The Church in Action - The Acts of the Apostles

church in acts flames GOOD.png

The Book of Acts gives us an unfiltered glimpse at the first generation church. No robes, no pulpits, no fancy hats; just a group of people following Jesus together. Join us as we see ‘the Church in action’ - moments where the church does ‘church stuff’ - learning, sharing, worshiping, praying, serving. You’ll see that church is not just where we go on Sunday mornings; it’s who we are every day of the week.

COVID-19 March 16 update

Dear friends at Langford Community Church:                                                                                     

In order to be good neighbours and to participate in the nationwide effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, the church board has decided that we will not meet for the next three weeks – March 22, March 29 and April 5 – and then we will reassess the situation at the end of that period.

Notice though that we are not ‘cancelling’ church.  Nor is church ‘closing.’  You can’t cancel the church because we are the church!  We will continue to follow Jesus, serving Him and our neighbours, no matter the situation. 

To that end, we want to consistently nourish your souls and so rather than a big online message on Sunday, we are going to try to provide a few shorter messages throughout the week.  Pastor Graham will provide these in video and written form and both can be accessed at www.langfordcommunitychurch.ca and https://www.facebook.com/LangfordCommunityChurch/.  We will also email links to all those whose email addresses are up to date. 

Board members will be calling out to confirm this information with everyone, at which time we will be looking for people who might need help – people who are sick and quarantined and need help getting supplies – and people who can help out with that.  Of course we will take all necessary precautions, but this is an important time for us to serve ‘the least of these my brothers.’

We know that God is infinitely faithful and so we look forward with confidence to the time when we will meet together again, to fellowship and to thank God for all that He will do over the course of the coming days. 

“Let not your hearts be troubled; trust in God and in His Son.”

The Langford Church board

#PrayerAndPrecautionNotPanic

COVID-19 March 14 update

IMG_1713.JPG
IMG_1714.JPG

With the recent flurry of activity surrounding COVID-19, we as a Board have been discussing the next best steps for our congregation. We do plan to meet together for worship tomorrow and the conversation will continue as to how to best be good neighbours and slow the virus’s spread. If you are sick or in a high risk population, don’t give it a second thought - stay home and stay safe. We will try to make audio and video resources available through the site and Facebook after the service. “Let not your heart be troubled; trust in God and in His Son.”

Samuel and David Bible Study

Learning from Giant.JPG

During the autumn months, we had a chance to explore the lives of David and Samuel - two people who played enormous roles in the history of the people of God. To be honest though, we only scratched the surface. For example, Samuel’s mother actually shows us that sometimes, ordinary people are better situated for spiritual awareness than clergy; Samuel’s life questions the institution of monarchy; and David pushes us to look closely at our motivations. Join us for two nights - Thursday January 23 (Samuel) and 30th (David) to dig deeper into their stories and their value for us.

Where was Jesus born?

christmas-911251_1920.jpg

Where exactly was Jesus born?  According to Luke 2:7, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a ‘katalyma,’ which literally means ‘lodging place.’  Traditionally, we’ve translated that word as ‘inn’ and imagined it as a sort of ancient Best Western.  There’s actually a different Greek word for that sort of ‘inn’ – not ‘katalyma’ - and so Luke has really only told us that Jesus was born in a ‘lodging place’ or ‘place of temporary refuge.’  (He uses this same word in Luke 22:11 to describe the room where Jesus and the disciples celebrate the Last Supper). 

The fact that there was a manger on hand implies that this ‘temporary lodging place’ was normally home to animals, but even then, we’re not talking about a barn or stable in the 21st century sense of the word.  It may have been a cave as later tradition suggests, or even a small enclosure within a house. 

Since there was no room in the ‘lodging place,’ I’m going to assume that it was not improvised, like a cave, but instead, a place where many people commonly paid for a night’s lodging and that night, there was no room left.  On Christmas Eve though, some innkeeper allowed Mary and Joseph into his own quarters, allowing them to take the last space in the house, namely the place where his animals were kept (which could very well have been an enclosure in his living room) and it was there that Jesus was born.  That is why our ‘innkeeper’ on Christmas eve may not be like what you’re used to.