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News & Announcements for Sunday, February 15, 2026
JOIN US FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL
If you’re looking for an opportunity to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ, we encourage you to join us Sunday mornings for a intergenerational Sunday school class, from 9:30-10:30. We look forward to seeing you!
ANNUAL MEETING & POTLUCK – SUNDAY, FEB. 15, NOON
The Community Lenten Services begin on Ash Wednesday, February 18. Each ~30 minute service is at noon at a different church in Madison Heights, with a different pastor preaching each week. The first service will be at Amelon UMC, with Rev. David Garrison (from Northminster EPC) preaching. We look forward to celebrating Lent with you and our fellow brothers and sisters in the area.
WOMEN’S BOOK CLUB – THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 10:00 AM
Northminster’s Book Club will meet on Thursday, February 26th at 10:00 a.m. at the church. We are reading ” Twice” by Mitch Albom. Please join us on February 26th to discuss the book! Also, bring a snack to share with the group. Come, even if you have not read or finished the book. And, as always, bring a friend.
NORTHMINSTER PHONE TREE ANNOUNCEMENT SYSTEM
Northminster uses the One Call Now phone tree system for church announcements and the prayer chain. If you would like to be added to the phone tree, please click here to fill out the form.
Coming Soon…
INQUIRERS CLASS
Would you like to know more about our church? Are you interested in the possibility of becoming a member? This class will give you the opportunity to hear about our church, the denomination we belong to, and where we see God leading us. If interested, tell Pastor David or sign up by clicking here..
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News & Announcements for Sunday, February 8, 2026
JOIN US FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL
If you’re looking for an opportunity to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ, we encourage you to join us Sunday mornings for a intergenerational Sunday school class, from 9:30-10:30. We look forward to seeing you!
MIDWEEK PRAYER – WEDNESDAYS @ Noon
Please join us on Wednesdays at noon for a time of prayer in the sanctuary as we bring our needs before our loving God.
ANNUAL MEETING & POTLUCK – SUNDAY, FEB. 15, NOON
WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY – TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 3:30 PM
Women’s Bible Study will be meeting on Tuesday, January 6th at 3:30 in the afternoon. We are using the book, “Sermon on the Mount” by Jen Wilkin. Homework is to read and answer questions for week 4, “You Have Heard That It Was Said” – pgs. 62 – 73. Grab your book, your Bible, a snack you can share with the group and come on over for some amazing Bible study! If you don’t get your homework done, come anyway!! And, as always, we would love for you to bring a friend!! Any questions, talk to Karey or Sharon!
NORTHMINSTER PHONE TREE ANNOUNCEMENT SYSTEM
Northminster uses the One Call Now phone tree system for church announcements and the prayer chain. If you would like to be added to the phone tree, please click here to fill out the form.
Coming Soon…
COMMUNITY LENTEN SERVICES BEGIN WEDNESDAY, FEB 18
The Community Lenten Services begin on Ash Wednesday, February 18. Each ~30 minute service is at noon at a different church in Madison Heights, with a different pastor preaching each week. The first service will be at Amelon UMC, with Rev. David Garrison (from Northminster EPC) preaching. We look forward to celebrating Lent with you and our fellow brothers and sisters in the area.
INQUIRERS CLASS
Would you like to know more about our church? Are you interested in the possibility of becoming a member? This class will give you the opportunity to hear about our church, the denomination we belong to, and where we see God leading us. If interested, tell Pastor David or sign up by clicking here..
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AT-HOME WORSHIP GUIDE FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2026
AT HOME WORSHIP GUIDE
February 1, 2026
The Fourth Sunday
of Epiphany
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRELUDE
Even when we worship from home, we begin by preparing our hearts. In today’s scripture, we will see how Jesus has lifted the veils that shield our heart and soul from the gracious gaze of God.. As you listen, let this song shape your heart for what God will teach us through His Word.
CALL TO WORSHIP — Isaiah 60:1-3
Even as we worship from home, God gathers His people through His Word. In the Call to Worship, we listen as God speaks, and then respond together in song, offering praise to the God who calls us as His own.
Leader: Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
People: See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
Leader: but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
People: Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
*OPENING HYMN Arise, My Soul, Arise
*OPENING PRAYER
O God who quickens the faith that brought Magi from the east, who kindles the hope that brought captives from exile, and who inspires the love that brings strangers together, let the light that shone in the darkness shine upon us. Let it shine within us, that it might refine our divided hearts. Let it shine around us, that it might illumine the way that leads to our neighbors. And let it shine above us, that it might reveal the Christ who manifests your presence. Amen.
*PRAISE SONG Christ is Mine Forevermore
PRAYER OF CONFESSION — Unison, based on Matt. 2:1-16; 6:33
Confession is our honest response to God’s grace. Because God is merciful, we do not hide our sin or pretend we have it all together. We come truthfully before Him, trusting that forgiveness is found in Jesus Christ.
God of grace, you have given us Jesus, the light of the world, but we choose darkness and cling to things that hide the brightness of your love. Immersed in ourselves, we have not risen to new life. Baptize us with your Spirit, that, forgiven and renewed, we may preach your Word to the nations and tell of your glory shining in the face of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our light forever. Amen.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON — 1 John 1:5-7
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Song of Response Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
After hearing God’s promise of forgiveness, we respond with praise. Whether singing along or listening prayerfully, this song invites us to rejoice in the goodness of Jesus and the grace we have received.
*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH — Westminster Confession of Faith 7.6
Each week we affirm our faith together, often with a passage from the Westminster Confession or Catechisms, sometimes with the Apostles or Nicene Creed. In doing so, we both profess to others and remind ourselves of the truths of our faith, truths that are not new but ones that believers have professed for hundreds of years (or more).
We believe that under the gospel Christ himself, the substance of God’s grace, was revealed. The ordinances of this New Testament are the preaching of the word and the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper. Although these are fewer in number and are administered with more simplicity and less outward glory, yet they are available to all nations, Jews and Gentiles, and in them the spiritual power of the covenant of grace is more fully developed. There are not then two essentially different covenants of grace, but one and the same covenant under different dispensations. Amen.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND LORD’S PRAYER
Even as we worship from home, we join the prayers of God’s people everywhere. In this time, we bring before the Lord the needs of others, the concerns of our community, and the burdens of our hearts. Take some time for free prayer, and when you are finished, conclude by saying the Lord’s prayer together in unison.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
We encourage you to open to the Word of God in a Bible that you have at home with you. If you do not have a bible, if you are on a laptop or tablet, you can find the scripture reading to the right of the order of worship; if you are on a phone it will be found below the order of worship.
1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Pastor: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God
SERMON: Rev. David Garrison
UNVEILED
Series: Blessed to be a Blessing
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. – 2 Corinthians 4:6
*CLOSING HYMN Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed
*BENEDICTION
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you,
The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you,
The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace,
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FEBRUARY 2026 MILLS’ MUSINGS — THE ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART
Even if your eyesight is worse than mine, for the next couple weeks you’ll be seeing hearts everywhere you look. You’ll see candy boxes shaped like hearts. You’ll see candy shaped like hearts. You’ll see a seemingly unceasing flow of ads adorned with hearts flowing across whatever screen has your focus at the moment.
Why? Because Valentine’s Day is coming. The attendant advertising reinforces the cliched notions that our emotions are centered in our hearts and that love instinctively and effortlessly flows from every human heart. So, if we just see enough hearts (and buy enough candy and greeting cards), love will fill the earth and we’ll live happily after.
Okay …
There’s a reason Valentine’s Day isn’t found on the liturgical calendar of the Christian Church: The Bible sees the human heart as representing something far beyond Hallmark and Whitmans sentimentality. Scripture speaks of the heart as the core of a person’s being. The Bible describes the heart as the seat of human thinking, willing, and feeling. (Yes, the Bible recognizes the value and validity of rightly ordered affections.) Even more important, the Bible speaks about the heart as the place where our character is shaped and where our response to God is formed. As we’ll see below, our heart is the source of our speech.
But first, it’s been 33 years since Daniel Patrick Moynihan published an article titled Defining Deviancy Down.[1] Moynihan, a Democrat and devout Catholic, taught at Harvard, served four U.S. presidents, and served four terms as a senator from New York. In this seminal essay, he observed that “deviancy – measured as increases in crime, broken homes, and mental illness – reached levels unimagined by earlier generations. … Actions once considered deviant from acceptable standards became, almost immaculately, within bounds.”2 His article was incisive and prophetic.
Given his chosen topics, Moynihan didn’t discuss an area where cultural decline is especially evident today – our speech. Last year, Virginia elected an Attorney General who insisted he was serious about killing a political opponent and his children.3 This year, a candidate for Ohio Attorney General is telling everyone who will listen how he plans to kill President Trump.4
When did causing children to die in their mother’s arms, just to change the opinion of a political opponent, become “within bounds?” How long have we been sliding down a slippery slope to have reached a place where planning the execution of a sitting president becomes an acceptable plank in a political platform? Is there anything anyone can do to reverse the trend?
To be sure, some have tried. But coarse discourse can’t be smoothed over by increasing the ranks and authority of the Speech Police. Throughout history, coordinated efforts to eliminate free speech have failed everywhere they’ve been tried. And they always will. That’s because speech doesn’t start with our tongues. Rather, it begins in our hearts. Jesus said, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34).
The way to change speech is to change hearts. So, perhaps the Church might want to take another look at all the hearts that will circulating in the run-up to Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day is indeed a cultural custom. But I wonder: Could the Church co-opt the date but change the custom? What would happen if, in the coming years, God’s people were to use Valentine’s Days intentionally to examine the words we’ve spoken or written – edifying and unedifying – in the past 12 months. What might change if we gathered together, or sat silently alone, examined our hearts, and thought about all the words we might use in the year ahead?
What differences might such explorations of our own hearts make in each of our lives, in the life of this church, this community, this country?
[1] The American Scholar, vol. 62, 1993, pp. 17-30.
2 Kevin Warsh, Defining Deviancy, https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/warsh20090616a.htm.
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FEBRUARY 2026 PASTOR’S CORNER — OUR NORTH STAR
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
look full in his wonderful face;
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of his glory and grace.— Helen Lemmel, “Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus”, The Worshipping Church Hymn #452
I have a friend who can’t drive anywhere without using his GPS. He uses it to get everywhere, even the grocery store. While perhaps not to that extent, most of us have become very dependent on these features of our cell phones. It’s wonderful not only to be told when and where to turn, but how long it will take to reach your destination and what traffic problems might be along your route. This is all coming from a device that fits in our pocket. Technology is an incredible thing. Pretty much anywhere I go, my phone can always tell me exactly where I am and where I need to go to reach my destination.
When we lived in St. Louis, the street we lived off was shut down as they tore it up and replaced it. This project took several months, and they put a “Road Closed to Through Traffic” sign at the nearby intersections. In spite of the sign and the clear evidence of construction (the lack of asphalt being a key clue), each day dozens of cars tried to get through. After all, that was the route their GPS was telling them to take, so they had to go that way. Our technological tools are amazing, and usually reliable, but should not be trusted blindly.
Over the past few years, our technological tools have advanced to the point where we can no longer trust the information we’re being given. Photoshop has been able to alter photographs digitally for a long time, but now we’re able to do the same thing with video, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to spot the fakes. Artificial Intelligence tools have ripped open Pandora’s Box so that any and every one can create fake images and videos. Altered and edited photographs and videos are being distributed not just by questionable sources, but supposedly trustworthy ones as well. News media, government agencies, and of course social media spread, and sometimes create, these fake images and videos with nary an apology or regret. How are we to find our way?
In light of the long arc of human history, GPS is still a very new technology. It’s hard for me to fathom being able to get anywhere without it, but we’ve only been doing so for a few decades. For most of human history, explorers had to rely on hand-drawn maps and the stars to help them figure out where they were and where they were going. It was easy to get lost, but if you did, you could just look up at night and figure it out. Even though the stars moved throughout the night, there was always one that stayed put. Polaris, the north star. Once you located Polaris, you could figure out where you were and navigate from there. Using Polaris as a navigational tool is about as old school as you can get, but as they say, “there ain’t no school like the old school.”
In an age of dis- and misinformation, when we can not trust our technological tools, the media, or even government sources, the Christian can, and should, hold fast to the only north star we’ve ever had, Jesus Christ. He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). When we don’t know which way to go, we turn to Jesus who says, “follow me.” (Mark 1:17) When we don’t know what is true or false, we listen to Jesus who says, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37) When we don’t know how to live, Jesus reminds us that “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” (John 10:10 MESSAGE) In the same way that Polaris is always in the same place in the sky, Jesus is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). If the most reliable sources are the oldest, well, Jesus is the one who hung Polaris in the sky at the dawn of time. That which is truly good, and true, and beautiful, will look like Jesus, sound like Jesus, and act like Jesus.
The problem of disinformation is only going to get worse. The technological tools we’ve come to rely on are going to continue to misdirect us. Instead of doomscrolling on our phones, we need to “fix our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2) and “look full in his wonderful face.” Immerse yourself in the Word of God by reading the Bible daily and spending time in prayer. If we spend more time looking at the face of Jesus instead of the glare of our devices, then we will know what is true and what is not, for we will beholding the Face of Truth Himself. When you can’t trust anything else, trust in Jesus all the more.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. — Hebrews 12:2-3
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison
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