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On GOOD FRIDAY there will be a special event for families to come and participate in a time of learning and reflection about Good Friday together. Stations of the Cross has become an important and meaningful event for many of our families. Families will move from station to station on their own and engage in various activities that walk through Passover to the Crucifixion to the Resurrection to Ascension Day. The Stations will be open from 1 to 4pm. It will take approximately 45 minutes to go through and families are free to drop in when they are able. You do not need to rsvp or arrange a time. Just drop in before 3:15 please. If you have any questions or would like to help with these event please contact Natasha Ewaskow (natasha@fbccranbrook.org).
Hey everyone! On June 16th we had our Spring Elections meeting. This is when we vote in new elders and give a general update before we head into Summer! During this meeting we welcomed Kate Troxel, Rachel Friesen and Jack vanLeusden onto the elders board, joining our existing elders Terri Taylor, Matt Quick and board chair Cory Griedanus. We also saw Carl Dejarlais' term come to an end and thanked him for his service and influence on the board for the last two years.
Coming out of this meeting the elders and staff decided that we would resume in-person services on Sunday mornings but with the leadership and content of the services being mainly driven by congregants over the summer. It was also decided that we would live-stream the services since there are still people who will not be able to attend (the gathering limit is 50 people as of this writing, and our congregation is more than 50) and to allow those are are still not comfortable with attending a service to participate online. There is some difficulty with this as the team of volunteers for running sound and video is quite small and a number of those people volunteer in other areas of the church as well. We want to make it clear that these services will look different from what our "usual" services are. Covid protocols are still in place. For a list of these please see our Covid-19 Safety Plan. There are also links that will take you directly to documents issued by the government. Please sign-up if you plan on attending the service! To do this contact the office via e-mail or phone and let us know how many from your household will be attending. This can only be done between Monday-Thursday during the week as the office is closed on Friday/Saturday, so no one will be checking the e-mail or voicemail during this time. However it is possible that if a service doesn't fill up you will be able to show up on Sunday morning and attend, although you will have to sign in with your contact information as you enter. If a service does fill up we will send out an e-mail letting everyone know that the service is full. We are also in need of volunteers to help run these services! Please contact the office to let us know your availability and how you would like to help. One of our biggest needs is ushers/greeters to help direct and seat people when they arrive, as well as oversee the contact tracing sign up sheet for anyone who did not pre-register. Anyone who would like to lead welcome/announcements, prayer or a benediction are also encouraged to contact the office. So we will see you this Sunday, June 27th at 10:30am. Starting on Sunday, July 4th our service time will be shifting from 10-11, so take note of that! Please watch this space and check your e-mails for updates as restrictions lift and new PHO's are announced! In the Winter of 2020, 6 people of FBC began a discussion around art, faith, and engaging with our Creator through being creative. The next thing we knew, Art Club was born! This series of Linocut prints is the first initiative of the Art Club, and what we hope is the first of many. The images below are meant to represent different stages of the Easter Story, finding its pinnacle in Pentecost, which we celebrate this weekend. There are also some images below that were not created to tell part of the Easter story, but are worth sharing as well. Linocut art is like block printing, but uses a piece of carved linoleum (in our case, literal linoleum flooring) to transfer an image onto paper with ink. In the images you see below, all the light parts of the images are the parts that were carved out. Most of the images below were created by first-time linocut artists. What an incredible thing to come together with what skills we have and create something beautiful together!  The Triumphal Entry, Joanna Birkham  Jesus washes his disciples feet, Nicole Quick. I’ve intentionally kept my image stark and representational. I wanted to depict that intimate scene in which Jesus washes his disciples feet. I’ve chosen a dramatic lighting to create solemness.  Jesus prays in the garden, Alyssa Quick. Jesus showed his humanity and his divine nature in the Garden of Gesthemane. He felt intense sadness at the betrayal He knew was to come. He went away to pray. To express his sorrow and commune with his Father. Jesus’ posture shows the sorrow he felt during this time. The light around him represents the fact that even in this time, God was present - surrounding and supporting Him even in his agony.  Jesus is betrayed into the hands of the mob, Nolan Birkham.  Jesus is condemned before Pilate, Matt Quick. I’ve kept my image stark in both composition and imagery. there are only a few elements, Jesus, Pilot the bowl and in which pilot washes his hands, and the reflection upon the bowl . One can notice upon looking at the image that Jesus is bound before pilot but when I looked closer at the reflection it is pilot who is bound Jesus who free.  Jesus carries his cross, Aaron Hansen.  Jesus dies on the cross, Wyatt Birkham.  Holy Saturday - A day of waiting This year is the first time I can remember being aware of "the day of waiting". Due to pandemic restrictions I was not wrapped up in the business of Easter celebration and I found myself contemplating my feelings and emotions around what God the Father and Jesus the Son had done for me. On the one hand there is heartbreaking sadness because of the pain Jesus endured for me and my sin. On the other hand I felt peace and gratitude because I know Jesus' resurrection brings me eternal life. I am grateful for this day of contemplative waiting, it brought me a strengthening of my faith in God and Jesus and all they have done for me. It just keeps getting better because Jesus promised He wouldn't leave us alone but He'd send the Helper, the Holy Spirit, and He has arrived! So today I say, "I love you and praise you Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen" A huge thank you, goes to Nathan Siemens who provided the steady hand to do the actual cutting of the lino.  "Resurrection!", Natasha Perich. I wanted to represent the wondrous victory of Christ over sin and death by his resurrection through powerful imagery. It is common in medieval Celtic folklore that a Stag would represent Jesus because they were known to seek out snakes to trample on and kill (which represent Satan). I tried to convey a sense of brightness and hope by removing the linoleum in the background, causing the image to be highly contrasted against the white background.  Jesus appears to his disciples in resurrected form (the Emmaus Road), Tyler Birkham.  Pentecost, James Perich. How do you capture the essence of Pentecost? You can’t. The sketchy lines and simplicity of the image represent my decidedly vague portrayal. I chose to do a classic “folk” style image. The dove is a long time association of the Spirit, as He comes in power and peace with the olive branch, to empower the disciples, as well as us.  Untitled beautiful landscape, Payton Hansen.
First Baptist is pleased to announce a new ministry initiative: God's Clothesline! This project is the idea of Carl and Terri Desjarlias. Please see the video below which will fill in the rest! To engage with the waiting and watching of Holy Saturday, we invited people to go for a walk in creation to search for signs of hope and signs of life, and to send their pictures in. The pictures below are some of what we received. This time of year in Cranbrook is bursting with the forerunners of spring, which reminds us of the truth and beauty of the resurrection. The dead foliage of winter make a way for the vibrancy of life in spring in a most spectacular way. As far as we know right now, here's how services through Holy Week and Easter are going to look:
Palm Sunday (March 28) will be streamed live at 10:30 Tenebrae (Thursday, April 1) will be a recorded podcast. We encourage you to listen to this service in the evening for the extinguishing of candles. The link and more info for this will go out on Thursday, April 1. Good Friday (April 2) will be streamed live at 10:30. Holy Saturday (April 3) keep your eyes peeled for an invitation to a practice from the FBC Art Group (more info coming soon). Easter FAMILY SERVICE (April 3) will happen over ZOOM at 10:30 on Holy Saturday. Natasha E. will contact families directly with the link and more info. Easter Sunday (April 4) will be streamed live at 10:30. This Year's AGM is taking place via Zoom on Wednesday, March 10th, at 7pm! Please contact the office if you need the link, or to let us know you will be attending. If you would like to go over the Annual Reports from 2020, click here for the link.
As you may have heard already, we are modifying our usual tradition of taking sticky notes with the names of children in our church to pray for daily during Lent, and opening it up to the whole church.
This year, we are asking you to sign up, on your own or with your spouse or family, and you will be given someone or a couple or family to pray for. The sign up is confidential, and we will directly let you know who you have been assigned, so that you can keep it a secret surprise if that's what you prefer. We ask that you commit to praying for your individual/couple/family daily, and even consider sending them a note of encouragement at some point. The reason that we want people to participate is to foster meaningful connections in our community, and because we believe in a God who hears and answers our prayers. Just imagine what it would look like for a community of people who are consistently praying God's will over each other's lives... imagine the positive impact that could have on so many people! The reason we do this over the season of Lent is to focus on others rather than ourselves, as we consider the selfless love of Christ that propelled him to the Cross. If you would like to participate, please contact the office at office@fbccranrbook.org before February 16th!
Join Pastor Natasha once again as she puts on a virtual family service!
Join Pastor Natasha as she hosts a family service video for December 6th! |