Happy Snow Day!   Hope you are safe, warm and cozy somewhere on this cold snowy day. I have always loved snow days: no school, hot chocolate, no schedule, cozy blankets to cuddle in – and stuck in a house with people I love! A fun perfect day! Hope you are enjoying it too!   Please join us on Sunday for a Holy Communion worship service. If you are feeling like it is too cold to join us in person at 8:30 or 10:30 in the sanctuary, please gather with us by live streaming. As you prepare, please plan on participating with communion. If you are with me, I have it covered. If you are at home, please gather bread or crackers and any juice or wine so you can bless these elements with us. This holy meal is a way of gathering as the Body of Christ and remembering our … Read More

              Holy Covenant Family,   At the beginning of this week my niece posted: Welcome to January 74th. And although January has 31 days, it has really felt like a very long month this year! So many of us have been impacted with illness and allergies. I hope and pray February will be a month of healing and wellness returning!   As I’m writing this note, the ECDP Preschoolers are visiting with all kind of reptiles in the sanctuary! I hope none are left behind for worship on Sunday! The voices of children and the participation in a wonderful Rainforest Week has been such a joy! Kammie Powell created the activities this week and has led a team of volunteers to engage our little ones in such an adventure! There has been such excitement!   I look forward to greeting you all on Sunday. We are going to be reflecting on … Read More

              Happy Cold January!   Winter arrived! Hope you are warm and safe. So many of us are feeling challenges these first weeks of a new year with a variety of illnesses, exposure to illnesses and breaks in school availability. We continue to pray for those on the front lines in health care, in schools and with complicated health issues.    For a much-needed bit of January joy, we have a very special worship experience planned for our 10:30 service.  The Chivaviro family, who has been worshiping with us for the last year, will come out from our pews and teach us some new music while sharing their story to serve God. Rev. Togarepi Chivaviro (Pastor Toggie) is a Methodist pastor from Zimbabwe. He has been writing music for years, as well as leading worship. We will hear his original songs that are being released on his birthday this … Read More

                  Such a beautiful Texas January Day!   Hope you are enjoying the sunshine and the warm temperatures!  These weeks feel long and challenging with health struggles or the fear of them. Try to stay rested, eat healthy, exercise and when it is sunny, be sure to catch some rays.   This Sunday we will thank the 2021 leadership. Their work for our church family has been challenging during this second pandemic year. They remained steady and engaged! Rob Evans has served in many ways but these last two years has been a great blessing to me and a wonderful leader as the Chair of Ad Council.   We will also recognize and bless the leaders who will carry us forward into the ministries and vision that God is setting before us. Our worship will be led by sacred music from the Praise Band and a … Read More

              Happy Epiphany!   A day Christians celebrate the arrival of the Magi presenting gifts to the Baby Jesus!   Epiphany means different things: final day of the Christmas holiday, the day we take down Christmas decorations, or maybe an “aha” moment. Maybe the star that leads us into this year will bring us to “aha” moments of alert awareness, deep joy, contagious generosity and boundless hope. I pray Epiphany this year will lead each of us to the new dawn we have been watching and waiting for.   There is some wonderful news to report as we close out 2021 and it has everything to do with your awesome generosity!   December Giving was amazing 134% of our income goal was received: $62,755  The largest giving to Walk to the Manger in many years – $21,000 100% of HCUMC Apportionments paid (first time since 2015) … Read More

Christmas Eve Worship   Christmas Eve Family Worship 5:00 pm December 24 Join us for a retelling of the Christmas Story “Mary, Joseph and the Baby” by Tammy Waldrop. This interactive service will be led by our Covenant Carillons handbell choir and will present the story through the eyes of animals present at Christ’s birth.   Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship 7:00 pm December 24 Bring your family and friends to celebrate the birth of the Christ child with carols, scripture and candlelight!   Sunday, December 26 Scripture: John 14:8-12 Frist Sunday after Christmas   NO 8:30 am Worship This Sunday   We will resume 8:30 worship on Sunday, January 2 when we will celebrate Holy Communion.     10:30 am Sunday Morning Worship In-person and Livestreamed We hope you are joining us either in-person, or for online worship on Facebook Live. We will be on Facebook again this Sunday at … Read More

                Holy Covenant Family,   Please join us on Thursday morning for the Preschool ECDP Christmas Program. It will be the highlight of your holiday season! It begins at 10 am and is delightful!   This Sunday is our fourth Sunday of Advent indicating that Christmas is very close! We will be joining the young couple traveling to Bethlehem. Hope you will join us 8:30 in the sanctuary and 10:30 for in-person and livestreaming worship.   On Christmas week, we will have a special Longest Night service on Tuesday, Dec. 21 at 7:00 and Christmas Eve services will be at 5:00 and 7:00 PM.    May the light of this Christmas season be upon you! Shalom Blessings, Pastor Cheryl Murphy     You Are Invited! Preschool Christmas Program Thursday, December 16th 10:00 am Come and get into the Christmas Spirit with our Holy Covenant ECDP Christmas Program. The … Read More

               Angel Tree Donations Due Sunday, December 12!   Angel Tree Please return donations by Sunday, December 12! If you took an angel from the tree, please drop off the Amazon or Walmart gift cards or monetary donation by Sunday. You may also give online and designate “Angel Tree” for your donation.   Our Advent Continues….. The preschoolers are outside my office in the sanctuary practicing for their Christmas program next Thursday.  If you are struggling to get into the Christmas spirit or find the joy in this season, please join us next Thursday at 10:00 AM for the ECDP program. It will fill your soul! Sunday we will spend time with Mary during worship. I hope you will join us for a very special Advent/Christmas service.  Please consider sitting towards the front of the sanctuary and parking at a distance from the main doors. We have guests … Read More

            Happy Advent!   The season calls us to wait. Many of us think of waiting as passive, sitting still, and twiddling our thumbs (or more likely scrolling through our phone). In the scriptures waiting is not passive. Those waiting are actively waiting. The waiting is a conviction that a seed has been planted, something new is about to appear. Henri Nouwin writes, “active waiting implies being fully present to the moment with the conviction that something is happening where we are and that we want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, believing that this moment is the moment.” In the moment, we will see, feel and know that God’s Spirit is present and active in our lives, in this Advent season. The waiting is a blessed time of preparing.   I hope you will join us on Sunday to celebrate Holy Communion … Read More

               A reflection on this Thanksgiving Day for all of us!   Find the blessings in the gathering of family around the table through conversation and the yummy food!   This Day We Say Grateful A Sending Blessing It is a strange thing to be so bound and so released all in the same moment, to feel the heart open wide and wider still even as it turns to take its leave.   On this day, let us say this is simply the way love moves in its ceaseless spiraling, turning us toward one another, then sending us into what waits for us with arms open wide to us in welcome and in hope.   On this day, in this place where you have poured yourself out, where you have been emptied and filled and emptied again, may you be aware more than ever … Read More