Christ Church Evangelical Covenant

Out of the Dust - May 2 2021 - Pastor Vann Trapp

Left in the dust. Bite the dust. Gather dust. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Whenever we are talking about dust, unless it is the literal dust bunnies under the furniture, we are talking about insignificance, weakness, even death. And how many times do we look at our lives against the accomplishments of others, or the scale of this universe and think, “dust.” But God has made us to be of more significance than that. He has made us to go beyond the limits of our own power, our own potential, even our own mortality, through the power of His Holy Spirit. Through His presence, we too, are raised up “out of the dust” and made to be a new creation, ambassadors of His heavenly kingdom, the sons and daughters of God

Out of Thin Air - April 25 2021 - Pastor Vann Trapp

Air. It has no real weight. We don’t think of it as a substance. You don’t fill a jar with it or bring it to the beach in the summer for when you get breathless. But air is essential. And it is powerful. When God created humans, He breathed into their lungs to give them life. When He talked to Ezekiel about reviving the army of dry bones, He said that, again, it was a matter of the Breath, the Spirit of God. And when He makes us alive with new life in Jesus, He does this, too, with His Spirit. He breathes new life into His new creation. You may not be able to see the Spirit or fill a jar with Him and take Him to the beach. But the reality is, He is even more essential than the air that we depend on for our lives. And He is even more powerful than any wind of this world. He can take what has been destroyed, decimated, even dried out in our lives and make it alive again. Let’s talk about it…

Out of the Flood - April 18, 2021 - Pastor Vann Trapp

Water is something we need. 60% of our bodies are made of it. 75% of our planet is covered in it. Human beings can survive months without food, but only days without water. So, we can’t be too far from it. But when too much water comes too close too fast, water can also be devastating. Because it’s powerful. Water can scour rocks into canyons over time. And it is relentless. God says His Holy Spirit is like water; essential, powerful, unstoppable. So, how do we make sure in our lives that we aren’t trying to stand against the relentless flow of God’s Holy Spirit? How do we align with His purpose and movement to see all that power harnessed for His good in and through our lives? Let’s talk about it… 

Out of Chaos - April 11, 2021 - Pastor Vann Trapp

Often, our lives look and feel like chaos. There appears to be no meaning, order, or purpose for what happens. And it goes deep; as deep as we care to look. And because of that we often live in the darkness of despair or the fantasy of denying that despair. But hope still shines in that darkness. Because over our chaos, God’s Spirit hovers and with a word, shapes that chaos into creation, that confusion into clarity, that emptiness into the fullness of relationship and purpose. Many of us are looking for that kind of transformation in our lives. And that is what the Spirit of God does. That is what He has done since the dawn of Creation. Let’s talk about it…

Closing the Gap - April 4, 2021 Easter - Pastor Vann Trapp

We do not have a God who remains at a distance from us. Not a distance of silence or space, altitude or attitude. Instead, He is a God who constantly pursues us and seeks to draw near. He is not satisfied with any gap that stands between us. So, He speaks into it, He pours out His Spirit into it, He sends His people into it with His power and His blessing, He even took on human flesh and stepped into the Gap Himself. But still He was not satisfied… because the Gap still remained. So, on Easter, in Jesus, He closed it, so that now, in Christ, there is nothing that has to separate us from the love of God. He has died for us, but now, He is Risen, and the Gap is no more!

The Gaps We Make - March 28, 2021 - Pastor Cheryl Lavornia

On Sunday, we will be celebrating what church tradition calls: Palm Sunday. It comes from the part in scripture when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people throw down their coats and palm branches. It is also referred to as His Triumphal Entry. But there was a gap of understanding between the crowd and Jesus on that day. It seems like nothing has changed... we all have gaps in our understanding of what God is like or what He's doing in our lives. We have a God who invites us into our own gaps in order to have Him close them!

God in the Gap - March 21, 2021 - Pastor Vann Trapp

We started this journey thinking about how God is not a God who keeps His distance. He comes near to us when circumstances make us feel furthest from Him. And He is always seeking to shape us to be more like Him and to learn how to come alongside others when they are at their best… and their worst. So, there are times when He comes alongside on His own, and times when He comes alongside someone through us, but always He is never the God in the distance, but rather God in the Gap.

God in the Details - March 14, 2021 - Pastor Vann Trapp

Do you remember the first time you looked at something through a microscope… or a telescope? What you thought was so evident to your naked eye now became incredibly intricate and detailed. It was a whole world you would have completely passed over and thought nothing about if you hadn’t looked closer. God tells us over and over in His Word that He, too, can be found in unexpected and amazing ways in the details. So, let’s take this week to dig deeper, look closer, and together discover God in the details…

God in the Past - Mar 7, 2021 - Pastor Vann Trapp

When we look to the past, what do we find? A God who is aloof and uninvolved? Or a God who persists at coming near at our best, at our worst, always? But that’s the past. Has He changed? Or is His consistent presence in our lives something we can always depend on in the best or even in the toughest times? Let’s find out together…

Justice in Tension - Feb 28 2021 - Pastor Vann Trapp

If there is an issue that has recently burst its way into the spotlight, it’s justice. And if there is an issue whose conversations are often filled with tension, it’s justice. But if there is an issue that God makes clear is close to His heart, it’s justice. And it is the tension of those conversations that can make us more like Jesus. So, let’s talk about justice …