God and the refreshment of soul water.

In Him,

Jan

“I hope our crops will get rain soon.”  “I hope our kids will be home for Christmas.” “I hope my team wins.” “ I hope Mommy will get well soon.”  These are some of the various ways we use hope in our everyday lives.  What is hope? Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. When our hopes are realized we are happy and we have more hope, when our hopes are dashed, we are disappointed, and less likely to hope. Hope seems like roulette, a gamble. Hope seems to be grounded in quicksand and chance. It is illusive. Or so we think… Children will be coming to Children’s Church this Sunday, July 10, with many desires and expectations about a variety of things in their lives.  

What our children will learn about this Sunday, though, is that hope is not illusive, but it has feet.  From Psalm 33:20-22,, the writer tells us that hoping in the Lord can be a shield for our journey in this life, a  protector. When we hope in the Lord we tap into five benefits:

1.  He is our help.
2. He is our shield
3. Our hearts will rejoice
4. We learn to trust Him
5. We experience His unfailing love which penetrates our darkest night.

Hoping in the Lord then, is not a gamble for we stand on the certainty of His word and His promises.  These are things we can count on. The children will be making a shield this Sunday to remind them that hoping in the Lord is a sure foundation and a shield to trust in. And, as you pray for them, ponder the question, “Where is your hope?”

At Children’s Church this Sunday, June 5, the children will be celebrating a birthday. “Whose birthday,” you ask? You may be thinking, “I want to make sure we send a present or a card.” “ I don’t want to forget the child’s special day!”

Forgotten birthdays are certainly disappointing, even sad. Our birthday celebrations help validate our existence on the earth and help us feel loved and significant by our family and friends. My daughter-in-law, on her 17th birthday, experienced first hand what it feels like to be forgotten. You have to believe me when I tell you her parents are wonderful, loving, and caring people. But, on this particular birthday for Rachel, the important day slipped by. She thought with all the silence there must be an elaborate plan for a surprise party or something else unique in the works. She treasured those thoughts. As the day rolled on and Mom and Dad had both been busy, and gone, and then back home again, but there was no mention, and not a word about her birthday. She feared the worst. It was evening by now and the true fact smacked her right between the eyes. They did forget. No surprise, no secret reveal, no balloons hidden in a closet somewhere, just the cold, empty reality that her parents were oblivious to the date on the calendar. Her grandparents, who lived a several hour drive away, called that night to wish her a happy birthday. So, now the cat was out of the bag and Rachel’s parents were of course horrified when they overheard the conversation with the Grands. Apologies, and attempts of making it up to her ensued, and I”m pretty sure she made out well with birthday gifting during those next few years!

Relax though… This Sunday’s birthday celebration does not belong to one of our kids, it belongs to the Church. This Sunday the Church celebrates Pentecost. Wendy will be presenting the story of Pentecost to the children as a birthday party for the Church!

On Pentecost we remember how miraculously and powerfully the Holy Spirit fell upon Jesus’ disciples and other followers as they waited in the upper room. Jesus told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the gift the Father promised them. The disciples did what Jesus asked. And within a few days as they sat waiting and praying, there was a sudden disturbance, like a rushing wind. The Holy Spirit powerfully swirled around all those believers. Tongues of fire hovered around them. Immediately the believers there began to proclaim about Messiah Jesus in languages that were not their own. People who spoke different languages and dialects heard and understood for the first time this joyous news! And.... the New Testament church was born.

So, the Pentecost story told in Acts chapter 2, is quite the opposite of Rachel’s experience. Jesus' promise of a gift and the Father’s birthday party to the church was not forgotten! On that monumental day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gave the early church gifts of forgiveness, truth, new life, and power. The Holy Spirit offers those same gifts today. Pray that we as a church will allow the Holy Spirit to fall afresh on us this Pentecost Sunday, to empower us boldly to proclaim the gospel. Pray that our children will grow in their understanding of the work of the Spirit in their lives, that He will flow generously over their lives.

I don’t know if there is a gene deficit in my brain, or if it is that I am too distracted with my inner thoughts, not paying attention to where I am, but I get turned around and lost easily.  I always turn the wrong way when exiting buildings, stores and trails! I am sure as can be that “this is the way” but sadly, no.  It was my young soccer sons that guided me, before Google Maps, to and from far away soccer matches, or through the curvy, densely forested roads of Washington to play at a friend’s house. Unlike me, my husband is great at directions, and he finds it best not to listen to me when I say, “Turn right or left!” because I’m usually wrong. I think he’s ignoring me, but honestly, he is guiding me.  I have learned to trust those that have the direction gene even when, in my eyes, they are perfectly going the wrong way.  In the end, it is me that can’t find my way.

The parallel between finding our way in a physical world and navigating our spiritual compass is a rich metaphor. This Sunday at Children’s Church, our children will be exploring the fear of being lost, and the frustration of finding their way through a maze. They will actually build a large maze with Playdough hoping to outsmart their classmates! This exploration is one way to help them to see that the spiritual part of our lives can be just as lost.

Jesus knew his disciples would feel this way, so before he ascended into heaven he prayed a beautiful prayer and blessing over his loved ones (John 17:6-19). The children will hear this comforting prayer.  They will hear that although Jesus was taken out of the world physically, He would never leave them. We can trust in Jesus to keep us from going the wrong way. He would remain their guide for life through the words of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit. They will hear Jesus’ passion for His disciples (and us) when he prays for his Father’s protection over them. This life will have trials, but Jesus asks the Father to “keep them yours.” These are big thoughts for elementary kids, but also comforting.  And, they are important truths for children to learn especially as they walk through a maze-like world of moral and spiritual confusion.  Pray for us that God’s spirit will give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to receive his truth.

This Sunday, May 22 our Children’s Church kids will be learning about Nicodemus and butterflies. Nicodemus had a hard time seeing Jesus as the Messiah, the savior who was prophesied about in the Old Testament. Jesus told him, “You must be born again.” Like a caterpillar who breaks through the imprisoned dark cocoon to become a butterfly fluttering freely about in the light of day, Nicodemus had to break through his darkness in order to see the Light of the world. The imagery of being born again is magnificent when you think about it. From confinement to freedom, from darkness to light, God draws us to a new life. Pray for our children that as they explore the meaning of life in Christ, they will discover a new life indeed!