News & Announcements

November 2021 Pastor’s Corner – Dancing With The Devil

Tell me something, my friend. You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight? — The JokerDon’t… tempt me Frodo! I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Understand, Frodo. I would use this ring from a desire to do good… But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine. — Gandalf
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. — 1 Peter 5:8–9)
Rev. David Garrison
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What Is Sunday Night Live?

Who is Sunday Night Live for?
When is Sunday Night Live?
What Happens at Sunday Night Live?
Not Just Sunday Nights, Though
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Upcoming Event Changes at Northminster

- The Community Worship Celebration at Madison Heights Baptist Church on Sunday, September 19 has been cancelled. We look forward to partnering with our sister churches in Madison Heights for other opportunities in the future.
- The Kickoff for Sunday Night Live, originally scheduled for this Sunday, September 12, will now be next Sunday, September 19 from 6:30-7:45. Look for more information about this via email and mail in the days to come.
- Sunday Morning Worship will continue to be offered in-person and online.
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Sunday Night Live Kicks Off September 19!

SUNDAY NIGHT LIVE is finally here!
For All Students in 4th-12th Grades
Mark your calendars and plan to join us on Sunday, September 19 at 6:30pm for the kickoff of Sunday Night Live! This is a brand new opportunity to teach our children and youth about the fulness of life offered by Jesus Christ and how to live as disciples of Christ. With age-appropriate and focused lessons and games, we’re really excited to see how Sunday Night Live encourages our children and youth in their walk with the Lord and their families as well. Want to know more? Plan to join us September 19!
**Note: Feeling left out? Wish there was a Sunday Night Live opportunity for your younger children or perhaps for adults? Talk to Sharon Bryant, chair of CE, or David Garrison. While we’re starting out focused on 4th-12th grades, we’d love to expand beyond that. All you have to do is let us know you’re interested!
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April 2021 Pastor’s Corner – It’s Just Not The Same

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Heb. 10:25)
One of the most incredible aspects of the past year is how businesses and people adapted to the realities of the pandemic and stay-at-home orders. Things we used to only be able to do by leaving the house transformed in a few short weeks into things you could do from the comfort of your couch. Need groceries? Place the order online and you can pick them up without ever leaving your car. Want to eat out? No problem, they’ll bring the food and leave it at your door. The latest blockbuster movie? Catch it on release day right there in your living room. A year ago only the largest and wealthiest churches were live-streaming, but now almost every church is doing so, including ours. These are amazing and wonderful advances and changes, for which there is much to be thankful.
But can we be honest for a moment? As great as all of that is, it’s just not the same. How many times have you purchased the wrong quantity of something because you couldn’t tell how big it was from the teeny picture on your phone? We’ve almost finished a 25lb bag of flour we accidentally bought last April. Being able to use Doordash and UberEats is great… but no matter how quick they are, nothing beats the ambiance of the restaurant and eating it fresh from the kitchen. And Greyhound and Soul were amazing movies… but something gets lost when you’re not seeing it on the big screen.
All of that is even more true when it comes to church and corporate worship. We’ve learned a lot over the past year about what it truly means to be the church, that in many ways we are able to do more “Kingdom work” outside these walls than within them. And we are so grateful to be able to provide the ability to worship together when we can’t physically be present at the church. But, again, can we be honest? It really isn’t the same. And it shouldn’t be the same.
Much moreso than eating out, going to the movies or shopping for groceries, worshipping our Lord and Savior is meant to be done by being physically present with other believers. Yes, the Holy Spirit is still present with us and unites us together even when we’re apart, but there is something crucial and important that happens when we gather together for Sunday worship. Whether it’s singing our praises to the Lord, praying for one another, celebrating the Sacraments, or hearing the Word of God proclaimed, it’s meant to be experienced in-person, not over a screen.
You’ll see throughout this newsletter how we are moving back to in-person worship, ministry and mission. We’ll be talking about it more as the weather warms up as well. Right now, we’re looking at Pentecost Sunday as our “target date” for coming together as the Body of Christ. You are welcomed and encouraged to join us for in-person worship before that date or on it. Please know we’re not choosing to ignore the realities of the pandemic or letting our guard down. We are recognizing that great strides have been taken over the past few months and that we are now at a place where we can, with confidence, say, it’s time to gather back as the Body of Christ and get to work on the mission Christ has given to us in Madison Heights, Amherst County, and around the world. As our website says,
We are a biblically-based Presbyterian church seeking to experience and share God’s love to transform our homes, community and the world. We hope you will join us.
See you soon!
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Youth Ministry April 2021 Update

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Ash Wednesday – Out of Dust

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Drive-In Food Drive & Caroling – This Sunday, December 13 @ 1PM

Food Drive Drive-in
- 14oz. yellow mustard
- 32oz. pancake mix
- 4 lbs. sugar
- 24 oz. pancake syrup
- 15 oz. ketchup
- 6 pack of fruit cups
- 15 oz. mayonnaise
Drive-in Caroling
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December 2020 Pastor’s Corner – The Importance of Advent

“The special note of Advent is its primary focus on the second coming of Christ, who will arrive in glory on the last day to consummate the kingdom of God — its orientation toward the promised future. Advent…differs from the other seasons in that it looks beyond history altogether and awaits Jesus Christ’s coming again “in glory to judge the living and the dead.” — Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ
This past Sunday, November 29, was the First Sunday in Advent. It marks the beginning of the Christian year. For most of us, Advent is the season preparing us for Christmas, as if it were simply the pre-Christmas season… after all, it does end on Christmas Eve. But Advent isn’t pointing to Christmas at all, it points far past Christmas. As the quote from Fleming Rutledge above states, Advent points not to Christ’s first coming, but to his Second. While we tend to treat Advent as a “countdown to Christmas,” it’s actually far deeper and meaningful.
It seems that, each year, we are in a bigger and bigger rush to get to Christmas. Stores have been pushing the “unofficial” beginning of the Christmas season earlier and earlier, and this year has pushed it even further — I saw Christmas decorations in stores this year weeks before Halloween! It is a strange and confusing thing to see Halloween and Christmas decorations side-by-side. Jack Skellington would be furious! But I also get it — 2020 has been an amazingly difficult year (although not even close to the worst year ever. That honor goes to 536 AD. No, seriously. Look it up). After months and months of the pandemic and social distancing, a terribly contentious presidential election cycle, murder hornets, and record-breaking natural disasters, we’re all pretty desperate for a little light and a dash of Christmas cheer. While I’m personally a staunch “no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving” Scrooge, I won’t judge anyone who has already put up a Christmas tree, some decorations, or gone all-in on Christmas music.
But don’t rush past Advent in order to get to Christmas. While Advent has a particular emphasis on the Second Coming of Christ, it does so with its feet firmly grounded in the present reality. As Fleming Rutledge explains, “Advent contains within itself the crucial balance of the now and the not-yet that our faith requires. [T]his book will explore this theme in relation to the yearly frenzy of “holiday” time in which the commercial Christmas music insists that “it’s the most wonderful time of the year” and Starbucks invites everyone to “feel the merry.” The disappointment, brokenness, suffering, and pain that characterize life in this present world is held in dynamic tension with the promise of future glory that is yet to come. In that Advent tension, the church lives its life…The Advent season encourages us to resist denial and face our situation as it really is” (Advent pp. 7-8). The hope of Christ’s Second Coming, even the joy of celebrating his First coming at Christmas, is all the more bright and joyous because of the dark, brokenness of this present world, not in spite of it.
Advent is not for the faint of heart. But there is a gift waiting for you, if you are willing to slow down and find it. They say it’s always darkest just before the dawn…is it not the darkness of the night that causes us to appreciate the light all the more? Allow yourself to be present in the hardness and pain of 2020 and in Advent’s much-needed reminder that, one day, Jesus Christ will come back and make everything sad untrue and make everything broken whole. In doing so, we find that Christmas takes a place in our life and our hearts far more true than decorations, songs and presents.
“The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” (John 1:5)
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison
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Pastor’s Mid-Week Bible Study Begins This Week!

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Weekly Youth Group Meetings Resume September 27, 2020!

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What to Expect When Northminster Reopens

Social Distancing
- Plan to practice appropriate social distancing. Try to limit hand shaking and hugs.
- Every other pew will be closed to help facilitate social distancing.
- Bulletins will be placed on the table outside the sanctuary. Please pick one up on your way in as we will not be handing them out.
- Offering plates will be on a table just inside the sanctuary doors. Please place your offering in the plate on your way in or out of the sanctuary. We will not be passing them during the service.
Masks
- Masks are encouraged, but not required.
- Whether you wear a mask or not, we will not judge or criticize your decision.
Communion
- Instead of passing the elements out, each person will come forward to pick up the elements.
- An elder will dismiss each row at the appropriate time.
- Please come down the center aisle, and return to your seat by way of the outside aisles, maintaining appropriate social distancing with the person(s) in front of you.
- The bread and juice will be served in individual, disposable cups. Please pick up both elements and take them back to your seat. We will partake of them together as is our custom.
Sanitation
- The church will be thoroughly cleaned before and after the service.
- Most doors will be propped open to minimize contact with surfaces.
Rev. David Garrison
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