Views from The Ridge 05.15.2024
Sunset Ridge is a church that desires to follow Jesus, reach people, and radiate God’s love and hope to all.
This Week
Sunday, May 19
9am Worship in the Sanctuary (Come Alive - Ezekiel 37:1-14)
10:15am Formation time for all ages (we will be pausing our current adult class series, Practicing The Way, for a special class centered around Anniversary Sunday)
11am Worship in the Chapel (listen to this month’s worship inspiration on Spotify)
12:30pm Anniversary Lunch (RSVP here by 5/16)
Upcoming
Monday, May 27 Church office closed
Interested in what’s scheduled for our campus at large? Please consider subscribing to Goodness Weekly.
Around Our Community
Women’s Wednesday Fellowship will meet Wednesday, May 29th at 10AM in the Fellowship Hall. We will sign cards and have prayer time and this month we are doing Book Club! If you have read a book, any book, please join us and talk about it. Bring your own lunch - we’ll eat while we show & tell our books.
Know Before You Go
We’re so excited to gather with you to celebrate 75 years on Sunday. We are currently planning to gather in Charis Park for our meal together.
The park will not be fully completed and will only be open to guests of the luncheon for this special time with our church family.
Our construction crew has worked tirelessly to make this possible, but in the instance we cannot hold this event at the park, we will set up tables on our front lawn.
Remember that RSVP is required for the luncheon, including guests.
Immediately following the 11 AM worship service, we will gather in front of the Chapel windows for a group picture of our entire congregation together. As soon as we’re finished, we’ll walk across the street to Charis Park.
Please wear comfortable/cool shoes and clothing. There will be tents and tables set up in the park. Receptacles will be provided for compost, trash, and recycling. Accessible seating will be available.
In the event of inclement weather, we will hold our celebration in the Fellowship Hall.
We can’t wait to be with you.
Joyful Anticipation
Riley Stirman, Preaching Minister, Sunset Ridge Church
"Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. . . . And they are there to this day. (Joshua 4:5-9)
God's people are a people who mark time. A people who remember. A people who celebrate what God has done for them. Just before God brings Israel out of slavery in Egypt, he tells his people that they are going to celebrate this day every single year in remembrance of what God did for them.
And in Joshua, as God's people finally cross the Jordan River into the land that was promised to their patriarch Abraham, God commands them to build a stone monument. It's the spot where God parted the waters and allowed his people to cross on dry land into their inheritance.
This Sunday we have a memorial of our own. We celebrate 75 years of Sunset Ridge Church of Christ. Like the Israelites, we want to be a people who value marking time in this way. And like the Israelites, we believe that our celebrations like this serve two purposes.
First, a milestone like this invites us to look back - to reflect on the saving work of God that happened in the past. I believe God wants us to be people with longer memories who can identify the common thread of his presence among us as we think about the path we've walked to get to where we are now.
Second, a milestone invites us to look forward - to think about the implications that God's work in the past has on the road ahead. God tells the Israelites that the stones are to be there so that when children see them and ask about them, future generations could be taught the stories. And those children would grow into adults who (hopefully) trusted God and would then teach their children to do the same.
75 years of Sunset Ridge invites us to remember the millions of ways, big and small, that God has shown himself faithful to this worshiping community. It invites us to tell the stories of who we are because of God's work to people young and old. And it invites us to joyfully anticipate what God might do with us in the years to come.
May we be people of gratitude, of long memories, and of hope.
To view recorded sermons from Sunset Ridge Church, please make sure to add us to your subscriptions on YouTube.
Praises and Prayers
Joe Harber is doing well following skin cancer surgery.
Stuart Awbrey is home recovering from a heart attack.
