Merry Christmas!   We have arrived at the manger finally. All the hope, peace, joy and love is being answered in the gift of a baby arriving on Christmas Day! May this be a wonderful weekend of a healthy family, cheerful friends, yummy food, and the joy of life! We have so much to be grateful for this year!    Hope you will join us on Saturday for our Christmas Eve services! You are welcome at both 5:00 & 7:00 PM. If you have plans and want to livestream them or watch later, they will be available on our website hcumc.org and on Facebook.   Sunday morning, we will have a Christmas worship service at 10:30 celebrating the birth of baby Jesus and gift of Christmas Day!   “May you be filled with the wonder of Mary,  the obedience of Joseph,  the joy of the angels,  the eagerness … Read More

Holy Covenant Family!   Hard to believe that Sunday will be the fourth Sunday in Advent!  We are nearly within a week of Christmas! We will finish our Advent worship with the shepherds watching over the flocks at night and being surprised by the arrival of a host of angels! I hope you are embracing some of the surprises of this season!   Norman Vincent Peale believed, “Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”    Hope that you are breathing in some of that magic, some extra love allowing you to offer more generosity. Hope your world feels softer and more beautiful.   Please join us on Sunday for worship at 10:30! I will look forward to greeting you then!   Shalom Blessings, Pastor Cheryl   Volunteers Needed TODAY!     10:30 am Sunday Morning Worship In-person and Livestreamed We hope you … Read More

            Holy Covenant Family!   We have a great Christmas treat for you on Sunday! The Covenant Carillons and the Wesleyan Choir will be presenting Lessons and Carols with special scriptural readings. Please join us in the sanctuary or livestreaming for this wonderful celebration!   A big thank you to everyone for your awesome generosity! We received all the pajamas needed for 121 Sheffield Elementary students and $4375 that was divided up for each child through a gift card. This Advent we have blessed three times as many children as last year! A huge thank you to the super organizers of the Angel Tree drive: Donna Johnson and Elise Odell! Such a blessing for our neighborhood kids!   I will look forward to greeting you for a very special Christmas treat on Sunday!   Shalom Blessings, Pastor Cheryl   10:30 am Sunday Morning Worship In-person and Livestreamed We hope you … Read More

                Holy Covenant Family!   Happy December! A month filled with hopes, dreams, and joy!   The Murphy family gathered at Scott AF Base this week to celebrate Sean’s (our middle son) promotion to Major! I am always incredibly grateful to the men and women I meet who are serving our country. The dedication and commitment, the heart of service for the welfare and life of others is inspiring. We are very proud of Sean and grateful for the love and support Kristen gives to him as a spouse.    Hope you will join us on Sunday for the second Sunday of Advent. We will gather to celebrate Holy Communion, praise God, and reflect on the Christmas witness through Matthew’s lens and Joseph’s story.    I will look forward to greeting you then!   Shalom Blessings, Pastor Cheryl   10:30 am Sunday Morning Worship In-person and Livestreamed … Read More

            Happy Thanksgiving!   My favorite holiday: yummy food, family and friends around a table, football, gratitude felt and claimed, thankful hearts for the blessings in our lives. (And no gifts!)    I have shared this quote in a sermon but I thought it was worth another read for us:  “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie   Living with a grateful heart, with a claim on the many blessings we experience every day, with a feeling of love – it will transform our souls and our lives!   I am … Read More

            Holy Covenant Family,   Today a friend sent me a card that said: “It’s impossible to think of certain people without saying a thankful prayer.”   I feel that way when I think of all of you! I am so thankful that we are part of this church family!   This Sunday, Rev. Edlen Cowley will be with us to oversee our Charge Conference at 9:15 in the sanctuary. We will be live streaming as well. Pastor Edlen will join us for worship following the meeting. We have a very special baptism, our little Noah Walker Norris.  Hope you will be here for the baptism and the thanksgiving service.     Please bring your Discipleship Stewardship cards to the worship service.   We will be decorating the sanctuary following worship if you are available to help for a short time.   The Church office will be open … Read More

            Happy Thursday!   Hope you are enjoying our last warm day for a bit – finally cooler fall temperatures are arriving!   We have a very special Sunday planned for everyone! We will have worship at 10:30 in the sanctuary and livestreaming with an amazing musical piece with choir, bells, organ and brass! It will be a great treat! We will have a lunch for everyone during our annual auction event. There are items in a raffle, in a silent auction and a live auction. It is a great deal of fun and full of great options from Dallas sporting events, to vacation locations and items by our own Holy Covenant artists. The Cowboys game is at 3:25, so you have no excuse to miss this fun event!   I will look forward to greeting you on Sunday!   Shalom Blessings, Pastor Cheryl   Highlight This Week   Lunch & … Read More

      Holy Covenant Family!   Happy November!    Daylight savings ends overnight on Saturday – offering all of us an extra hour of sleep!!! Be sure to set your clocks back. Hope you will join us at 9:00 AM for our Micah Sunday program in the sanctuary. Our worship service will follow at 10:30. We will be livestreaming on Facebook and the Website.   During All Saints worship on Sunday, we will celebrate the saints who have crossed into the heavenly realm this year. We will light candles, partake in Holy Communion, sing praises and bless the new playground! The preschool families are invited, so we are hoping for many guests. There will be a potluck lunch for the preschool families on the playground following worship. All are welcome!   On Sunday, Nov 13, our Fall Auction will follow 10:30 worship. Lunch is included. Bring a lawn chair or blanket and join us as we are hoping … Read More

            Holy Covenant Family!   The preschool and neighborhood children are LOVING the fall weather and their new PLAYGROUND! On Saturday, sod will be laid down in the back. A long project, a gift from our Texas Children Care Relief Funds to ECDP Preschool, a wonderful upgrade to an aging playground for everyone! Hope you will check it out! If you haven’t tried out the swings, slide and sandbox, you will have the opportunity when we bless the playground on Sunday, November 6.                  This Sunday is a very special celebration of the laity at Holy Covenant. We have a wonderful preacher: Ms. Helma Gentry! She preaches every month at Atria. This week we will be blessed to have a taste of that faithful witness for ourselves. Her theme is loving one another! There will be one worship service at 10:30 with livestreaming available.   Look forward to seeing you there!   Shalom Blessings, … Read More

            Holy Covenant Family,   We are going to have a great celebration on Sunday – hope you will be with us!!!   Rev. Edlen Cowley, the Metro District Superintendent, is preaching at 10:30 worship. Please join us in the sanctuary and live streaming. There will be NO 8:30 service! Pastor Edlen is very excited about being with us! We scheduled his visit six months ago!  Following worship, we will have a brief Charge Conference meeting for everyone in the sanctuary and livestreaming. We will have an update from Edlen about the North Texas Conference situation and a recap of our past year. We will vote on new leadership and the pastor’s salary package.    Hope you will join us for this wonderful Sunday celebration!   Shalom Blessings, Pastor Cheryl   NO 8:30 am Worship This Week     Early worship will resume November 6    10:30 am Sunday Morning Worship … Read More